We decided to set aside a whole day to visit the forts in the vicinity of Jaipur. We visited the famous Amber Fort, walked along a secret corridor to the Jaigarh Fort and then went up the hill to the Nahargar Fort. And from it we descended directly to Jaipur.
Getting from Jaipur to Amber Fort is very easy. You can, of course, go by taxi or rickshaw, but you can also take a regular bus.
The bus to Amber Fort departs from Jaipur from the square near the Palace of Winds. Route 29. Buses run quite often, cost 10 rupees. The road from Jaipur takes approximately
20 minutes. The bus passes along the road at the foot of the hill on which the Amber Fort is located. And you still have to climb to it.
Amber Fortress, or Amber Fort, was built in the 16th century for Raja Man Sigha I. The fort is located on the top of a hill, at a distance of 11 km from Jaipur. It is surrounded on almost all sides by a solid wall that stretches for many kilometers. The terrain around is hilly and covered with rather dense vegetation, which was an additional plus when defending.
There are three options for ascending to Amber Fort: on foot, by jeep, or by elephant. The last two are quite costly.
The ascent on foot from the road to the gate of the fort takes 10-15 minutes. You can enter the courtyard without a ticket, but to wander around the entire fort, you need a ticket, for foreigners it costs 200 rupees or you can go with a composit ticket.
Amber Fort is divided into 4 main parts, each with its own separate entrance and courtyard. The main entrance is located in the eastern part of the fortress, for which it received the name "Gate of the Sun". It was intended for the ruler himself and the nobility. The entrance leads to the courtyard, in which the Raja conducted an inspection of his personal guard. There was also a place for horses, the rooms of the bodyguards were on the floor above. From this courtyard you can get to the Sila Devi temple, where sacrifices were made to the goddess Kali until 1980. You can enter the temple, but you will have to leave all ALL things and even take off your shoes. Near the entrance there is a specially trained person who will hold your camera, of course, not for free. The temple does not represent anything sensible, we went in turn, tk. leave things to some Indian without identification marks, without a receipt, etc. did not want. Better to admire the view of the surroundings, which opens from the walls of the fort.
There are many interiors in the fort and it will take at least 1-2 hours to visit them all. All of them are connected by intricate corridors, staircases and passages. The second courtyard is a large hall with a double row of columns. It was intended for meetings where people could make requests or statements to the Rajah. 
Many balconies go out in all directions, from them you can observe the surrounding hills with fortified walls, a pond in front of Amber Fort, Jaigarh Fort and a line of elephants with tourists going to the fort.
The third part of the fortress was set aside for the royal chambers, which can be accessed through the "Ganesha Gate". This place is most replete with all sorts of wonders that attract tourists. Here you can see Hall of a thousand mirrors, "Magic flower" and many other attractions. According to legend, the Hall of a Thousand Mirrors can be illuminated with just one candle, as its walls are covered with small mirrors.
In Amber Fort there is a tunnel through which you can leave the fort in case of a siege. They say underground passages lead all the way to Jaipur, but they are closed, and only one passage to the Jaigarh fort is open. It was along this path that we left the Amber fort and moved towards the Jaigarh fort.
Jaigarh fort much smaller and more modest than Amber Fort and to visit it you need a separate ticket, cost 85 rupees and 50 rupees for a camera (but no one controls).
The fort also houses the world's largest cannon on wheels, at least so the inscription near it says.
The fort may appeal to nature lovers - there are many wild monkeys, chipmunks and parrots in it.
After the Jaigarh fort, you can go down and go to Jaipur, but this is not our case. We went on foot to Nahargar Fort. There is only 5 km to it, the road goes along the ridge from where they open beautiful views to the surroundings. On the way, tuk-tukers tried to pester us, but not much. On the other hand, we saw wild peacocks more than once, and once more an animal, the size of a small fox, but gray with a dark tip of its tail, flashed through.
And here we are at the Nahargar Fort. The fort almost looms over Jaipur, so its walls offer excellent views of the city, and in one place there is even a huge sand dune... There are also macaques, and there were langurs in other forts.
From the fort, the serpentine road descends directly into the city. Descend on it quickly and pleasantly, but hardly ascend.
And if you are going to the forts in the morning, do not forget to grab a windbreaker, this is not Mumbai, it is much cooler here.
Friends! I forgot to show you one of the most interesting places our trip: the fortress-palace of Amber, located 11 km from Jaipur. We also rode elephants there!
From 1502 to 1728, the capital of the Kachvakh clan was located here. Protected by hills and high fortified walls, the palaces of Amber combine elements of Rajput and Mughal architecture. The construction of the complex began in 1592 under Man Singh I on the ruins of an 11th century fortress. Most of the buildings of the fort appeared during the reign of Maharaja Jai Singh I (reigned 1622-1667).
You can get inside the fort either on foot, or by jeeps, or by elephants, which is most interesting of all, of course.
Even the fact that you are sitting on an elephant at a height of about 3 meters does not confuse the seller of peacock-shaped shoe spoons. The price changes quite sharply from $ 100 to 100 rupees as the elephant moves away :)
The elephant goes up slowly, I find it difficult to name the speed, as if it were slower than the usual pace of a man.
Many of our group were seriously afraid to ride an elephant, in fact, it's okay, just wiggles slightly from side to side.
Fort Amber rises above the drying lake of Maota, next to which there are two Mughal-style gardens - Kesar Kyari Bagh and Dil-i-Aram (literally "Relief for the heart"). The latter was defeated in 1568 for the rest of the Mughal emperor Akbar on the way to Ajmer.
There is a separate path for hikers, it is probably no more than 5 minutes to walk there.
While we were photographing enough, local photographers took pictures of us from their side. We were offered the finished photos in several stages, at first they tried to sell the album for $ 10 for each photo ...
Of course, we refused))) The photographers proudly left, obviously expecting that we will immediately change our minds. For a couple of hours we calmly inspected the fort when we met again with the camera and printer masters. Prices dropped significantly to $ 10-15 per album. Some bought. But the briskest trade began when we finally left the fort and climbed into the jeeps. As a result, the album with photos got for $ 5. One of them at the end of the post:)
Once inside, the elephants come up to a special ladder to make it easier for tourists to get off. We climbed in the same way, so we won't be able to boast of acrobatics.
Many people call Amber Fort amber, because the word "amber" is translated from English as amber, and besides, the walls of the fortress are yellow. But, they say that this is a coincidence and the legends of the fort connect the name of Amber either with some kind of Ambikishvara Shiva, or with the goddess Amba.
Behind the austere walls of Amber Fort lies the exquisite Maharajah Palace, with magnificent finishes. Inside, the fort looks like an eastern oasis, only a small fraction of the luxury of which has survived to this day. Marvelous arches, mosaics, mirrors, fountains, many rooms and intricate passages, all this indicates the once greatness of the decorations of this place.
Amber is the place where you can safely spend the whole day walking along the walls of the fort, looking at the inner chambers, gardens, courtyards. The fortress seemed the most interesting for a trip to India, since there were not very many tourists here, during the season, of course, much more.
Ganesha's gate to a closed part of the palace, where access was previously allowed only to the Raja's family and servants.
Here they are closer:
Nearby is Diwan-i-Am - the place where Raja communicated with his subjects. The architecture is similar to Fatehpur Sikri, right?
Near the place of audience are the offices of local aristocrats.
Which were separated from each other by carpets ...
The courtyard almost fits into the lens) The special charm of the fort is that there are many different ladders, turrets, niches and balconies, from which a picturesque view opens up. You can shoot all this from different angles endlessly, in good lighting (as it is now), in any case, it will turn out beautifully.
Already from above we observe the caravan of elephants with new tourists:
They also have a photo session:
The floors almost everywhere in the Rajah's chambers are decorated with marble.
Inside is the famousShish Mahal -mirrored palace, an unthinkable luxury at that time:
Mirror mosaic was one of the techniques for decorating walls, columns and ceilings in Rajput palaces. The Rajput style (from "raj" - "prince", "put" - "son") was formed in Rajasthan during the reign of the Rajputs - princely families.
Restoration work is carried out almost constantly, very often tourists and locals leave themselves a souvenir as a keepsake, chipping off pieces of mirror mosaic. A vigilant guard tries to follow, but she is alone, and there are several rooms ...
The inner chambers of the rajah are also beauty!
Windows overlook a pretty courtyard:
Traditional "peeping" windows for the rajah's wives:
and the view from the window:
The fort is located in an inaccessible place and is very well fortified, so no one was able to capture it (or maybe they did not even try).
One of the many turrets-pavilions:
These are obviously premises not for the rajah, but, probably, for the servants. There are 2 huge cauldrons in the center :)
Numerous terraces ...
I have a lot of photos, but I feel it's time to wrap up)))
I can't help but show: the dome of one of the gazebos in the women's quarters
And finally, my mother and I are riding an elephant)))
India, so far, has been very interesting!
Jaipur is the city we liked the most in India. In Jaipur, our driver buckled up and again began to pay attention to the traffic lights. In Jaipur, we first saw people sweeping the streets, for this reason it is much cleaner than the same Delhi or Agra. An overground metro is under construction in Jaipur. The Silk Road passed through Jaipur and its rulers quickly figured out how to make money out of it. They built up huge neighborhoods with two-story shops at the top of which they housed living rooms and rented them out to merchants for free. Unsurprisingly, the city quickly turned into shopping center... Even now, the volumes of those buildings are impressive. You can imagine how trade was boiling here before. But the main attraction of Jaipur is still different.
Fort Amber
The main attraction of Jaipur on our list, Amber Fort is located 11 km north of Jaipur and is a beautiful complex of palaces, halls, pavilions, gardens and temples, built over two centuries.
Fort Amber is located on the side of a mountain and to get to it you need to travel a long way from Lake Moata, located at the foot. Usually tourists are raised on elephants, but this time there was some kind of holiday, so a myriad of local population and there weren't enough elephants for everyone.
Huddling in the queue, the guide made a wise decision to replace the elephants with jeeps and go up on a gasoline traction.
Having fought off the annoying sellers, we hit the road.
Double headpiece
The tired elephants began to leave at the same time. It turns out that earlier poor animals worked all day, lifting tourists up the mountain. It is clear that in this mode they worked for wear and tear. And after some time, an accident occurred when a tired elephant killed a tourist from Japan, who approached him for a photo. After this incident, the elephants were transferred for half a working day. To be honest, in half a day the elephants look far from cheerful.
Are they lined up in height or do I think?
Unlike a jeep.
The lens sticking out of the jeep reminds us that there are still several gigabytes of unassigned video on the disk.
The path to the fort lies along narrow streets, along which hardworking Indians hurry. By the way, the color of the sari differs in different areas of India. Here everyone wore mostly yellow. And not always with a bag on his head, there were no bags.
For example, without a bag
The fort is actually almost a palace. What happened in it, as soon as the local rulers did not entertain themselves in the absence of TV and the Internet. There are also rooms with heated floors. It would be more accurate to say a room inside a heated room for cold periods.
One of the courtyards
Rare group shot
Rooms for wives watching her husband's entertainment:
Those who, according to their status, were not supposed to be seen by mere mortals, had to be content with peeping through such windows.
According to the guide, this fort did not participate in military battles, the stone wall covering the nearby mountains, first of all, protected the predators that once lived in the jungle from the inhabitants of Jaipur. Now on the slopes of the mountains there is neither jungle nor living creatures. It is safe to say that the wall did not cope with its great mission.
Walking through the buildings of the fort, we noticed the low ceilings. For example, to go down to the basement where the water storage was located, you had to bend twice!
Apparently the Indians in those days were short. And they didn't care about safety. All balconies had handrails that barely reached the knees, and some of the stairs had no handrails at all.
I will not retell everything stated by the guide, I will only note the following curious fact. After India gained independence, numerous Indian kings and shahs lost their wealth. Most of their real estate passed into state ownership, and the royal families were left with relatively modest houses. Someone, in order to ensure their own life, opened hotels in them, someone rents out ancient buildings for parties, weddings and banquets. For example, we were offered dinner with a real royal family for only $ 200 per person. But somehow we were not tempted ...
And so that you don't get the wrong impression about the hard life of the Indians, a couple more photos. For example, this lady makes her living ...
... not at all by what sweeps the floor. 20-30 rupees per photo and the model is ready to pose for you as much as you like in any plan. Fix 35 mm. by the way for those interested:
I didn’t whiten my teeth.
In Jaipur, we finished our journey along the golden triangle. To save time and not bother ourselves with a long journey by car, we flew to Goa on a direct flight from Jaipur. We flew by SpiceJet, though we were a little worried, as the Internet is full of various rumors about their disorder. Like the fact that if there are no passengers, the flight can easily be canceled. But since there were already 8 of us, we decided that the risk of cancellation due to the absence of passengers is minimal. For those who will buy tickets on their own, I will note that we could not buy tickets on the airline's website, no matter how much we tried. The card simply did not pass and that's it. Therefore, we took tickets to one of the aggregators. Unfortunately, the aggregator did not allow to immediately redeem food on board, so I had to fight the flight attendants during the flight.
The flight to Goa does not go directly, but with a stopover in Ahmedabad. It doesn't take much time, besides, you don't have to get off the plane, transit passengers stay in their seats.
On this, the cognitive part will probably finish completely and move on to life in Goa. In part, I have already touched on it, now we will relax to the fullest….
I almost forgot - the last picture of our guide, the coordinates were at. Best recommendations from us.
Elephant trekking to Amber Fort
To Amber Fort on elephants
My acquaintance with the sights of Jaipur began from the Amber Fort. He is 11 km from the city, recalls Lyudmila.
The Amber Fort is also called the Amer Fortress-Palace. It used to be the capital of the state of Rajasthan. But in 1727, the state capital was moved to Jaipur.
The excursion began when the guide came to pick me up in a taxi in the morning, says Lyudmila. Together with two Kyrgyz women who were already sitting there, we went to the fort.
Just outside the city, the flat terrain gave way to hills with sparse vegetation. We did not drive long, and soon we saw ancient defensive structures. They settled down on the hills, and many kilometers of defensive walls with towers twisted along the crests. If I were in China, I would think that in front of me is the famous Chinese Wall.
View of the Amber fort from the town at the foot of the hill
At the very top of a large hill, the Jaigarh fort is firmly hooked. And on the slope, just below the middle, on the plateau is the Amber Fort, surrounded by powerful amber-colored fortress walls.
Rumor has it that he got the name from the translation into English words amber. But opponents claim that he was named after the goddess Amer. Be that as it may, but the walls of the fort are yellow, and they were built from local sandstone. They are very well reflected in Lake Maota below. And next to the lake, at the very foot of the hill, there is an ancient town.
There were three roads leading to Fort Amber: one for pedestrians, one for cars, and one for elephants. By the way, they came up with a very convenient idea - no one interferes with each other. The road is not difficult, it takes only 10 minutes to climb on foot. But where can we go on foot, if we can ride on elephants!
Having stood in line at the ticket offices for boarding such an exotic "taxi", and having paid 450 rupees, we perched on the device in the form of a rocking chair on the back of the elephant, and swaying strongly, slowly moved on our way.
I will not say that it was very pleasant walk, because of the corresponding smells, because a whole line of painted elephants rose along the road. But everything is so unusual! I remembered Thailand, I had my first experience of elephant trekking there. At the end of the path, at the gate of the fort, an Indian ran up, and with the dexterity of a juggler put a turban on our heads, of course not for free, and immediately demanded 100 rupees for a headdress.
A turban worth 100 rupees - an attachment to an exotic taxi
Fort Amber is divided into 4 parts. Each part has its own gate and its own courtyard.
We entered the fortress through the main gate - Suraj Pol (Solar Gate), and got into a courtyard with ticket offices and a parking lot for elephants.
Taxi stand in the fortress
Here they dismounted, bought entrance tickets to the royal chambers for 150 rupees (these are the prices for tourists, for locals, 25 rupees), passed through the three-tier famous Ganesha gates brightly painted with floral patterns. Previously, only the Raja himself, members of his family and servants passed through these gates, and now there are thousands of tourists.
Above the very entrance of the gate, there is a figurine of the elephant-like god Ganesh, because according to legend, it ensures good luck in all matters, eliminating various obstacles. The figurine is made of solid coral by skilled craftsmen.
Outside the gates, the entire palace complex was revealed to our eyes. I was simply stunned by the beauty of the palaces that were hiding behind the severe walls of the formidable fortress. The luxury and grace were amazing. Architectural structures made of marble and red sand were adorned with mirrors and gilding! The buildings of the palace complex perfectly combined Hindu and Mughal architectural styles. Main palaces:
General Audience Hall - Divan-I-Am;
private audience hall - Divan-I-Khas;
the hall of victory, or the Mirror Palace - Jai Mandir;
entertainment hall, or the Palace of Pleasures - Sukh Nivas.
I was struck by the beauty of the Mirror Palace - Jai Mandir. These are the chambers of the Raja himself.
Mirrored palace
The walls of the palace are decorated with inlaid Indian panels with carved marble depicting flowers and graceful figurines.
Vaulted ceilings are made of mirrored mosaics; thousands of small mirrors, gilded tiles and glass are laid out so that the slightest ray of light illuminates the entire hall and ignites the starry sky. The effect is amazing.
At the time when the hall was being built, such mirrors were made only in Europe. They were expensive, and their delivery to the fort cost the rulers a rather large sum. Legends were made about the wonderful appearance of the hall, many dreamed of visiting it!
In the public audience hall - Divan-I-Am, beautiful twin marble columns, with the heads of elephants at the top, amaze. The trunks of the elephants seem to be holding the ceiling.
And next to it, there are 27 offices with snow-white marble columns. The local nobility met here.
Opposite the Mirror Palace is the Palace of Pleasures - Suks Nivas, also an unusual building. It is all white marble rooms.
Pleasure palace
Sandalwood doors with ivory inlay. The walls of the rooms are full of openings for cool air and gutters through which water flows, cooling the rooms. We can say that this cooling system is the predecessor of modern air conditioners.
Water cooling of the marble Pleasure Palace
In the women's quarters (zenana), the rooms are quite ingeniously designed. The Raja visited one of his wives or concubines in her room without being noticed by the other wives.
On the third tier of the Ganesh gate, there are gazebos with excellent panoramic views.
Panoramic view from the windows of the gazebo
From the windows of the pavilions, women had the right to observe the guests of the palace. They were not visible from the outside behind the beautiful openwork grilles.
Here I am sitting alone at the open window
In one of the courtyards, the royal garden Char Bagh (Garden of earthly joys) is located. It is completely different from the gardens we are used to. Once lush and handsome, now it looked boring. Stunted plantings grew among the marble paths that divided the garden, creating a strict pattern. They were once watered by a fountain, but unfortunately it did not work.
Garden at the Mirror Palace
Fort Amber left an ambiguous impression in the memory. On the one hand, this is a powerful fortification with outbuildings: with stables, elephants, large cauldrons, where food for servants was cooked in the courtyard and the fort's guards lived.
Such is the bowler hat
On the other hand, it is the embodiment of an eastern paradise, where the nobility enjoyed peace and quiet, surrounding themselves with the luxury of palaces with graceful columns, openwork trellises, carved balconies, countless arches and secluded gazebos on the corners of the roofs. Different worlds - different life.
The city was founded during the reign of Maharaja Bhagwan Dasha as the residence of his second son Mado Singh and for a long time was a very prosperous Indian city. Gradually its influence decreased and after the famine of 1783 it became uninhabited.
According to one of the legends, the city was cursed by a magician named Bala Nath. Initially, he blessed the construction of the city on the condition that the shadows of the palaces that are being built in it should not touch the place of his meditation, otherwise the city will be destroyed. But neither the Raja nor his son listened to him, and as a result, the city began to collapse. Since then, when building new houses, their roof collapsed.
Today it is a deserted ruined place, where you can only be in the daytime. This is regulated almost at the level of the law: at the entrance to the city there is a sign of the Archaeological Administration of India, which states that it is prohibited to stay in the city after sunset.
Coordinates: 27.09470100,76.29060400
Fort Amber
The Amber Fort, built in 1592, is considered one of the finest fortified structures in India. It is located on the side of a hill, and its walls are reflected in the waters of Lake Moata. Delivery of tourists to the fort is carried out in different ways - amateurs hiking can independently climb up, lovers of comfort can go on one of the tourist roads, and lovers of exotic can go to the fort on an elephant. Inside the fort, in the first courtyard, there are many souvenir shops. A little further - the Shila Devi temple, dedicated to the warlike goddess Kali. Wild monkeys can often be seen on the huge open terraces. If you move deeper into the temple, you find yourself in the Hall of Pleasure, not far from which there is a canal that was previously used as a reservoir of water. Their Jai Mandir temple next to the Maharaja's quarters offers a wonderful view of the entire complex and the lake below.
Another fort - Jaigar - is located above the Amber fort. It was built by Jai Singh in 1726. The observation towers of this fort are well preserved, and it is here that the world's largest wheeled cannon is located.
Coordinates: 26.98430900,75.85119700
