Jantar Mantar

This is another UNESCO World Heritage site, located at a walkable distance from City Palace. By the time we entered Jantar Mantar after getting I was completely exhausted. But still my will to explore the place with my hubby, gave me strength.

"Jantar" is derived from the Sanskrit word "yantra" meaning machine and "mantar" means calculation. This area hoses 19 astronomical instruments built by King Sawai Jai Singh and its construction was completed in 1784. It also contains world's largest stone sundial. The yantras here were accurate and still relevant now. Guides were explaining the scientific basis and history to the interested tourists. Chakra yantra, Disha yantra, Kapali yantra were some of the catchy names. Some of the yantras were like towering buildings, and a person could climb them along the steps. Some of the stairs were having restricted entry also.

Unfortunately, even though my body was somehow moving around, my brain was totally exhausted, and definitely there was going to be no uptake of interesting maths, physics and astronomy. But still we observed the instruments, understood some of their uses, clicked some pics, took rest for sometime, and roamed all around the place as a lovely couple. There was some prewedding photo shoot happening there, which was interesting to observe. Nonetheless, I was amazed by the knowledge and scientific interests shown by the previous rulers.

Next we had to go to Hawa Mahal. We hired a tuk-tuk and reached our next destination.

Hawa Mahal

This iconic palace was built from red and pink sandstones. The name literally means, "Palace of winds". It was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. This unique palace has the striking honeycomb like appearance with many windows (more than 900) and balconies. Due to its unique architecture, a person can feel cool breeze all the time, and the touring of this palace took some time, but it was not very tiring. There were a total of 5 floors, and we climbed and roamed around along all those areas. The window shades were constructed in such a manner that the person inside can view the outside without being seen. This was made for the Royal ladies. It feels somewhat oppressive, women were not allowed to freely look out of the windows.... As with the other palaces we had seen, there is a blend of Rajput and Mughal architecture here also.

Inside Hawa Mahal

My phone was dead by the time we reached here, and power bank was left in the cab. So the photos were taken from my husbands phone this time. We took many photos, enjoyed the sunset there and descended the steps.

We rested for a while, outside the palace. Our next task was to locate our cab. We had to walk back to the vicinity of City Palace to meet our ride. Armed with Google map, we navigated unknown territories. We also passed by some camels, and even one elephant on the way. Finally we met him, By that time, the red hue of the evening sky was turning dark. We reached our resort by night. We ordered dinner to our room and soon dozed off because of fatigue and exhaustion.