Have you ever visited Jaipur? And by mistake, missed the Amber fort? (ofcourse it would be a mistake)
Jaipur, the Pink City, also being the capital of Rajasthan attracts a lot of domestic and foreign tourist. Its also rated as 10th best place to visit in Asia. If in Jaipur, you must visit Amber fort and you would get a glimpse of grandeur architects India is famous for.
Located 11km from the main city of Jaipur, set on hilltop, Amber fort was built in 1592. The positioning of architectures in the city is according to the Vaastu Shastra (astrology), the fort has a trail of fortified walls that goes to a long distance to keep the enemies away from the city.
The lake infront of the fort is known as Maota lake, and it looks quite beautiful during monsoon. As you can see people climbing up to the fort because its located on a hilltop hence there are 4 ways of climbing up the fort :
Walk all the way up (which is a 20 minute workout)
Take a jeep (takes Rs. 500 up and down – more than 4 people can accomodate in one)
Elephant Rides (I am quite against of this, its quite abnormal for an elephant to climb 5-10 times up and down the fort) – this is until 12pm
Battery Cars (Rs. 40 per person / Rs. 200 for a whole car, it run on the same ramp where elephants walk) this starts after 12pm
See for yourself which option you wanna go ahead with, I recommend walking, because the view is pretty amazing while you walk up.
On reaching to the top, you’ll enter into a compound area known as Jaleb chowk (Hall of Public Audience) where all the elephants stop, and washrooms and ticket counter is here.
For Indian Nationals INR 100
For Foreign Nationals INR 500 (if you have a student ID, you get a discount)
After clearing the ticket checking area, you’ll enter inside the Hall of Private audience, which is massive, and the architecture is a mix of Indo-islamic design put together. There is a very pretty enterance door as well named as Ganesh Gate, which the prettiest of all, the detailings and the colours used, you’ll be amazed.
By the time you’ll be able to get yourself out of the fascination, the fort will be ready to shift your expression from ‘Wow’ to ‘Oh my god’. The next section is my absolute favorite, which is the Mirror Palace.
Made back in 16th century, the concave glass mirrors were imported from Belgium to make this mirror palace. The king wanted to recreate the sky for his Wife, Isn’t is so romantic (I hope my boyfriend / future husband would read this lol)
Its one of the masterpiece that you’ll find in the fort.
I am not getting too much in history and stories (I don’t plan to shadow the income source of local guides) Moving further, there is a garden area, designed in the Mughal style and very well kept. In the next section you will see couple of Palanquins, a classic old style entrance door done with ivory but now reserved (Ivory is illegal in India now) and Old times Natural Air Conditioning, how they used daily objects instead of technology to cool down their palaces.
The next section coming towards the end has palaces of wives and the king and an old style jacuzzi. If accompanied by a local guide, you will get to hear some interesting stories about the king and the wives and some paintings of Kamasutra on the walls of palace.
Head to the coffee shop (Cafe Coffee Day) towards exit or couple of art gallery inside the fort and enjoy the magnificent view of the fort and the city.
