It was a beautiful sunny morning in Jaipur and, after a lovely breakfast to start the day, it was soon time to set off for our first visit of the day: the Hawa Mahal, which is a five-story palace that was built by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh in 1799. The palace is also known as the ‘Palace of the Winds’, and it allowed Sawai’s harem of veiled ladies to observe the street below unnoticed. We could only stop briefly here to observe the building and take some photographs, as tourists are unable to enter.
Our next visit was to see the beautiful Amber Fort which was built in the 16th century by Raja Man Singh from yellow and pink sandstone, and white marble. We had to park up in a bus park and then take jeeps up to the entrance of the fort, which was good fun and the views from the top were amazing, especially looking out across the water! The pedlars were out in force here, though, and they were very persistent. You have to learn to just shake your head and politely say, ‘no thank you!’ if you don’t want to buy anything.
The palace complex consists of impressive halls, palaces, and gardens, and the Hindu and Mughal architecture is incredible. There are some elephants up here, too, along with a number of goats. We also visited the Hall of Victory, which houses the famed Sheesh Mahal. The hall is adorned with ornate marble, and it has a mirrored ceiling.
After looking at so many ornate designs, it was then time to see a few different types of jewels at the gem factory where we saw some stones being prepared and then had the opportunity to look at pieces of jewellery and ornaments. The goods on offer were truly amazing, and I could have easily spent lots of money that I didn’t have, including the 14k gold necklace with blue sapphires at over £1000!
Lunch today had a little extra excitement added to it, as we had the chance to learn how to wear a turban and understand about its symbolism and meaning. This was all good fun! We also had some pasta and pizza with chips as part of our lunch today which was a welcome change.
After lunch we set out for the Maharaja’s City Palace which is a former royal residence in the heart of the Old city. Part of the building has been converted into a museum, and the remaining part is still used today by the royal family of Jaipur as a private residence.
Our final visit of the day was to the 18-century Jantar Mantar Observatory, which is the largest stone and marble astronomical observatory in the world. It has 17 large instruments, and many of them are still in good working order. This was a fascinating place with such beautiful craftsmanship and is in a great setting. We spent some time wandering around here looking for our zodiac signs, as each sundial is designed to represent one of the 12 zodiac signs. Royal astrologers used the instruments to study the sun and chart horoscopes.
This was sadly our last visit of the trip, so it was back to our hotel to get changed for dinner and then make sure we had all our belongings packed up ready for the following morning’s departure.
