Day Six - The Amber Fort, Jaipur, by elephant

Elephant waiting in the rain to take two passengers up the hill to the Fort

Elephants taking people up the steep hill . You can just see another coming down.

The beauiful Amber Fort at Jaipur

Love this wall decoration in the Mirror Palace

Ceiling decoration

Our elephant was called 'Muskang' or Smile and riding him was like being on a slow-motion rocking horse. The only way up and down the hill to the spectacular Amber Fort is by jeep or elephant and the experience will be a lasting happy memory.

I particularly loved the mirrored walls. The pieces of 'mirror' are curved and probably not mirror at all. Our guide thought it was 'calcium silicate'. Apparently one of the Queens asked if she could sleep under the stars and so these mirrored walls and ceilings were made especially for her. 

The beautiful painting on walls and ceiling was achieved with wet plaster which lasted much longer than painting onto dry walls. The colours were made by crushing and mixing lapis lazuli for blue, malachite for green, turquoise and real gold. You'll see a lot more painted walls later in this blog diary.