A friend and I had 2 days in Jaipur and this is all the places that we managed to visit.
We started from Delhi early in the morning in an express train and reached Jaipur by noon.
We booked our stay at Hotel Amer View (less than a km from Amer fort).It took us around 40mins to reach the hotel from the Train Station. The cab driver was curious why we selected our hotel which was out of the city as the view points in Jaipur were all in the city. We were beginning to regret too as the cab was heading in the off-city roads. But once we reached our hotel, we were so relaxed. It was definitely out of the city, but was very close to Amer fort. And was extremely peaceful compared to the city. And the hotel was maintained very well. Loved the interiors. Loved the decorated ceiling. It was beautifully crafted with the traditional Jaipuri-creepers.
Since it was already noon, we decided to have lunch somewhere outside at a local dhaba. We headed towards Amer fort in a sharing rickshaw(No fun in the trip unless you get really local! ). Right opposite to the place where Elephant rides are booked, there is a small dhaba. This place was suggested by our rickshaw guy. Ah! I still drool thinking of those parathas. We ordered one each of Paneer Paratha and Aloo Paratha along with Daal. Me being a south Indian, realised that I have always been fooled by the North Indian restaurants in the name of Parathas. These were so filled with Paneer and it was so filling. Hot,Spicy Parathas with Achar(Pickle) and the Spicy Daal made our day.
1. AMER FORT
Then we went ahead to Amer fort(100mts,by walk). There are two ways you can enter the fort. Either walk a few stairs or take the Elephant ride. We walked. And we were continuously poked by so-called guides. They would keep nagging you, all that you need to do is ignore and walk straight. So, once you enter, you get to see the flock of pigeons.
And then there/s a beautiful lake on the left. Once you reach on top, you are supposed to buy entry tickets. We bought the ones which provides entrance to other places like Jantar Mantar,Nahargarh,Hawa Mahal,etc.
If you are a lover of Art and history, you would love this place. The architecture, the size of the stairs, the walls, the soft and shiny texture of the walls, everything is just beautiful. I love imagining life at the historic sites. Start visualizing the kings and queens moving around. Imagine the visitors from the other land coming to meet the kings with the escorts. Imagine the dance/music festivals that used to be the best entertainment back then. Mahals/Forts truly brings out your imagination skills.
Once you enter the fort, you get to see this beautiful garden on the lake and also the fort wall on the other side. Look at the garden again! Remember the song from Jodha-Akbar movie?
You get to see the Mirror palace here. Some restoration work was going on when we visited, so couldn't really get inside. Well, Don't forget to keep your ears open to the guides explaining what the carvings on the pillars here mean.
Can you notice the stars and lotus in the pic below? It is said that as Akbar belonged to the Mughals and Jodha belonged to a Hindu family, you get to see many detailed pieces with the 6 inner small hexagons forming a 6 petal lotus and then there are stars around the lotus to show the harmony between Hindus and Muslims. Really beautiful!
Don't forget to check the long,dark tunnels. These look like passages. But, wonder why they were so narrow and spooky. The light at the other end is a exit door.
And then there is a beautiful Art museum while returning. Don't miss to visit this. It has a beautiful collection of modern art. This is a bronze statue of a woman hugging a swan. Loved how the wings are twisted and beautified.
That's me! Posing! :)
Near the exit, you need to walk a li'l ahead to get connected to the place where the "Light & Sound Show" is held at night. It's a 45 min long narration of the history and you just cannot miss this. The fort looks beautiful throughout and you get a feeling of life in this fort.
That's how beautiful the fort looks.!!
It costs Rs.250 per head for the show.
Then we made sure to repeat the same Parathas while returning :)
On the way to our hotel, there was a local market selling deep fried snacks. We couldn't resist and got a handful of them packed.
So, the entire evening was spent at just one location. All worth it if you love forts,like I do.
Day2
1. Hawa Mahal :
We asked for the local bus numbers with the traffic lady there and accordingly caught a Volvo. Do not get into those mini buses unless you are really ready for the stares and not-so-hygienic conditions.
We got down at a junction as suggested by the bus conductor and walked a li'l towards the Hawa Mahal. Here's the surprise. All these years, the image of the Hawa Mahal which we get to see on books and google is actually the back side of the mahal. And the entrance is on the other side. It's a really busy area and there's market all over.
This is how the entrance looks like :
Since we had already bought the tickets which included the entrance for Hawa Mahal too, we did not have to pay here.
There's an art museum here too once you enter. There's nothing much that fascinates here except that portion of the place which is visible to the road. Once you reach the end, go through the stairs and go on top, the wind is so chilled here, feels fresh. There are tiny blocks,tiny windows,tiny spaces, everything is so beautifully made and only when you are here you know why its named as Hawa Mahal. It really gives the fresh and cool wind here.
From here, we headed to the next spot, Jantar Mantar, by walk. Its closeby.
2. Jantar Mantar
Now this place is truly mind blowing. I mean, such work precision!!Back in that times!! We have everything at our fingertips now. But think of this, at that time, to make something this huge, this innovative, this brilliant, it really deserves a bow. If you get a good guide here, you will admire this place a lot.
This is one of the pieces there which shows the position of stars at any given point.
3. Isarlaat
Again, a li'l walk ahead, or you can take the pedalled rickshaws, you will reach this not-so-good looking place. There's hardly any crowd here. That's the best part. Just get inside and keep walking. Its a narrow space spiraling and leading to the top. It might get a li'l tiring when you are almost there. But, do not give up. 'Cz its worth it once you are on top.
You get to see the crowded city, a 360 degree view with the freshest wind from everywhere. Sit here for a while and you would feel energised all over again.
Well, Do not forget to pose with the ceiling too. Its a beautiful sight.
And let me remind you, you will find rickshaw guys continuously asking for you to visit a market nearby. And we wanted to see where they took us. So, we went ahead. It wasn't worth the visit. Do not go if you don't have ample time in hand.
4. Bapu Bazaar
From here, we took a sharing auto again, and headed to Bapu Bazar. Now this place was filled with stores selling clothes to handicrafts to bangles and everything Rajasthani. Bargain as much as possible and purchase items here. The collection is really good.
And yes!! DO NOT forget to try the falooda in the one and only Falooda store here. Ask around for the falooda store and anyone should be able to help you. Try their speciality and you would ask for more. You would never regret those extra calories.
5. Nahargarh Fort
So, all this was over by 3pm and we still had the evening and we decided to go Nahargarh fort, cz we still had a valid paid entry ticket. We booked Ola. That's the mistake we never realised till we reached. The cab service took us to an entry point which is not really an entry point. It was somewhere in a corner.
When asked, the driver said that he needs to take us through whichever route his maps shows. We thought of taking a chance and went ahead. The road got narrow and we got to see the dirty side of the city too. There are pigs everywhere on the road. There's garbage dumped everywhere. There's cow dung everywhere. And the worse, the staring local eyes.
We got down at a point where the local auto guys seemed to dislike Ola guys. As soon as we got down, many of them started harassing saying that we wouldn't get anything to return from here. And there is no way we could reach the fort from this point.
We acted deaf and went walking up the hill. The entire dirty roads and these people had disturbed our mood already. When we went up ahead, we saw a group of local guys having alcohol. We sensed some trouble and did not continue. This was more disappointing!!
But we caught some beautiful sight half way though.
Getting back was one horribly sad story. What you need to know is that, do not book any cab services, take the local jeep for Nahargarh fort. They charge around Rs500 at first. Get it down to Rs350.
6.The Lake Palace.
This was one place to relax. Though its kind of crowded, find a peaceful place and enjoy the scene. A Palace in the middle of a lake is one rare sight.
This place falls between Amer fort and Hawa Mahal. So, we saw this place under the daylight when we first went to the hotel on the first day and when we headed to Hawa Mahal on the second day. But, being here late in the evening was even more pleasant.
Well, That's it. Local food, local shopping and the history of Rajastan is surely beautiful.
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