Amber Fort, also known as Amer Fort (and pronounced that way) is a short distance out of Jaipur.  The fort is a famous one, located next to a lake and with another fort up on the hills behind that is connected to it by an underground passage.  We chose to visit by public bus – it dropped us right next to the entrance to the Fort, where we walked up to the main gateway.  Traditionally people rode up by elephant, and we saw some people doing this but decided to use our legs instead.

 

 

 

The fort itself is massive and very impressive.  We began by visiting the Siladevi Temple by the entrance, where animals were sacrificed until the early 1980’s.

 

 

 

No photos were allowed inside the temple, so we moved on to the impressive series of courtyards, gates and the beautiful mirrored hall called Jai Mandir that was one of the highlights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a few hours exploring the fort, finding new passages and walking the underground passage towards the other fort until it came out of the ground. (When the fort was attacked the inhabitants could escape to the higher fort, which was never conquered). One of the things that most struck us about this fort was the sheer size – sprawling over the hills it was hard to imagine that anyone would think to attempt to conquer this fort!