{"id":7636,"date":"2018-02-27T16:18:35","date_gmt":"2018-02-27T16:18:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/AFRICAtime\/?p=7636"},"modified":"2020-07-13T11:36:30","modified_gmt":"2020-07-13T10:36:30","slug":"imperial-india-travel-agents-trip-2018-part-3-jaipur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/imperial-india-travel-agents-trip-2018-part-3-jaipur\/","title":{"rendered":"Imperial India travel agents trip 2018 \u2013 Part 3 – Jaipur"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Road to Jaipur<\/h3>\n

Our first stop was at one of the oldest\u00a0and grandest stepwells of Rajasthan at\u00a0Abhaneri, and we really had no idea what\u00a0to expect. It is an impressive well with\u00a0sets of steps along each side, which gives\u00a0the idea of an inverted pyramid. Since\u00a0Rajasthan state is so arid, the design and\u00a0final structure of Chand Baori was\u00a0intended to conserve as much water as possible, keeping the water temperature\u00a0cool, as well as providing a communal\u00a0meeting place.<\/p>\n

\"Abhaneri<\/a>

Abhaneri stepwell<\/p><\/div>\n

The day was conveniently divided with a\u00a0welcome lunch stop at the Umaid Lake\u00a0Palace and we took the time to explore its impressive grounds where many of the\u00a0ingredients from our lunch were bred or\u00a0grown. Before we left we were treated to a cooking demonstration.<\/p>\n

\"Cooking<\/a>

Cooking demonstration<\/p><\/div>\n

We continued on towards Jaipur where\u00a0we had a wonderful dinner and show\u00a0around of the Oberoi Rajvilas property and its impressive gardens, home to\u00a0countless peacocks and parrots.<\/p>\n

Jaipur \u2013 the \u201cPink City\u201d<\/h3>\n

Our fifth day was to be our busiest, and I think whilst we had\u00a0crammed so much in to our Golden Triangle itinerary, we could\u00a0have benefitted from a three-night stay in Jaipur rather than\u00a0two, to maximise our sightseeing opportunities combined with\u00a0some rest and relaxation.<\/p>\n

The famed walled city of Jaipur is still home to the Indian royal\u00a0family This \u201cpink city\u201d is renowned for the buildings painted\u00a0with a sandstone hue which reflects pink in the sunshine. We\u00a0began the day with a photo stop at the Hawa Mahal, otherwise\u00a0known as the \u201cPalace of Winds\u201d. This monument is one of the\u00a0iconic fa\u00e7ades of Rajasthani architecture. Royal queens,\u00a0princesses and maidens used to observe official processions\u00a0from behind the ornate windows.<\/p>\n

A visit to the impressive Amber Fort followed. We had chosen\u00a0to ascend to the heights of the fort in jeeps, although it is possible to make this trip by elephant, but none of our group\u00a0wished to do this. The century-old fort houses the royal chambers of India\u2019s bygone rulers, and nearby once descended\u00a0from the fort, there is the opportunity to visit the Jal Mahal \u201cSummer\/Water\u201d Palace by boat on Lake Man Sagar, which was\u00a0apparently used for Maharajah picnics.<\/p>\n

\"Amber<\/a>

Amber Fort<\/p><\/div>\n

The afternoon ended up being quite a busy one! We began with a visit of the City Palace, where the Jaipur royalty still resides and\u00a0comprises, amongst its many structures, a museum which allows you to acquaint yourself with the royal heritage and family\u00a0heirlooms.<\/p>\n

\"Jai<\/a>

Jal Mahal<\/p><\/div>\n

Next we visited the Royal Observatory (Jantar Mantar), a compound commissioned by the astronomy-loving Maharajah in the early\u00a01700s. Here you will find sundials and stone instruments, created to decipher the calendar and astronomical tables.\u00a0After all our sightseeing today, a bit of retail therapy was on the cards and the Baapu bazaar ticked the boxes for some of our group\u00a0for finding those \u201cmust take back\u201d souvenirs or traditional Indian clothing at great prices. We also had the opportunity to visit the\u00a0Birla Temple which demonstrates the fascinating religious life of Jaipur, especially as its three unique domes aim to encompass those\u00a0who follow Indian religions from different directions.<\/p>\n

We had an unusual trip back to our hotel by tuk-tuk in the rush hour traffic \u2013 another nice little surprise!<\/p>\n

Call our friendly team of experts on 020 8423 3000<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7642,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[440,442,575,605,443,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-family","category-india","category-inspiration-the-indian-subcontinent","category-luxury","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/small-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7636"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11004,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7636\/revisions\/11004"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somak.com\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}