Jaipur

On to the “Pink City” of Jaipur, out in the desert, and built largely with sandstone.

We stopped briefly in Fatehpur Sikri, another World Heritage site, unique because it is an almost intact Mughal City from the 16th century. It lasted less than 50 years because of an inadequate water supply, but a masterpiece of Mughal architecture.


Also en route we stopped at Chand Baori,one of the deepest and largest step wells in India. Built in the 9th century, it has 3500 narrow steps, 1 3 stories, and is 100 feet deep. There are some two dozen such wells in India. This one was used for both water and as an oasis during the hot summer months.

In Jaipur we stayed at the Taj Jai Mahal Hotel, a heritage property more than 250 years old. There are acres of gardens, a huge chess board in the front gardens, a puppet show at night, a sitar player each morning during breakfast, fabulous architecture, great food, and the same exceptional, smiling Indian service we've already gotten used to. We had a wonderful dinner adjacent to the softly lit swimming pool, seemingly miles from the bustle of a huge city a few hundred meters away.

Our first day in Jaipur included a tour of the City Palace, a huge complex of palaces, gardens, and courtyards, and a museum with an armory, costumes, carpets, paintings, and other treasures. Of course, what made Fran the happiest is finding two outfits for her granddaughter, Lena Rose, in one of the Palace shops!

Nearby we visited the Astronomical Observatory, consisting of 14 major geometric devices built of stone, which measure time, track the movements of planets, predict eclipses, track stars in their orbits, and even forecast local weather. The largest sundial is accurate to within 2 seconds at any point between sunrise and sunset.

Our second day began with a tour of the Amber Fort, a sandstone and marble fort high on the mountain, surrounded by a wall on three sides, and early home of the Amber kings.








Our lunch was at the private estate of a family of textile exporters. Elephants and a small band met us as we arrived.  They gave us bananas with which to feed one of the elephants. Fran (being the city girl that she is) began peeling the banana for the animal before it just grabbed it from her and swallowed it.  Bob, of course,  knew better. [We are not surprised.]








Then we enjoyed an elephant ride in the countryside,after which we were treated to lunch under tents while we watched an elephant polo match!









It wasn't simply an elephant polo match (can you have a simple elephant polo match?) Oh no! It was accompanied by a camel guard, marching band, umpire sitting atop an elephant and under his umbrella, and and a small band of crazies that went wild whenever a goal was scored.

Back in the city, Fran found a wonderful clothing shop to custom-make some lovely Indian clothes, which were delivered to our hotel less than 5 hours later! Here she is, modeling one of her new outfits.