Jaipur, the capital of the state of Rajasthan, is known as the ‘pink city’ because of all the pink buildings lining the streets of the old walled city. Overlooking Jaipur from a ridge is Nahargarh, or Tiger Fort, which is one of three forts in the city’s vicinity. The largest of the forts is Amber fort and palace which was the home of Maharaja Man Singh, the man who planned out and designed the old city of Jaipur. Present day Jaipur has spilled out of the old fort walls to become one of Rajasthan’s most polluted, crowded and noisy cities.
Getting ready to write this post we thought back on Jaipur and the only things that came to mind where our home away from home at beautiful Krishna Palace and how crowded and hectic the streets were. However, when we started to look back at the pictures and reflect on our time there we remembered the beauty that lay amid all that chaos. Once you accept the chaos for what it is you come to understand why Rajasthan is considered the heart of India: the streets are lined with pink limestone buildings and filled with carts of multicoloured produce and sacs overflowing with dried red chilli peppers, women are in their colourful saris and bangles and the men don eccentric moustaches and colourful Rajasthani turbans. All this life and colour amid all of the rich history is where the beauty lies.
Our first day we decided to walk an hour to one of the gates leading into the old walled city to see the real Jaipur. This walk was the beginning of a day which sure tested our patience and nerves. First of all, to get to the gate, you’re walking along the side of the road (as there are no sidewalks) fighting your way through countless people, bikes, cars, carts pulled by men and camels alike, buses, trucks, not to mention making sure you don’t step on anything unpleasant and of course saying “no thank you” to the relentless auto and bicycle rickshaws. The real shock comes as you walk through the city gates: in addition to the above mentioned obstacles the old city throws at you a million hungry shopkeepers and street vendors on either side of you trying to sell you anything under the sun. Feeding into this frenzy are hundreds of side streets bringing with them speeding motorbikes unwilling to stop for anything or anyone leaving the pedestrians to fend for themselves leapfrogging through traffic.
It took us some time to adjust to the flow of this very vibrant city but as we said before, once we did the true beauty of Jaipur came to the forefront. First thing that we noticed about the ‘pink city’ and its buildings was the unique architecture on display. The pink facades are covered with intricate carvings and lining the main streets all the buildings have uniform archways that cover the sidewalk. Though many buildings are in bad shape it is nice to see that all the buildings in the old city continue to be painted pink.
We have to note two sites that really stood out for us: the Hawa Mahal and the Jantar Mantar. The Hawa Mahal (or Palace of the Winds) is part of the palace complex in the old city and was built for the ladies of the royal household so that they could have a place to watch the happenings of the city from. The exterior is stunning with its beautiful pink honeycombed small windows overlooking the main street. The interior, on the other hand, is nothing but an open courtyard and paths and stairs leading to the many window ledges from which the ladies watched the city life go by. The other interesting place we visited was Jantar Mantar which is an observatory built by Jai Sing. It looks like a bunch of sculptures, some of them exceeding 8 stories in height, lying around a park. Then you learn that each piece has a specific astronomical or astrological purpose such as measuring the position of stars, altitudes and azymuths and calculating eclipses. The massive sundail tells time to an accuracy of two seconds Jaipur local time. Amazing for something built in 1728!
To see our walks, the forts, the palaces and the crazy beauty of Jaipur, click HERE (password: forts).
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| main street in the old city |
Getting ready to write this post we thought back on Jaipur and the only things that came to mind where our home away from home at beautiful Krishna Palace and how crowded and hectic the streets were. However, when we started to look back at the pictures and reflect on our time there we remembered the beauty that lay amid all that chaos. Once you accept the chaos for what it is you come to understand why Rajasthan is considered the heart of India: the streets are lined with pink limestone buildings and filled with carts of multicoloured produce and sacs overflowing with dried red chilli peppers, women are in their colourful saris and bangles and the men don eccentric moustaches and colourful Rajasthani turbans. All this life and colour amid all of the rich history is where the beauty lies.
Our first day we decided to walk an hour to one of the gates leading into the old walled city to see the real Jaipur. This walk was the beginning of a day which sure tested our patience and nerves. First of all, to get to the gate, you’re walking along the side of the road (as there are no sidewalks) fighting your way through countless people, bikes, cars, carts pulled by men and camels alike, buses, trucks, not to mention making sure you don’t step on anything unpleasant and of course saying “no thank you” to the relentless auto and bicycle rickshaws. The real shock comes as you walk through the city gates: in addition to the above mentioned obstacles the old city throws at you a million hungry shopkeepers and street vendors on either side of you trying to sell you anything under the sun. Feeding into this frenzy are hundreds of side streets bringing with them speeding motorbikes unwilling to stop for anything or anyone leaving the pedestrians to fend for themselves leapfrogging through traffic.
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| street vendor |
It took us some time to adjust to the flow of this very vibrant city but as we said before, once we did the true beauty of Jaipur came to the forefront. First thing that we noticed about the ‘pink city’ and its buildings was the unique architecture on display. The pink facades are covered with intricate carvings and lining the main streets all the buildings have uniform archways that cover the sidewalk. Though many buildings are in bad shape it is nice to see that all the buildings in the old city continue to be painted pink.
 |
| Hawa Mahal |
We have to note two sites that really stood out for us: the Hawa Mahal and the Jantar Mantar. The Hawa Mahal (or Palace of the Winds) is part of the palace complex in the old city and was built for the ladies of the royal household so that they could have a place to watch the happenings of the city from. The exterior is stunning with its beautiful pink honeycombed small windows overlooking the main street. The interior, on the other hand, is nothing but an open courtyard and paths and stairs leading to the many window ledges from which the ladies watched the city life go by. The other interesting place we visited was Jantar Mantar which is an observatory built by Jai Sing. It looks like a bunch of sculptures, some of them exceeding 8 stories in height, lying around a park. Then you learn that each piece has a specific astronomical or astrological purpose such as measuring the position of stars, altitudes and azymuths and calculating eclipses. The massive sundail tells time to an accuracy of two seconds Jaipur local time. Amazing for something built in 1728!
To see our walks, the forts, the palaces and the crazy beauty of Jaipur, click HERE (password: forts).
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| gate into the old city |
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| the old pink city |
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| Jantar Mantar |
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| Amber fort and palace |
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| Lake Palace |
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| Albert Hall Museum |
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| This is 'rat park' and what we mean by this is that it's a park with people lounging and eating surrounded by holes that we discovered were rat holes when we saw big fat rats running out of them. |
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