Golden Triangle of India

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Tuesday, 29 November 2016 - Toured Jaipur's highlights with visits to the giant astrological instruments at Jantar Mantar, explored the ornate City Palace with its Chandra Mahal and mirrored rooms, walked through royal courtyards and mirrored halls, saw the historic Royal Gaitor cenotaph complex, enjoyed an elephant ride and dinner under the stars in the desert hills, and stopped to photograph the striking Jal Mahal on the way back.

india2016 — Up early to tour Jaipur we passed this statue with a new flower placed in folded hands.

india2016 — The first stop was Jantar Mantar - which has some interesting astrological instruments

This instrument used to calculate the day of the year.

india2016 — Virginia Ann at the instrument to highlight the travel of the sun for the sign Capricorn - her sign.

india2016 — This instrument cast a shadow to tell the sign of the zodiac. The primary purpose of the observatory was to compile astronomical tables, and to predict the times and movements of the sun, moon and planets.

india2016 — The world's largest sundial accurate to two seconds.

india2016 — A closeup of the sundial each of the small lines is 2 seconds.

india2016 — The City Palace is in the center of town.

Chandra Mahal is the tallest building in the City Palace complex. It is a seven-story building and each floor has been given a specific name. Most of the palace is the residence of the descendants of the former rulers of Jaipur. Only the first floor is allowed for visitors.

india2016 — High up on a wall a statue surrounded by a lei

india2016 — Up one floor to a room simular to the Amer Palace is a mirrored room.

"Shobha Nivas" is on the fourth floor of the Chandra Mahal. It is also known as "Hall of Beauty". The walls of the Shobha Nivas are decorated with mirrored walls with blue tiles ornamented with mica and gold leaf.

india2016 — Detail of the walls in the Shobha Nivas.

india2016 — Weathered door near the top of the palace

india2016 — Sukh Nivas or the "Hall of Rest", is painted in Wedgewood blue fully decorated with white lining. Sukh Niwas was the drawing and dining room of the Maharaja.

india2016 — Near the top of the palace was this lavish room with a throne

india2016 — Virginia Ann sitting in the palace throne room

india2016 — Cal and Virginia Ann enjoying the luxury of the palace throne room

india2016 — There are four beautiful gates in the palace courtyard representing the seasons - this is the Winter Gate

india2016 — Cal in a snake/dragon mirror

india2016 — Palace gate - the spikes were to deter elephants being used as battering rams to knock down the gates.

india2016 — We then drove to Royal Gaitor up in the Jaipur hills. This is a mausoleum for the rulers of Jaipur.

The compound consists of two main courtyards, each crammed full of imposing memorials. This is the first (and more modern) courtyard dominated by the grandiose twentieth-century cenotaph of Madho Singh II (1922), a ruler of famously gargantuan appetites, whose four wives and fifty-odd concubines bore him "around 125" children.

india2016 — One of many statues in the mausoleum wall niches

india2016 — Small tomb off to the side

india2016 — Marble relief of fighting elephants

india2016 — These arches are in the second, older, courtyard home to the elaborate tomb of Jai Singh II (1743), the founder of Jaipur and the first ruler to be interred at the Royal Gaitor.

india2016 — A minaret in front of a wall snaking up the hill to a fort.

india2016 — For dinner we were driven to a desert area in the mountains outside of Jaipur for an elephant ride and then a dinner for two under the stars.

india2016 — The ride was fun - but very slow. Dinner was great - fortunately it was a short hike back to the car for the ride home.

india2016 — We stopped on the way back to photograph the Jal Mahal

Jal Mahal (Water Palace) is located in the middle of the Man Sagar Lake. The palace, built in red sandstone, is five stories of which four floors remain underwater when the lake is full and only the top floor is exposed

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