City Palace, Jaipur, India

The City Palace is a historic landmark. The main palace is an imposing blend of traditional Rajasthan and Mughal architecture. The vast palace complex occupies one seventh of the walled city of Jaipur. Originally built by Maharaja Jai Singh II of the Kachhwaha clan of Rajputs, additions have been made to the palace complex by many of his successors.

Several palatial structures like the Chandra Mahal, Mubarak Mahal, Badal Mahal, Shri Govind Dev Temple and the City Palace Museum are the main attractions of this vast palace.

The carved arches are supported by grey-white marble columns studded with floral motifs in gold and coloured stones. Two elephants carved in marble guard the entrance, where retainers whose families have served generations of rulers are at hand to serve as guides.The palace interior houses a Museum containing select collection of various types of Rajasthani dresses, a fascinating armoury of Mughal and Rajput weapons; swords of all shapes and sizes, with chased handles, some of them inlaid, enamelled, encrusted with jewels and encased in bold and magnificent scabbards.

It also has an art gallery with a fine collection of paintings, carpets, royal paraphernalia and rare astronomical works in Arabic, Persian, Latin and Sanskrit, acquired by Sawai Jai Singh-II for his study of planets and their movements.

Best time to visit this palace is October to February. It opens from 0930 hrs. to 1630 hrs.

JAIPUR - THE PINK CITY OF INDIA

HAWA MAHAL - THE PALACE OF WIND

JAIPUR - THE PINK CITY OF INDIA

The most beautiful, Jaipur, is the first planned city of India, located in the desert lands of Rajasthan.

The city that once had been the capital of the royalty, now serves as the capital city of Rajasthan. The very structure of Jaipur resembles the taste of the Rajputs and the Royal family.

In the present date, Jaipur is the major business centre for the natives of Rajasthan with all requisites of a metropolitan city.

The city of Jaipur, painted in pink, grasp the appreciation of every visitor. One can see that hoary charm still alive in the avenues of Jaipur.

The active streets of Jaipur get plenty of visitors, every year at their footsteps. The Ancient Testimonials in the form of mind-blowing monuments remind one of the past ages.

The city comprises the famous structures like Hawa Mahal, City Palace and Amber Fort, the best architectural examples of India.

Artistic temples and gardens of Jaipur, marks the atmosphere of serenity and aestheticism to the lands of Rajasthan. The lively city observes its ethnicity by celebrating various festivals like Kite festival, Elephant festival and many others, of Indian origin.

Goa Carnival

Sunset in Goa

Churches of Goa

Churches of Goa

Se Cathedral Church

Goa has a tradition of visiting church daily. People have faith in Chrishtianity. The Portuguese Viceroy Redondo commissioned the Se, or St. Catherine's' Cathedral, southwest of St. Cajetan's, to be "a grandiose church worthy of the wealth, power and fame of the Portuguese who dominated the seas from the Atlantic to the Pacific". Today it stands larger than any church in Portugal, although it was beset by problems, not least a lack of funds and Portugal's temporary loss of independence to Spain. It took eighty years to build and was not consecrated until 1640.