After breakfast we started our tour of the pink city, Jaipur, our first stop was the massive Amber Fort which is hundreds of years old and brings people from all over the world. It was attacked once and has not lost any battles. Here are the photos.
These were the shops selling all sorts of fabrics and textiles outside the palace
Panorama.
Family of monkeys.
Open Courtyard. with tourists arriving on the elephants. We decided not to take the elephant ride up because I don't like using working elephants this way just for tourism. I don't think we missed out by taking the car up and instead we helped an elephant by not having to take us up the high hill.
Gateway.
Indian lady with her broom for cleaning the courtyard
A picture of the entrance into the second courtyard.
View of first courtyard again from above.
The elephants carrying the tourists up the hill
Lavish gardens below the fort which include saffron growing.
The fort wall keeps on going like the Great wall of China.
And going.
Archways inside.
The hamman bathing house - this was the furnace used for heating water with fires.
Cool designs with me being an idiot.
Same idea.
The grilled/laced window was where the women would be able to sit and look out onto the courtyard and watch what was going on without being seen.
Ceiling and wall decorations
Another garden inside the second courtyard, except this one is used for herbs.
Mirror mosaics in the entertainers courtyard - it would glisten and reflect at night with the candles and diplomats and officials would be in awe of its beauty and wealth.
My mum in the mirror.
The black bowls on the ground were used as pots to cook for the people living in the fort.
The king also used it to cook men who he caught sneaking in to visit his girlfriends or daughters.
Security screen for the ladies to see what was going on but so the common man couldn't see the king's ladies.
Beehive(yay). You can imagine how pleased I was to see this!
Bats!
Secret tunnels for the king to visit his ladies without being seen. The king had 12 wives and 250 girlfriends and they would get jealous of the king not choosing them so he used tunnels to keep the peace.
Relaxed.
People bargaining with an old woman.
Street food stalls
Lake Palace
Pink City Palace of the Winds - more lattice windows for the ladies to see but not be seen
This is the city palace - it's the current royal palace if Jaipur royal family. The King thinks he is so important that he has 1 and 1/4 flags flying to show he is more than just the same as any other king.
This silver jar carried water from the ganges to Britain as a gift from India royals
The photos above are all from our second stop, the current royal palace home to the current Maharajah. We couldn't take photos inside the working palace but we saw the thrones and the armoury and the robes they wore.
After that we went to the royal astronomy gardens called Jantar Mantar which was filled with astronomical instruments built by the King.
This is me with my star sign Pisces at the Royal Astronomy park
These are wedding horses.
The drive back passing people living on the streets
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After our tour we relaxed by the pool, watched the IPL, went to dinner, came back and went to bed.
Joseph Hewson
Absolutely stunning and what a place of contrasts. We are so enjoying your blog - keep them coming - when you have time of course. Make sure you rest because not long till College starts. So looking forward to seeing you again
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