A journey to the Land of Kings - PART 3: Jal Mahal & City Palace

 The journey continues.....

        After Amber fort, we were already thinking about lunch. Our driver showed us Jal Mahal on the way. Jal Mahal as the name indicates, means "water palace"- a palace created in a lake. This marvel was constructed in 1699 on the Man Sagar Lake. The best time to appreciate its beauty is nighttime, as it will be adorned by lights and illuminates the lake. But we saw this in the afternoon. Still we clicked some photos. And entry into the mahal was not done, we only saw it from the banks. 

        

Jal Mahal

            Soon we had lunch from one of the restaurants suggested by our driver - Paneer and Naan. Honestly, that was the best paneer butter masala I had in a long time. usually when we order paneer dish in our place, we get only few small paneer pieces, but this was tasty and quantity was plentiful. Soon we restarted our trip.

Virendra Pol

City Palace, Jaipur

            We soon reached our next attraction- City Palace, the Royal residence and former administrative place of rulers of Jaipur. This palace was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, hundreds of years back, in Rajput and Mughal architecture style. Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II museum was open and we brought tickets for entry. The Royal family still resides there, so there were restrictions from entering other areas. But still, some areas were accessible and we clicked many photos. We entered through Virendra Pol, which was adorned with intricate unique designs. There were many other tourists visiting the place and this palace is indeed a must visit place in Jaipur. In many places we could see the old cannon machines, arranged on the sidewalks. Soon we reached the entrance to the main courtyard, which contains Sarvato Bhadra (Diwan-e-Khas).

            The Sarvato Bhadra, is a square open hall, with enclosed rooms in four corners. The beautiful chandeliers, weapons on the walls and paintings made the view more colorful. The big Gangajalis made of silver was another magnificent sight. They were made from 14,000 melted silver coins without soldering and hold the World Record as the world's largest sterling silver vessels. This was a place where the King would hold audience with the nobles, in a private manner. 

Gangajali

      We also visited the museum and saw a variety of paintings, photos, art gallery, clothe gallery etc. To be honest, everything was a bit overwhelming. And the fatigue of the day was catching up to me. I was actually skimming through everything like the day before an important exam. We had seen the inner courtyard which was actually full of tourists. People were clamoring to take pics against the background of the famed doors- Peacock gate, Lotus gate, Green gate and Lotus gate. After observing everything there and catching a glimpse of the magnificence of the Rajput architecture of the Chandra Mahal we came out. Also saw the Mubarak Mahal, which looks same from all sides, made of white marble and beige stones.. I had to take rest in between due to the unusual exertion and still our day was not finished. Some function was going to happen there in the evening and its preparations were also occurring in between. Somehow we finished our tour and exited through the Rajendra Pol. 

The Peacock Gate

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