Now is the time to speak of Jaipur. So far, after having risen to Amber Fort, we could not stop to see and walk the city that is known as the Pink City.
Back in 1728 the Raja Jai Singh II moved the capital of the state of Rajasthan in Jaipur, a city that was created for that reason. However, the color should be the name, Rose, was given in 1905, when the city was to welcome Prince Albert, former husband of Queen Victoria of England.
Jaipur is a city not particularly beautiful or gorgeous (in fact almost none of India it is), it is a city shabby and poorly cared for, where as in most of the country, and poverty reigns everywhere you look. It is even more rural and traditional Delhi. However, it is culturally more striking, since she lives and breathes more clearly the Indian culture. There is more to see women in saris of Jaipur, more colorful, reds, greens, pinks, and gaudy colors in general.
Stresses in the city and is known especially for the Palace of Winds, which is given that name for the 593 lattices that cover its facade and through which came the east wind. Built in 1799, the Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds) is in stages and is known for it’s brightly colored in red and white. From those windows of the palace women could peek outside without being seen, thus keeping its purity.
In front of the Hawa Mahal is the observatory of Jai Singh II, an amazing place can accurately calculate not only total solar time, but the position of planets, or their ancestors, among other things?
Welcome Palace dates from 1900 and is now a museum where collections are kept very connects with the history of the state, because in it, jewelry, costumes and weapons, among others. It seems curiously a museum treasure a wealth (at least I think all those jewels) but nevertheless seems abandoned to their fate, bad care and with very little security in sight.
These are, perhaps, visitors should not miss if you travel to Jaipur, but of course the great experience you will always remember the Amber Fort which I spoke in a previous article. If you want you can read this unique experience here: ascent to Amber Fort.
I can not conclude this article without giving personal advice: you may not seem safe, but if you can, go out alone on your own, without guides, without a group, walk the streets of Jaipur, bringing back to its people, talk with them and live a little of his life. We dared to leave, and night. He had just dropped a very strong tornado, the typical monsoon downloading, we left the hotel almost an island. But we did not miss the opportunity.
He spends a little respect, do not say no, but I be astonished to see the life that the city was still dark, bicycles, donkeys, cows, taxis, bocinzos everywhere, cars and rickshaws.
There among the people, ask a place to eat, and they recommended the Niros is fine, really. A local plan mounted on tropical, comfortable and cool. There I ate a hamburger with cheese batter with vegetables, but the truth, they were very good. And, unfortunately, did not let me buy the jug in which I had a beer a pitcher with a beautiful twisted trunk.
The return ... well ... that was another unforgettable experience. In rickshaws, that typical motorcycle carrying a cart back where tourists go ... we see that is not the same go ocn hired guides who go it alone, because those drivers decided to give us the spectacle and to enjoy. We rented three rickshaws, and when we wanted to give accounts had been crushed between them, so that we were skidding along the streets, in the mud of the monsoon, raising us to the sidewalks as people turned away as they could, developed among them as car racing if it were, using the smallest hole ... and we are there, behind in the cart, bouncing, clinging as best we could, but not stop laughing.
Sounds crazy, but those are only done when one feels free wherever one looks at you.