Living a palace life for a weekend in Jaipur, the Pink City.
Jaipur or The Pink City is Rajasthan’s biggest city and its capital. Why Pink City? In 1876, the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria visited India on a tour. Since pink denotes the color of hospitality, Maharaja Ram Singh of Jaipur painted the whole city pink in color to welcome the guests. It was then that Lord Albert exclaimed Jaipur to be a 'Pink City', and hence the name.
My husband and I wanted to take a break from the hustle and bustle of New Delhi so we decided to book a lovely weekend stay at the Suján Rajmahal Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan. We took a short flight from New Delhi to Jaipur, just an hour flight. From the moment we walked out of the airport, a well-groomed Indian in a crispy white outfit with gold buttons wearing a lovely pastel pink turban was welcoming us with a nice cold towel on a polish silver tray to refresh us, and I started to get a good feeling about the trip. We did some exclusive excursions to the City Palace of Jaipur, Hawa Mahal (the wind palace), and the famous Amber Fort. All of that arranged by the SUJÁN Rajmahal team. The excursion experiences were impressive but our most favorite one was the VVIP tour to the private areas of the City Palace! Let me tell you. It’s AHHHHH-Mazing! We were speechless at all the history corner to corner and were in awe of all the intricate work from door to door, and the vibrant mixing of colors was putting a spell on me. The Indian opulent architecture is truly flamboyant and so rich.
Later in the afternoon, we finally checked into an 18th-century palace owned by the royal family of Jaipur, Suján Rajmahal Palace is one of the city's oldest palaces. It was built in the 1720s for the Maharaja, home to Indian royalty for centuries; it has hosted Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip (one can only imagine his comments), Jackie Kennedy, Lord and Lady Mountbatten. I was overly impressed by a warm welcome when all the staff lined up on the stairs to greet us! OK that scenario carried me away and for a second I pretended like I was a princess LOL!!! We got upgraded to the Prince of Wales suite by the hotel manager (Thank you so much Sid), and our suite was once used for 7 days by Princess Diana and Prince Charles. Every room has its own history.
By far, this place is the most beautiful, charming, and truly magical stay of all my travels around the world. The hospitality is the key. The whole place has been refurbished and restored to its full potential, a combination of traditional and more modern decoration in strong colors - the 51 shades of pink room! the Chinoiseries room! - the Dunbar hall! And bold patterns and detailing.
The palace has had several transformations over the centuries. Original features remain from the Mughal era, but the rosy-hued exterior is now more reminiscent of English Georgian architecture (the colonial facelift) with elements of Art Deco (another overhaul in the early 20th century), relatively plain and simple in comparison with the city's Palace of the Winds. Colonnade porches run along front and back. The gardens are delightful: lawns and formal sections skirted by worn old shell-pink walls and stone balustrades around a swimming pool, with palms and heaps of subtropical flowers.
It was the perfect wrap up of the India trip! Not only did we have the great experiences in a new country but also, life is just more interesting when we meet new people in a new place, new culture, and become friends. You never know!
Next stop, Amsterdam :)
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