Jaipur is divided into the new city and the old city. The old city is a walled city with seven entrances and is painted a terra-cotta color. The nickname of this city is “Pink City” because in 1876 the Prince of Wales visited and it is said pink was his favorite color. So, they painted the city pink. Afterwards the nickname stuck but the ruler at the time changed the color to terra-cotta. Now, it is a law that the old city shall remain that color. It is a place full of tiny shops, narrow streets, and hawkers.
Our first stop was a (two for one) photo opportunity. The Wind Palace is just a facade of 900+ windows and balconies. Our photos taken from across the street were just down the sidewalk from the snake charmer. We had the opportunity to sit next to the snake charmer and have the snake wrapped around our necks.
Amber Fort rises from a rocky mountainside just 11 km outside of Jaipur. The bus delivered us to Jeeps and they took us up the steep and narrow cobblestone road to the fort. Construction started in 1592 and funded by the spoils of war. Three kinds of sandstone and marble are plentiful in this area and these materials were used to build the Fort, largely a royal palace divided into four sections, each with its own courtyard. Nothing in the Fort has been resorted, everything is original.
At the beginning of the trip Mansi gave us each a listening device she calls a whisper device. She has a microphone attached to hers and we all have earbuds. It’s a great device to have both because some of these attractions are so loud and because you can wander and look a little bit while she talks. In one of the courtyard some musicians were playing and women in colorful dress were dancing. Mansi stopped mid-explanation and asked if we wanted to pause and watch the dancers. So we shifted a bit over to take a look and at one point one of the guys I the group joined the women dancing. These spontaneous moments are so fun.
From the top of the Fort a wall in visible. It’s not the Great Wall of China but it’s impressive. I think Mansi said it’s 35 km long. This wall is one of the part of the defense elements of the Fort that kept it from being attacked.
Usually elephants take visitors from the bottom up to the Fort but for some reason they were not available. So, instead, we went to the place where the elephants are kept and took a ride from there around their neighborhood.
