City Palace is the main attraction in central Jaipur, set behind the pink row of shops etc which give the city its Pink City moniker.
There is much to explore here, courtyards, audience halls, museums, and many beautiful architectural features.
The first courtyard, painted in pink and white panels is dotted with alcoves and archways and topped with pavilions. In the centre, the elaborately painted orange and white Diwan i Khas stands on a platform- a greeting hall, it is hung with chandeliers (beloved of the local pigeons) and filled with multifoil archways.
Behind this, the beautiful Riddhi Siddhi Pol gateway leads us 'indoors' and into Pritam Niwas Chowk, where we find Chandra Mahal and the Clocktower.
The most beautiful part of City Palace are the 4 ornate 'gates' in Pritam Niwas Chowk Each is decorated to reflect 1 season and with reference to a Hindu deity. The level of ornamentation is stunning- sculptural tileworks, shining, colourful reliefs, such attention to detail. The Peacock Gate is the most famous of these, and my particular favourite, but each has its very own spectacular beauty.
Gateways to the palace and surrounds are all beautifully painted or augmented with porticos and domes...
Another nice gateway is the Rajendra Pol, marked with elephant sculptures, close to the Mubarak Mahal. Look both ways when passing through a gate here, the rear can often be even more impressive than the front.
There are a number of museums in the complex.
The Mubarak Mahal houses a textile museum, containing hand embroidered clothing which must have taken hours and hours of work and patience to create.
Another area houses an armoury museum... lots of very pretty ways to kill people. Beautiful knives are not something I want to see, so I passed on this 'treasure trove'.
Other museums require a more expensive ticket purchase.... our guide did not purchase this access for us, probably due to time restrictions.
Also available for an additional fee, is access to the ornate interiors of the palace: the Blue Room and Shobha Nivas, on the 6th and 4th floor of Chandra Mahal, respectively. Chandra Mahal itself is very little to write home about- as Rajasthan's forts and palaces go, it appears, externally, very drab, but its interiors are stunning.
The palace complex is housed among many other buildings- temples, bazaars, gateways, many of which are wonderfully ornate- the entrances to Hawa Mahal and Jantar Mantar, gardens and numerous car parks. Entering from the street, the impression is that you are entering into 'palace grounds ', but actually, you enter into a space not too dissimilar to the one you just exited (if that makes sense!) filled with traders and parked buses, empty space and dilapidated buildings. Even from inside, it does not 'feel' like a palace, as other buildings are so visible just over the walls that it is hard to imagine yourself in another time and place in the way we do when visiting historic sights- there are constant reminders of the modern Jaipur outside.
However, none of this distracts from the impressive architectural details on show here. A beautiful collection of details.