Jaipur India - The Pink City

Jaipur is the largest city in Rajasthan and was built in the eighteenth century by Sawai Jai Singh as India's first planned city.  This city is a part of the Golden Triangle (Agra, Delhi, and Jaipur) and is a huge tourist attraction.  Fortunately for us it was so scorching hot that few tourists were stupid enough to be hanging around, and that made it much nicer touring all the historical sites. 

 Hawa Mahal or The Palace of the Winds. Over 200 years old and built from red and pink sandstone. The stone latticework lets people see out (but not in). This allowed for the women of the royal family to view the crowds below without being seen by the low-life peasants. :)

Typical low-life peasants

Amber Fort - This prodigious fort/palace was built in Hindu-Muslim style and dates back to Raja Man Singh. This was the royal palace from1600-1727. The name has nothing to do with the pastel yellow color. The fort was named after the town of Amber which was named after the goddess Amba.

Jaipur is often called the Pink City in reference to its distinctly colored buildings, which were originally painted to imitate the red sandstone architecture of Mughal cities. The present color originates from repainting of the buildings undertaken for a visit by the Prince of Wales in 1876.  The story is that when the Prince entered the city for a huge celebration, his response was, "Oh, look at this pink city!"  The buildings weren't actually pink in color.  It was surmised that Prince Albert was either color-blind or liquored up (or a combination of both) from all the festivities in the city. Regardless, the nickname for this colorful city remains today.  I appreciated Jaipur so much more than Delhi or Agra. It has charming architecture, enchanting bazaars, and dazzling temples and palaces.