Tours to Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh

The forts of Delhi and Agra may have lost much of their former lustre, but it’s not hard to envisage the lavish lifestyle led by the royal inhabitants of Akbar’s court, thanks to the remarkably well preserved state of Fatehpur Sikri, the Great Mughal’s former palace. Sumptuous, finely ornamented and, above all, monumental, its buildings recall the era when the most tolerant and liberal of India’s medieval rulers consulted with his nobles and holy men in opulently carved chambers, and played a kind of chess on a giant board with costumed slave girls for pieces.