As is customary, we were woken by our first alarm at 5:00, the call to prayer, while our proper alarm went at 7:00. Alison stayed in bed until tea arrived at 7:15. We went into the courtyard for breakfast and had the same table the previous night.
Breakfast was a set meal of porridge with papaya on the side and mango juice; Alison liked the papaya more than the porridge. This was followed by a chick pea pancake and an Indian omelette, we have asked for a little chili in it tomorrow. Earl grey tea was served together with toast and preserves.
Peter went back into the room for the laundry bag (one week’s clothes already). In no time it was time to meet the guide.
Raj introduced himself and went through the day’s itinerary. Alison was far happier once she discovered that our driver would be taking us from place to place and that the speed and content of the day’s programme was entirely up to us.
We set off at 9:30 and stopped outside the Palace of the winds, where the Royal ladies could see but not be seen. Then we drove onto the city palace, first calling in at the Jantar Mantar observatory museum. This was a total surprise as it was all outside and comprised a display of the sundials that had been designed under the guidance of the king in 1728. We spent far longer in there than we had expected, as Raj had expert knowledge and explained how all of the astronomical objects worked.
We saw the prototypes of the sundials and the first working model, which had an accuracy of 20 seconds, followed by the later model 10 times taller, which had a precision of 2 seconds. There were also azimuth sundials and sundials for those planets that could be observed with the naked eye.
We crossed the road into the City Palace entering its courtyard and moved into the art gallery which housed a fascinating collection of pictures and later photographs, tracing the history of the monarchy up to recent times. We saw the enormous silver vessels that held Ganga water for the historic visit of the Maharajah to England to be present at the coronation.
By this time, Alison’s knees were complaining, so it was a convenient time to stop for a break. Raj took us into Baradari, the restaurant within the palace which is run for the benefit of the palace trust. We enjoyed a delicious meal of non-vegetarian kebabs of chicken and mutton with chicken wings and mutton meat balls accompanied by a salad and mint dressing. This was followed by tandoori grilled pineapple with a mustard, yes a mustard, dressing, which was a very unusual but a delightful combination! We completed our visit to the Palace with a look around the textile museum. The palace is still the home of the descendants of the Jaipur family, the former rulers.
We returned to our car which took us up the winding streets to the magnificent 16th century Amber Fort, where we had a most interesting tour of the now empty rooms formerly occupied by the twelve queens, together with the public and private audience areas. White marble walls were intricately decorated with tiny mirrors.
There were 90 toilets connected to a water and sewerage system and private balconies where the queens were able to view the outside world. On the way down we were accosted (very politely and gently) by street merchants offering all manner of objects for sale. Raj said that many of the items were excessively priced and that genuine articles could be found at the farmers cooperative in the city.
We stopped off at the cooperative, but the first demonstration that we saw was of block printing, and Alison succeeded in printing an elephant on a cotton square. We then saw the weaving of carpets and went into a showroom with a variety of handmade carpets on display; this was followed by a similar room with block printed articles, table cloths, bed spreads and quilts. Eventually we found the parasols, which were indeed much cheaper than those being offered by the street sellers, but unfortunately too large to fit into our suitcases.
Before arriving at Dera Mandawa Raj booked us into the Spice Court for later in the evening, where we had an entirely different Rajasthani meal. We were entertained by a trio of musicians and traditional dancers. We were driven back to our hotel for coffee and blogging, ready for our 8:30 start tomorrow.