Our final outing was to Amber Fort, built in the 16th century by Maharajah Man Singh. This white marble and red sandstone structure is 7 miles from Jaipur and situated in the Aravalli Mountain Range. I had contemplated boycotting this event because it involved an elephant ride. (Something about that just didn’t seem right to this animal lover.) However, the fear of creating a scene and peer pressure from my roommate made me reconsider. This fort was once the capital of the Minas – believed to be the original inhabitants of this area. Tourists are taken up the winding walkway on elephants, as the maharajah would have been back in the day (pics 1 & 2). We were loaded up 2 per elephant and rolled along, everybody trying to take pictures of everybody else (pics 3 & 5). I couldn’t believe there were hawkers along the way up trying to sell everything from musical instruments to quilts (pic 4)! Who in their right mind, we wondered, would buy something while riding on the back of an elephant? All of the elephants were female and most were in the 20-40 year age range.
When we got to the top of the walkway, we entered the huge arched gate into a courtyard (pic 6)where the elephants “pulled up” beside a concrete step allowing us dismount. Thus began another time of going through gate after gate and finding palatial surprises at every turn. There was a garden area (pic 8) at one part of the maharajah’s palace, a hall of public audience (pic 9) called the Diwan-e-Aam, and my favorite spot, Shish Mahal. This is known as the palace of mirrors. It’s hard to see in the picture, but the walls are lined with little bits of mirrors so that a single candle could illuminate the entire building (pic 10). I can’t imagine how beautiful it would look at night! It was fun being up on the mountain side, in that it provided a great view, as well as a cool breeze.
When we got to the top of the walkway, we entered the huge arched gate into a courtyard (pic 6)where the elephants “pulled up” beside a concrete step allowing us dismount. Thus began another time of going through gate after gate and finding palatial surprises at every turn. There was a garden area (pic 8) at one part of the maharajah’s palace, a hall of public audience (pic 9) called the Diwan-e-Aam, and my favorite spot, Shish Mahal. This is known as the palace of mirrors. It’s hard to see in the picture, but the walls are lined with little bits of mirrors so that a single candle could illuminate the entire building (pic 10). I can’t imagine how beautiful it would look at night! It was fun being up on the mountain side, in that it provided a great view, as well as a cool breeze.
This was our last afternoon before catching a train to Delhi, so some of us visited the blue pottery factory. Jaipur and Sanganer are famous for their hand-painted vessels which are decorated with floral motifs and geometric patterns in combinations of blue, white and occasionally other colors (pic 11). Jaipur is also famous as a center for semi-precious gemstones. The Molto Bello Gems Enterprises store was sad to see the group of American teachers leave Jaipur. We caught an evening train for our third and final ride into Delhi.
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