Jaipur - meet The Maharajas

I think my favorite moment in Jaipur was entering the tall Sun Gate of Amber Palace. To see the courtyard open up in front of me- surrounded by palace buildings. To see the birds fly up towards the tall mountains behind, and watch the monkeys sit right there. A pinch-my-arm-I-am-in-Rajasthan-moment!

The courtyard - see the monkeys sitting under the trees?

So, dear reader, since last time, we have been on an interesting journey to some (to us) new parts of India, and our first stop was Jaipur. Our first impression was good: it seemed quite clean, and the Pink City was something new: street after street with houses built in red/pink sandstone. The most famous is Hawa Mahal - Palace of Winds. Built in 1798 by the Maharaja to give the royal ladies an opportunity to watch the street life ( through 953 small windows) - without being seen themselves:

Hawa Mahal - Palace of the Winds

Yes, our visit to Jaipur was a lot about the Maharajas, and in addition to the City Palace (still in use by the 16 year old king - when he is home from boarding school), we spent some time at Amber Palace, built by Raja Man Singh I in 1592, and used by the Rajput Maharajas and their families. 

The first courtyard at Amber Palace. 

These guys were all over :-) 

Panoramic view over the Maota lake, palace garden, hills  - and - to the elephants carrying visitors up to the palace. 

The mirror palace - outside...

...and inside 

Entrance to Ganesh Pol, the Maharajas private palace...

...and another courtyard/garden:-) 

In Jaipur we had many laughs and funny conversations when we answered peoples' "Where are you from?" with a smile and "Bombay!" It was quite relaxing to stroll around and feeling - well, not quite like a tourist, but still kind of like one. Because this was tourist-land, so naturally some tourist-moments also popped up! Like:

..riding an elephant up to the palace ..

....and playing beautiful tunes for the snake to come up... eh......

But a very funny thing happened - wherever we were going to buy tickets - they treated us like Indians - meaning we payed the ticket - price that Indians pay (and not x10 which is what "Foreign Visitors" pay)- so what does that make us?:-)  At The City Palace- they even smiled and greeted us "Welcome home! "  Too funny:-) So, we met some friendly people - no wonder we enjoyed Jaipur? 

Anyway - more travels tales are coming up - stay tuned and thanks for visiting:-) Best to you, dear reader! 

Ta ta from Jaipur!