Travel Photos @ Jaipur, Rajasthan

Why is Jaipur popularly known as the “Pink City”? Founded in 1727 A.D., the “old” city of Jaipur was dressed in pink in 1863 to welcome Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria. So you will see a part of the capital of Rajasthan with pink colour buildings.

Reputably known as one of the ten most beautiful cities of India, Jaipur epitomises the grandeur and spirit of the Rajputana era. It is known to be crowned by imposing palaces and forts and is the first planned city of India. Literally, Jaipur is a living museum of the bygone regal era.

JAIPUR

Photos taken from the streets of Jaipur.

On the streets of Jaipur, not only you see cars, buses and auto rickshaws… camels too! In Bangalore (in the south of India), we saw many bull carts on the roads instead.

The yellow-black auto rickshaws in India remind me of Yellow-Top cabs in Singapore.

Garments with floral motifs on sale at a roadside.

Indian print blocks with floral and animal designs.

Fanciful little umbrellas. If I were still a kid, I would buy one and play with it. LOL.

Shirts, dresses and bags on sales along the streets of Jaipur.

A mini shop selling snacks and drinks.

Commonly seen on postcards, travel brochures and websites, Hawa Mahal – The Palace of Winds – was built for the royal ladies in purdah to enjoy the street activities and procession behind the the elaborated facade. Built in 1799, Hawa Mahal is an iconic Rajput monument of “The Pink City”.

The Govt. Central Museum – Albert Hall – is the oldest museum of Rajasthan that houses archaeological collection and handicrafts. The glorious edifice bears testimony of the classic Indo-Saracenic style introduced by the British colonizers.

One of the major attractions in Jaipur, the City Palace Complex in the old city area was built in the early 18th century by the founder of Jaipur, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh and his successors. A fusion of Rajput and Mughal architectural styles, one of the main highlights found at the City Palace includes two humongous silver urns that are mentioned in “Guinness Book of World Records” as the world’s largest silver objects.

City Palace

Rajasthan is famous for puppet show accompanied with folk songs.

City Palace Complex

Jantar Mantar

The World Heritage Site is located outside the gateway of the City Palace Complex. Jantar Mantar is one of the most important and well preserved open air astronomical observatory used for measuring local time, the sun’s declination, meridian, the altitudes of stars and constellations, and determining eclipses. It was built by King Sawai Jai Singh II in 1728. The place looks like a playground. In fact, it’s all about the intelligent use of instruments for mind boggling astronomical calculations.

Guide 101: How to balance a food tray on the head.

A souvenir hawker

A lady in saree

Have you ever seen a palace in the midst of a lake? Jal Mahal is the “Water Palace” that was built in 1799. You will see the summer resort of the erstwhile royal family while on the way to Amber. Another postcard-esque view of Man Sagar lake.

AMBER

Attractions that we visited in Amber: Amber Fort, Jaigarh Fort and Nahargarh Fort.

If you are in Jaipur, you shouldn’t miss these attractions in Amber that’s merely 11km away from the city of Jaipur. They are the favourite highlights of our trip. These ancient splendours are perched on the craggy Aravalli range of hills running across western India and Eastern Pakistan. Not only you will be amazed by the awe-inspiring forts and palaces of the royal Rajputs since medieval India , the breathtaking views from the top will blow you away.

Jaigarh

The well-preserved hill-top fort surrounded by huge battlements is famous for the “Jai Ban” cannon, the biggest cannon on wheels in the world.

The world’s biggest cannon on wheel. Barrel: 20 ft long. Wheels: 9 ft in diametre.

Views of the hill range from Jaigarh.

Nahargarh

The uphill track to Nahargarh is rocky and bumpy. That could be one of the reasons why not many tourists were seen at the fort. A staff from WelcomHotel Sheraton Rajputana highly recommended this place as it offers an excellent vantage point of the city from the top. Mind you, there are also more monkeys and they can be aggressive. So we didn’t climb up to the highest floor of the building.

A spectacle to behold – the city view of Jaipur.

This is the highest viewpoint that we could get from Nahargarh on the hill range.

We could even see Jal Mahal, the “Water Palace” from Nahargarh.

And the Amber Palace.

Read posts on Jaipur and Bangalore. Next, we took a train to Agra, the home of Taj Mahal.