After lunch we head with the guide
into the old part of Jaipur known as the Pink City. As north India’s first designed city, Jaipur
was built in 1727 by Maharaja Jai Singh, with wide boulevards surrounded by
shops and a robust city wall. The name
Pink City comes from 1876 when Maharaja Ram Singh had the town painted pink for
the arrival of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII).
In the middle of the old city is the
City Palace, a complex of courtyards, gardens and buildings. Here we see the Diwan-i-Khas (hall of private
audiences) complete with huge silver vessels used by Maharaja Madho Singh II to
carry holy Ganges water to London for the coronation of Edward VII in 1902.
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| One of a pair of 9000l silver vessels |
These big jugs carry 9000l of water
each and are in the Guinness book of records as the largest silver objects in
the world!
We also saw the beautiful gates at
Pitam Niwas Chowk, including our favourite Peacock Gate.
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| Peacock Gate |
Nearby the City Palace is the Janter
Mantar, that looks like a collection of modern-art like triangular and
spherical sculptures but are actually part of an observatory used for telling
time and plotting the position of the stars.
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| Big sun-dials |
Our trip into the Pink City is
rounded off with a slightly scary bicycle rickshaw ride through the middle of
town in rush-hour. A little different to
Kew Bridge on a Brompton !
Mr M
Looks scary................and that's Mr M !!
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