Ghost Town

Having said good bye to one guide we stopped off on the way to Jaipur at Fatephur Sikri and collected another one. 

Say 'hi' to Ishmael, a BA English student at Jaipur Uni.

On the way I managed to snap yet more street scenes whilst hanging out of the car window.

Barrow after barrow line the roadsides...

And is this the next Tourist Team in the making??  cricket, the national game of India - played by every boy and

a firm spectator sport of Sacred Cows!

India street life can be quite humble at times

but I have yet to see one untidy fruit and veg barrow.

There is also an abundance of street kitchens for food on the go

freshly cooked just for you. Quite a magnificent pan which

is used for cooking some of the many types of breads available.

Soon we reached Fatehpur Sikri and off we went again to explore.

If you arrive without a guide you can often quite easily book on by looking under the nearest banyan tree.

Built during the second half of the 16th century by the Emperor Akbar, Fatehpur Sikri (the City of Victory) was the capital of the Mughal Empire for only some 10 years. The complex of monuments and temples, all in a uniform architectural style, includes one of the largest mosques in India, the Jama Masjid.

The ministerial audience room with its very ornate ceiling,

every surface is richly decorated inside 

and  out. I liked these fruit pillars - pomegranates,

figs

and grapes.

Arches pointed

and flat.

Look closely at these steps, see the edge carvings?

Pigeons like niches as much as I do ;-)

I think there are twocans carved in this screen, can you see them too?

As we went up to see the mosque we needed to remove our shoes for a game of shoe-jenga.

Rather irreverently it looked like a quilters' graveyard as offering of fabric are left (honestly!) on the various tombs.

along with flower petals.

Another floor...

The mosque is the only marble used in the entire complex.

That done, we said goodbye and drove off west to Jaipur.  Around 6 hours in total it was a long journey

but thank goodness we didn't have to drive.  As always, we had the rather marvellous Shyam to do battle with the roads - no road manoeuvre, vehicle, scooter, handcart, tuctucks or wayward animal seems to faze him.

He even managed to find the Indian service station equivalent halfway which not only had a display of colourful shoes

but served a tastey garden lunch out in the shade.

Back on the road once more we encountered a flock of sheep and goats

going along the way...slowly!

We spotted lots of kites flying, search carefully as you will see one or two in the sky

and not so hard to see them caught up in the tree tops.

It was dark by the time we made Jaipur but after the rather pedestrian rooms of Delhi and Agra we found ourselves staying in a delightful heritage hotel which was formerly a palace.  They must have known we were quilters...look at the bedspreads:

on closer inspection you will see they had been  free motion quilted.