We traveled through the Old City to stop at the Hawa Mahal- The Palace of the Wind. The 954 windows on the facade were built so that the women of the Harem could look out without being seen by other men. Did I mention the charming Snakes! Then way up the mountain outside of the old city but still within a huge wall, similar to the Great Wall of China, to the Amber Palace. It was built in many stages from the 12th century through the 18th century. When not being run over by elephants or bothered by Black Faced Monkeys, taking in the sites was incredible. Back down the hill past the Lake Palace, Jal Mahal (built by a Raja just for fun) and on to The City Palace, where a Raj Princess and her family still live. In fact today is her birthday. There is a museum there away from the living quarters and going through was very educational. The height of the Palace visit however was the observatory, built in the early 1700’s. It has sundials that are accurate to within 4 seconds and instruments that can track the path of the sun through the constellations and give extremely accurate longitude and latitude. After that, lunch and then a quick stop to the gem market to do some shopping. Of course we had to contend with not only cows and the usual crush of humanity in the road, but elephants as well.
