Advertisement
Published: June 23rd 2013
Edit Blog Post
The Majarajah andMaharani
A royal ride on an elephant. One of the highlights I was looking forward to. In Jaipur we stayed at an amazing Marriott Hotel. It was so nice, I was reluctant to leave. However, I am glad I did. Jaipur is a walled city, nicknamed the “Pink City”. All the buildings inside the walls are painted a coral pink and are required to be maintained that way. We began our day with our guide, Amit and our driver Shyam. First stop, the Hawa Mahal, the Palace of the Wind. This is nothing more than a façade built by the King so his Queen could view the activity of the bazaar without being seen. It contains 365 windows, so she could have one window for each day.
Our next stop was the Amber Fort perched high on a hill near Jaipur. Just like the emperors who ruled here centuries ago, we ascended the ramparts on the back of an elephant. Leo & I felt like a Maharajah and Maharani. The view from the fort was stellar. The hills surrounding the fort are lined by a wall, which I can only describe as a smaller version of the Great Wall of China. It runs for about 15 miles. The fort complex was built by the Raja Mansingh.
Unlike the other forts and palaces we have seen thus far, this was built by a Hindu ruler and is a fine example of Rajput architecture.
We visit the City Palace, where the current 16 year old King of Jaipur still resides (when he is not away at boarding school). But a more interesting part of the afternoon was a visit to the observatory. Built in 1728 by the Raja Jai Singh, the observatory is a series of model and full size astrological and astronomical features used to tell time, chart the skies, and follow the zodiacs. Leo and I both enjoyed the physics and engineering that were evident in these ingenious, designs.
Our break for lunch was very entertaining. We were the sole diners in an Indian restaurant with a very exuberant waiter that was having as much, or more fun than we were. I think if it weren’t for fear of losing his job, he would have sat down and ate with us. He mugged for pictures, and was overly affectionate with me (kind of weird). He gave us his email address and asked us to send him pictures. Unfortunately, I cannot find the slip of
The Great Wall of India
Look along the crest of the hillside paper he wrote on. I feel like a heel.
Our final stop was at an Indian block printing and carpet making facility (aka, shop with a demonstration area). We were shown how the Rajasthani art of block printing which is used to make beautiful fabrics. Additionally, we were show how the carpets of wool and silk were hand tied and readied for sale. Then, onto the shopping. We sat for a while with the ‘flying’ carpet salesmen. But living in a house with pets made investing in an expensive handmade carpet impractical. So we headed upstairs to the textile house. There we were overwhelmed with thousands of fabrics, scarves, pashminas, bedding and dining fabrics as well as clothing. Again, we stimulated the Indian economy and Leo even got a couple of custom made shirts. India has a large selection of handicrafts available for sale that are very representative of the Indian culture. These purchases not only help employ the artisans, but provide s with beautiful artwork that serve as mementos of our trip.
OMG – I almost forgot!!! How could I???? In getting the pictures for this entry, I came across pictures from our other shopping
Sundial
The worlds largest Sundial. Accurate to within 2 seconds. excursion of the day. Jaipur is famous for its mines. The marble used in the Taj Mahal comes from Rajasthan, as do emeralds, rubies, sapphires and other precious and semi precious stones. So needless to say, we spent a good amount of time shopping for jewelry. There were some stunning pieces that made me smile (a lot), but I am somewhat overstocked on jewelry (all I really need is a few ‘statement pieces’) and we didn’t feel the need to stimulate the economy quite that much.
On all my posts, don't forget to scroll to the bottom for additional photos.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.069s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0337s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb