Forts on Forts on Forts – 1/7/15

In and surrounding Jaipur are tons of old forts and palaces. The most famous forts are situated just outside the city, namely Amber Fort, Jaigarh, Jal Mahal, and Tiger Fort. We decided to see them all in one day, spending most of our time at Amber Fort. You can ride elephants into the impressive fort, but we opted not to so that we could go to the block printing demonstration the next day.

Amber was not pristinely kept, but that also meant that we could explore the winding passageways and find incredible rooms that would probably have only limited viewing ability if the fort was actually maintained well. We got the audio tour guide and it was hilarious (even though it wasn’t trying to be). Throughout different parts of the tour the walls talked to you, along with the lake, the sun, the god Ganesh, and the list goes on. It was also incredibly difficult to follow the guide because there were so many hallways through which you could walk and nothing was well marked. The floating garden and the geometric carved screens (so that women could see out, but men couldn’t see in) were two of my favorite parts of the fort.

After leaving Amber we went to Jaigarh Fort (referred to as Amber’s “big brother” in the previously mentioned audio tour). This fort was more just a series of ramparts upon which you could walk and get stunning panoramic views of the valley below. The main attraction there, however, is the world’s largest cannon on wheels known as Jaya Vana. It can hold 20 kg of gunpowder and can shoot up to 40 km, but it was only ever fired once and it was for a test shot. This fort was designed as a drive-through attraction and Alex almost cried he was so offended by the notion that you can sufficiently experience a historical sight from the confines of your car.

                From there we visited Jal Mahal, a palace that has sunken into a lake. It’s always been in the middle of a lake, but, due to poor conservation efforts, when the palace started its descent into the lake, nothing was done and when the fairway (bridge) broke, nothing still was done. Now the only way to get inside is via (illegal?) boat tours. We got some pretty nice pictures in front of it and had a lot of fun watching the hordes of rats on the shore battle it out with the birds.

Finally, we rickshawed to the base of the hill on which Tiger Fort stands. We bought some amazing coconut candies from a random shop that were 2 rupees a piece and then hiked up the winding switchbacks to see the sunset over Jaipur from the fort. The plethora of kites in the air in preparation for Makarsankranti made the view that much more enchanting (even if the folks smashing beer bottles off the side of the fort walls were quite bothersome).

To top off the night, Alex, Jenny, Chase, and I ate at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that probably doesn’t see too many westerners. Its signboard was in Hindi and we got amazing food that was priced for Indians rather than tourists.