Jaipur is also known as the Pink City of India.
The reason for it is very simple – many buildings in Jaipur are pink. Why pink? Apparently pink is a color of hospitality, so before the Prince of Wales was visiting Jaipur in 1876, the city was painted pink. 🙂

Jaipur is a city located 260 km north from New Delhi.
It’s the capital and largest city of Rajasthan.

Jaipur is also very famous among tourists, and there is a good reason for it.
You’ll find many attractions in Jaipur, maybe even more than in Delhi.

What to see in Jaipur (a few of my favorite places)?
– palace Hawa Mahal (picture tomorrow) – it’s a very characteristic building
– palace complex – City Palace
– city wall of Jaipur with gates, e.g., Sanganeri Gate
– astronomical observatory Jantar Mantar
– beautiful Amer Fort (today’s picture) and nearby Jaigarh Fort – they are about 10 km from Jaipur.

Yesterday, I showed you a view of one of the temples from Khajuraho. Today, you see another photo of a temple from Khajuraho with erotic sculptures. This time, I should mention an ancient Indian Hindu work – Kama Sutra. As you may expect, you can buy in many places in Khajuraho this book describing the philosophy and theory of love.

Khajuraho is a town located about 600 kilometers from New Delhi.
Khajuraho is a very popular tourist destination because of many temples with so-called “erotic sculptures”. Temples were built between 950 and 1050 and dedicated to two religions, Hinduism and Jainism. Temples of Khajuraho are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I think it’s a great place, really worth visiting!
I could even say – it’s better than Taj Mahal! Well, it’s not exactly correct to compare it with Taj Mahal. In general temples in Khajuraho are nicely located, they are well preserved and the town is not so crowded (comparing to Taj Mahal someone can say – Khajuraho is completely empty 😉 ).

Amritsar is a city in north India, nearby the border with Pakistan.
Amritsar is located about 450 km from Delhi, however, after traveling by train, I had the impression it’s much farther. 😉

Why to go to Amritsar? – Mostly, to visit the Golden Temple (Harmandir Sahib) seen in today’s picture, that is a very important Sikh shrine.

Agra is a city located about 206 kilometers from New Delhi.
Agra is very popular tourist destination because it’s a home of Taj Mahal.
In Agra, there are also 2 other UNESCO World Heritage sites, it’s Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri. So when you go to Agra, don’t miss those attractions.

When I was planning my trip to India, I wanted to include different places. Taj Mahal (mausoleum in Agra) was on the top of my list.

– Was it worthy visiting? – Yes. Well, I think it’s good to visit all kinds of places, even if we don’t like some of them.
– Did I like it? – In general yes. I liked the total view of Taj Mahal. I wasn’t impressed by some details or inside parts. I liked colorful birds flying around. I didn’t like crowds; it was much too crowded (I was there in February).
– Would I like to go there again? – No. Too crowded.

What’s your impression about Taj Mahal?

Delhi has plenty interesting places.
I guess you can spend there a week visiting all sites, but 1 or 2 days can be also enough – depending on your preferences.

What I’d recommend the most are: Red Fort (today’s photo), Humayun’s Tomb and India Gate.
These 3 sites are probably the most famous. In the Fort and Tomb you’ll see mostly tourists, but India Gate is surrounded by locals so that makes it more real.

Of course, you’ll find in Delhi much much more. Visit different monuments, as well as streets and restaurants to taste a bit of everything. 😉

New Delhi is the capital of India.
It’s a big city, but much smaller and less populous than Mumbai.
Some areas of New Delhi are quite modern but the others are very poor (and they look like I that…).

India is a huge country with many interesting places for tourists.
In general, traveling in India is quite convenient as long as you fly or take a train of a better class. Using buses or the worst trains may be annoying and frustrating, or just dirty with many insects…

In India, I was mostly traveling by train, and I think, I checked all possible classes. So my advice – if you can, avoid the lowest class.