Palace-Fort-Shop-Repeat - Pink city Jaipur

The city of Jaipur welcomes you with its pink colored structures painted across the city.

Hawa Mahal, iconic monument of Rajasthan

Jaipur has a lot to offer for the tourists, our Jaipur tour started with Albert Hall Museum.
Albert Hall Museum is built in the late 19th century. It will easily take up at least an hour for a tour inside the museum, and its worth it. Do not miss its stunning looks after dark, when the whole structure is lit up.

Albert Museum in daylight

Albert Museum lit up at night

Later in the evening we visited Birla temple, completely built with white marble. During night the temple complex looks more beautiful after it is lit up, with the Moti Dungari hill fort in the backdrop the view looks more stunning. After doing some shopping near the temple we rested for the day.

The elegance of white marble, Birla Temple

Moti Dungari hill fort lit up in the night

Amber and Jaigarh fort:
The next morning we started for Amber fort, which is about 11km from the city.
Amber fort is built in 16th to 18th century A.D and is a UNESCO World heritage site. This colossal fortress was built on top of hill.
Suraj pol gate leads you to a large courtyard known as Jaleb Chowk, which was the place for soldiers to assemble, also the ticket counter is located here.

Jaleb Chowk, Amber fort

The stairways from here opens up to the palace area and the second courtyard, where the public audience hall or Diwan-e-aam is located.

Maota Lake as seen from the Diwan-e-aam

Beyond this is the Maharaja’s private quarters, which is accessed through the beautiful Ganesh Pol (gate), this gate is elegantly decorated and one of the highlights of the Amber Palace.

Ganesh Pol (gate), another iconic structure of Jaipur

The courtyard which opens up through the Ganesh Pol has a pleasing garden and on its left is the famous Sheesh Mahal or the Palace of Mirrors. This masterpiece is undoubtedly the main attraction of the Amber Palace. The walls and ceilings of the Sheesh Mahal is decorated with mirror inlay work, probably the real magic would be felt in darkness under the  candle light. Hats off to the designers and creators who made this impressive art work.

Sheesh Mahal and the gardens

Glass-works and mirror-works of Sheesh Mahal

Stunning craftsmanship of Sheesh mahal

Beyond this is the last of the courtyards, surrounded by the Zenana enclosure, meant for the queens.
While on our way back we went through the secret tunnel which leads up to the Jaigarh fort, which is another 30 mins trek up the hill. There is also an option to hire a battery operated cart vehicle for a ride from Amber fort to Jaigarh fort and return, they charge 200/person. We chose the later option after hiking through the secret tunnel which had almost covered about forty percent of the trek route.

The secret passage past the secret tunnel, which connects Amber fort to Jaigarh fort

The electric car drops till the entrance of the Jaigarh fort and then we had to still climb up to reach the summit, where the Jaivana cannon was kept. It was built in 1720 AD, at its time this was the world's largest cannon on wheels.

Jaivana-worlds largest cannon on wheel at that time

Jaigarh fort

The ramparts of the Jaigarh fort offers breathtaking views of Aravalli hills and the Amber Fort down below. At this moment what caught my eyes was more pleasing, the beautiful sunset along with a muster of peacocks beyond the Aravalli hills.

Breathtaking views of the Amber fort and town and the fort passing through the Aravalli mountains as seen from Jaigarh fort

Mesmerizing view of the sunset through the Aravalli hills as seen from Jaigarh fort

We felt it worth to have come this far and have not missed visiting the Jaigarh fort. It was already getting dark by the time we left the place and took the return car ride to reach the Amber fort, from where we walked down the steps, when the whole fort was already lit up.

Amber Fort looks impressive when its lit up during night

Having spent one whole day in the forts climbing up and down, it was too much tiresome yet an amazing experience not to be missed.

City Tour:
On our last day of Rajasthan tour we had kept lot many things to do. We started with a visit to the Jantar Mantar, an ancient astronomical site and a UNESCO World heritage site. This is a must visit for all science enthusiasts and students.

Jantar Mantar, an ancient astronomical wonder and a UNESCO World heritage site

Next we visited the City palace museum, which we felt was something similar to the rest of the museums in Rajasthan, there was nothing special about this one.

Gateways though the City Palace

Jaipur City Palace

Peacock mural paintings, best attraction of the city palace

Hawa Mahal is just beside the City Palace, we limited to see it just from outside, and no wonder why it was the front page poster for Rajasthan tourism. It catches your eye at your first sight, the design looks simple yet unique but definitely eye catching.
And then it was all shopping time, Sireh Deori/Hawa Mahal Bazaar, Johari Bazaar, Bapu Bazaar, Nehru Bazaar, Kishanpol Bazaar, Tripolia Bazaar, Chandpol Bazaar and so on, the list goes on and on. It is literally shop till you drop. Jaipur is one of the best places for shopping in India. Most of these bazaars sell the rajasthani special Bandini tie and dye fabrics, rich embroideries, traditional bangles, souvenirs, Joothis, kids traditional dresses, razai, bedsheets, artwork, etc.

We had the typical Rajasthani dal bati churma to end our day and also our long Rajasthan tour.
Rajasthan tour was one of my most memorable trip in my entire lifetime, and will always stay close to my heart, will surely visit again.