Morning after breakfast leave by surface to Jaipur (238 kms/6 hrs approx.) en route visiting Fatehpur Sikri - an amazing city built by the Mughal Emperor - Akbar the Great in 1569 and now deserted. Halls of audience, Palaces, Tombs and Mosques and built in great style but abandoned for political resorts. Continue your drive to Jaipur - the city of Maharajas for a Maharaja's Welcome - where in the world can you enter a hotel to a Royal Welcome treating you like the erstwhile Kings of Royal India? A stunning tableau of decorated camels and elephants is mounted on the lawns of the palace hotel, court musicians, and a graceful village belle in traditional costumes, greet you with garlands Jaipur the famed Pink City of Rajasthan was India's first planned city built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II in 1927. This City of Victory, or Jaipur, built primarily of pink sandstone blushes like a new bride at every sunset. In 1853 the city was painted pink to welcome the Royal visitor Prince Albert. Its palaces, forts, Jharokhas and Jalis are typical architectural style of Rajasthan. The colourful procession and festivals further heighten the grandeur of this Royal City. Jaipur has its own pace with colourfully dressed village belles shopping for famed Razais or silver whilst their sleepy camels stand guard. During the afternoon explore the Jaipur city visiting City Palace, the former royal residence or traditional Rajasthani and Mughal architecture and craftsmanship. The museum within the palace is a storehouse of culture consisting array of galleries of rare paintings, exquisite miniature, scholarly manuscripts and artefacts. Later visit the Observatory (Jantar Mantar), the largest and best-preserved observatory built by Maharaja Jai Singh II. Huge instruments in intricate masonry offer an accurate measure of time, the declination of the sun, the positions of the constellations in the sky for a day.
Evening Rajput Wedding
A traditional Rajput wedding ceremony where the group members participate as the baraat party (wedding procession of the bridegroom accompanied by his relatives and friends) and the bride's party. The baraat arrives with a local band, complete with mashaals (torches). The hosts receive the Baraat party and the wedding ceremony is held under a decorated pavilion. The meena bazaar (a colourful bazaar for the ladies) also forms an integral part of the setting. A festive buffet meals laid out for both the parties in the illuminated palace/hotel is accompanied by spirited shehnai music and folk dances. Overnight at the hotel.