I spent a few days in Jaipur, the state capital of Rajasthan, also known as the "Pink City" for its coloured sandstone buildings in the old part of the city. The city itself had been my favourite so far on my trip to India, it feels a lot less hectic, looks cleaner and has a great mix of old historical buildings and those colonial British ones including palaces and forts.
First stop was the famous Amber Fort or Amer Fort as it's sometimes known. This one is right up there with the Agra Fort in terms of impressiveness! It's based a few kilometres outside the city built on a hillside with a wall that winds in and out of the mountainside very similar to the Great Wall of China. The Fort overlooks Lake Moata, is built of red sandstone and marble with Hindu elements throughout and was ruled by Maharaja Man Singh 1 in the 1500's. It's a really impressive place walking around with some great views, the only sad thing is the amount of elephants there walking up the steep ramparts ferrying tourists up and down! You can pay the full 500 rupees to enter the main complex or you can still walk up and enter the courtyard for free. The Jaigarh Fort overlooks the Amber Fort higher up and is connected via a tunnel. I didn't get chance to do this one as I ran out of time but it looked equally grand.
Next it was onto the Panna Meena Ka Kund Steps Well which was made famous by the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films. Located 5 minutes from the Amber Fort, these steps are clever key crafted around a pool or water to give the impression of an optical illusion, pretty cool! We then headed back towards Jaipur and made a quick stop at the Jal Mahal Palace which sits in the middle of Lake Man Sagar and makes for an interesting photo stop.
Back into the city we made a few stops in the old part of the city to see the City Palace and Hawa Mahal or the "Palace of the Winds" as it's known. The latter is an interesting building, reddy/Pink in colour with lots of tiny windows in an Hindu style, pretty cool and not something I had seen before. The City Palace itself is good to walk around for an hour or so and gives an insight into the history of India. We also made a stop at the Albert Hall Museum which is another fantastic British colonial looking building but I wouldn't pay the money again to go inside as the museum is not really worth it. An odd mix of different things with only a small part dedicated to India.
There are lots of side street markets and bazaars in Jaipur selling everything from food to clothes to tailor made suits, worth exploring if you have a spare hour or so. For dinner there are lots of nice restaurants and some of the palaces have amazing selections in a really old "maharajah" type environment. I ate dinner on the first night at the Rambagh Palace. I can only imagine what this was like back in the times of the Raj. It's absolutely stunning and is now an uber luxury 5 star hotel. The grounds are immaculate has one restaurant called "Steam" which is where we ate. This restaurant is an old converted steam train of 115 years old that used to run up and down the east coast of India. Now it's a beautiful quirky restaurant offering Mediterranean cuisine. We sat in one of the carriages and it was like being on the Orient Express! The total price came to only 4500 rupees which would be more like 10000 rupees in England. A real treat! We also ate at the Palace Hotel and the Peacock Rooftop Restaurant which was highly recommended on Trip Advisor. I can see why! This pretty rooftop overlooks the city and has a great ambience with amazing food. We had a huge dinner and it came to only 2000 rupees so about £24, I couldn't believe it! Both restaurants I would highly recommend for something different.
So that's the end of my time in Jaipur which I've really enjoyed. Next stop, the short 55min flight to Udaipur, also in Rajasthan state.
