THE PINK CITY
We had many plans for Jaipiur, as it is one of the more popular destinations amongst travellers visiting India. We started our day off by quickly seeing the beautiful Wind Palace. There are options to go in, but our day was pretty hectic, and we thought it was better if we just took pictures of it from the outside. If you are looking for a cup of coffee with a nice view, there is a very quaint place called Wind Cafe that allows you to get a better view of the Wind Palace. We then moved onto the City Palace of Jaipur. It is open from 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM, but since we got there around 9 AM, we luckily had the Jantar Mantar right across from the City Palace that opened at 9 AM. After touring around Jantar Mantar for the second time (our first was in New Delhi), we wanted to be first in line to get tickets at the City Palace. The tickets were 500 INR (apprx. 7 USD) for foreign tourists, and 190 INR for locals. Here, you can find interesting history about the royal families of Rajasthan, and Lea was very pleased to discover that the King of Rajasthan was very attractive and very young:) The City Palace also provides picturesque opportunities with the four gates: Peacock, Lotus, Rose, and Leheriya Gate. PLEASE NOTE: If you are interested in visiting elephant sanctuaries, our only recommendation is to research them well and see what others have to say about them. Remember, not every sanctuary actually takes care of their animals properly...however, that is up to you.
Rajasthan is surrounded by a top line of defense against invaders. Amer, Jahargarh, and Nahargarh Fort surrounded the city, so you can pick and choose which fort you would like to visit, each having their own unique twist. Nahargarh Fort was one of my most favorite memories in Jaipur. We planned to visit this extremely large fort right before sunset, so we can witness the sun setting across Rajasthan. Since the fort is so large, we visited the most famous part of the fort, which gives you a perfect view on top of the whole city. There is no certain name for it, but our amazing driver, Yogi, new exactly where the spot was, and led us right to it. We also visited Gaitore Jaipur, which is a royal cremation ground. The cenotaphs blend both Hindi and Islamic culture. The grounds are open from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM and cost 100 INR (apprx. 1.40 USD) for foreign tourists and 30 INR for locals. We visited when it because extremely hot, and the cenotaphs provided very good shade, and there were a lot of trees around.
However, right before the Nahargarh Fort, we stopped by the famous well called Panna Meena Ka Kund. The well is extremely deep, and has geometrical stairs leading down to the water. The beauty of it can make any photographer go ballistic. Although, technically you are not supposed to go onto the stairs, the security guard generously walked away for a nice five minutes, allowing everyone around to hop onto the stairs. We took some pictures and we were on our merry way. No more than 20/30 minutes needed here.
The next day, we spent our efforts conquering Amer Fort. The beautiful yellow fort is situated on a very steep hill, and there are one of two ways to get up. By elephant and by walking. Pick your poison. It opens at 9:30 AM, but by the time we got up, it was about 10:30 AM, so the crowds were already there swarming the fort. It was 500 INR (apprx. 7 USD) for Foreign tourists, and 100 for locals. Honestly, we didn’t learn as much as we did in City Palace, but there was a beautiful hall of Mirrors, and the money shot, Ganesh Pol. On our way back from the Amer, we spotted the Birla Temple, a beautiful, completely white temple. The only problem was, Goran and Lea both had to pee, and I was too tired to get out of the car. Yet, the two soldiers held it in, and went to go visit the temple...very quickly. I researched it, and it seems that one of India’s most famous business families, B.M Birla Foundations constructed this beautiful temple in 1988. Goran and Lea mentioned that they had to take their shoes off, and when they walked around, although everything was white, the ground was very hot. Once they entered the temple, it was so much cooler inside, that they just relaxed in their a couple of minutes along with everyone else hiding from the afternoon sun.