Our tour guide says:
“After breakfast, we proceed on a guided tour of the Amber Fort. Set on the dry wrinkled Aravali Hills, the Fort is a superb example of Rajput (Medieval Hindu) style of architecture. A slow elephant taxi takes us to the top of the Fort, which houses several graceful buildings.
We will ride up to this hilltop palace on a caparisoned, painted elephant, passing through the ancient main gate where Maharajas of Jaipur have entered for four hundred years. Our guide will elaborate on the history of this architectural masterpiece with its mirror-studded alcoves, dazzling mosaics and water-cooled swings that delight today’s visitors as they did their former royal residents.
We shall visit the Hawa Mahal or Palace of the Winds, a five-storied structure of pink sandstone with semi-octagonal and delicately honeycombed windows overlooking the main street of the old city. It was built in 1799 so that veiled royal women could peer down unseen by the world through its 593 stone screens.
Later we proceed for a guided tour of the City Palace & Observatory. The City Palace in the heart of the old city is a blend of Rajasthani and Mughal architecture. The center of the palace is a seven storied building called Chandra Palace, with fine views over the gardens and the city. Next stop the City Palace is the Solar Observatory – an astronomical treasure house, with solar device that gives accurate predictions till date.”
Lonely Planet says:
“Jaipur, the City of Victory, is chaotic and congested, though it still has a habit of tickling travellers pink. Stunning hilltop forts and glorious palaces fit like footprints from a rich
royal past, candyfloss-bright turbans blaze a trail through brilliant bargain-filled bazaars, and fluttering saris catch the eye like butterflies.”
As the gateway to the desert state of Rajasthan, however, it’s also a city permanently under siege. Package tourists are captivated by (and offloaded on) the bustling bazaars, world-class hotels and clammy sophistication, while camel carts and cows waddle through diesel-soaked streets, rampaging rickshaw drivers hustle and burn past businessmen and tourists, and scores of street children beg outside huge jewellery shops and palatial hotels.
Jaipur beams boldest at dusk -when it’s well worth walking to Amber – and, much like its founder, Jai Singh II, the Pink City is both proud and resilient.
The city owes its name, founding and planning to the great warrior-astronomer Maharaja Jai Singh II (1693-1743). In 1727, with Mughal power on the wane, Jai Singh decided the time was right to move from his cramped hillside fort at nearby Amber. He laid out the city, with its surrounding walls and rectangular blocks, according to principles set down in the Shilpa-Shastra, an ancient Hindu architectural treatise. In 1728 he built Jantar Mantar, Jaipur’s remarkable observatory.
In 1876, Maharaja Ram Singh had the entire old city painted pink, a color associated with hospitality, to welcome the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), and the tradition has been maintained – the current maharaja is a great polo chum of Britain’s Prince Charles.”
We say:
 A panoramic view of the old and new palaces. The old palace was on the left but the maharajah of the 1600’s decided that he wanted to be closer to his people and started construction on the new palace that wasn’t finished for over 100 years. |
 View of the hotel from the courtyard |
 One of the wonderful peacocks who like to fight at 4 or 5 in the morning |
 Check out this room. Wow!! Too bad it’s next to the dining room and kitchen. That’s a chandelier hanging from the incredibly tall ceilings. |
 A quick excursion on one of these was fun. Most people call it an auto and some call it a tuk tuk. No two look alike, each one is individually painted and decorated just like the trucks. |
 Getting ready for our elephant ride to the palace. |
 Heading up to the palace |
 Good times on the elephant |
 Elephants heading down for new suckers I mean tourists! |
 Made it to the top with Lakshmi our elephant. |
 The wall around the original town |
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 Lina at the entrance |
 Entrance to the palace |
 The winter palace. Small shards of mirrors have been embedded in the walls and ceilings to reflect the heat of the oil lamps and heat the rooms. |
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 Gardens modeled after the gardens in the Taj Mahal |
 The march of the elephants |
 The original town before people moved to Jaipur |
 The old palace, before Jai Singh decided to build some new digs. His new palace took about 128 years to build. |
 Water pours down the ridges and mixes with the wind to provide some A/C in the summer palace |
 Some decorated camels in the background and our driver Jagat and lifeline inthe foreground. Jagat is the best driver in India. |
 The lake palace under renovation to become a hotel. Mmmm, I wonder which came first Udaipur’s or Jaipur’s lake palace? |
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 Entrance to the city palace |
 Lina’s new guards to fend off the vendors |
 Lina at the Peacock Gate. There were three other gates to the main campus, but this one was the prettiest. |
 Cobra guys! Very cool!! Those are real cobras! People are walking on the sidewalk right past them. |
 A sundial that will give accurate time within 20 seconds. |
 A way to determine what astrological signs are currently prevalent. |
 A detailed sundial to determine what degree of Scorpio we are currently in. There are 11 other of these structures at different angles throughout the grounds. |
 A sundial with accuracy within 2 seconds |