Not far from Jaipur lies the place where Jaipur's maharajas lived before they planned the pink city. It's a very grand palace complex indeed; I was all oohs and ahhs.
I walked up (indeed you'll notice from the picture at the top that I went well beyond the palace to the fort above), but many tourists make their way up on elephants. Here they are coming back down.
The inside of the palace is very grand, although most of the buildings stand empty.
The crown jewel is the Sheesh Mahal, a pavilion encrusted with mirrored mosaic (which couldn't be carted off!). Here's a small detail; it wasn't easy getting pictures in which light was reflected without the mirrors also reflecting tourists!As I was looking around the palace, before I fled the tours for the stillness of Jaigar fort above, Amber was pulsing with snatches of music fit for a discotheque:
a dance sequence for a Bollywood film was being rehearsed in the main courtyard!