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Day
3
(October 19, 2014) Jaipur: City Palace
Before
We’ll leave Delhi by train as early as possible to reach
Jaipur with the most of the day to explore it.
We’ll spend that rest of the day on the center of
this pink city.
The spots marked at map are:
0- Hotel
Umaid Mahal
1- City Palace
2- Jantar Mantar
3- Hawa Mahal
4- Jaipur tain station
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After
We leave the hotel as scheduled, at 4:45 AM, a
terrible time if we weren’t sleeping yesterday at 7 PM.
We’re put in a rickshaw which asks only 60 Rs for
taking us, and our three bags, to New Delhi train station. Our train
leaves finally from this station and not from Old Delhi’s as marked in
the map of the previous page, but New Delhi’s is even closer to the
hotel.
Once in the station we look for our train number
in the big screen at the entrance to find out we must go to platform 2.
We go upstairs to the bridge which connects all the platforms and got
to the end of it, from platform 15 to 2. Downstairs, in the platform
itself, we check in the small displays on the roof, our car code to
know on which part of this very long platform we’ll have to board.
Then, we only have to wait for almost one hour. We’ve got a lot of time
because I thought it would be more complicated.
The train comes backwards and our place is at the
end of it. The chairs are comfortable and there is a lot of leg room.
We can see the privileges of Class 1A. Another privilege is the
catering, as they’re continuously offering drinks and food so we get a
good breakfast here. We have the curtain down as we’ve found out the
landscape outside is not interesting, unless you want to see people
defecating.
 
As the train left at its scheduled time, it
reaches Jaipur at its time too: 10:20 AM. Somehow, we cannot see our
name in any of the papers drivers are showing in our way to the exit,
so finally we go to the hotel with the taxi of a young man and we close
deal for all our visits for tomorrow by 960 Rs.
We pay 100 Rs by this trip and reach our fantastic
room after checking in and be told our driver was waiting on another
exit of the station.
 
Plan for today is simple and give us a lot of
spare time to relax: we must just explore the center of Pink City. When
we leave to complete it, a hotel’s taxi driver offers to take us by 150
Rs, but when we’re arriving he persuades Eva to go to a gems factory
without changing the rate.
They show us how the gems are polished and created
from stone in a very quick tour and then we’re addressed to the store
to show all sort of rings. Our attitude makes him pass to the cheapest
rings from the more expensive ones with big diamonds, until he goes to
earrings. Eva ends getting one of those by 10€.
We’re finally taken to City Palace. It’s some
minutes past 12 PM and we’re not that good in time. We walk through the
colorful gates by rickety streets full of cows.
We see the ticket booths for Jantar Mantar and go for it as
it was one of the planned visits for today. We get our tickets by 200
Rs each and get into this peculiar astronomical observatory.
On this flat area, looking as a modern art
exhibition, stands out the giant sundial which has an accuracy of
around 2 seconds.
 
We see 12 similar structures, one per horoscope sign, which pretend to point to its each constellation.
 
After completing this visit we get into the City Palace by purchasing our tickets by 400 Rs each.
Diverse gates are addressing to diverse courtyards with buildings in
the center usually with a lot of arches on them. In one of them, we
find two huge urns which are recorded by the Guinness Book as the
world’s largest silver vessels.
 
Inside the buildings are used for exhibitions of
cloths, vehicle, weapons or images of yore and where photos are not
allowed. In the Hall of Public Audience I’m requested to remove a
picture I did to my wife before knowing they were forbidden.
 
 
When we leave the Palace we’re quite tired and the heat
has a lot to do with it. So we decide to change our walk through
bazaars to Jawa Mahal by taking one of the lot of rickshaw offers we’re
getting in our way.
The plan now is stopping in front of the most characteristic landscape
in Jaipur to take some pictures and take us to our hotel by 200 Rs.
 
The stop is quick and Jawa Mahal is spectacular: a
hive of windows built for women in court could peep the live outside
the palace walls without being seen.
It’s time to go to our hotel and lunch by 1120 Rs, although it’s
already 4 PM. I’ve ordered spaghetti and Eva Strogonoff chicken, with
some starters and desserts.
We cannot wait to go to sleep, but I can still get time to try the
swimming pool.
 
The idea is avoiding to get slept before the time. As yesterday, we’re delivered to the bed at 7 PM.
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