Page 6 - Heart of India

Explore India’s ancient cities

and sensory kaleidoscope ...

Jaipur Ranthambore Varanasi
The home city of the royal family, Jaipur has Once the playground of Indian maharajas— For 4,000 years, Hindu pilgrims have come
long been one of India’s crown jewels—and whose pavilions and hunting lodges still to this holiest of places, one of the world’s
in our small group, we'll explore every facet. dot the lush landscape—Ranthambore oldest inhabited cities. At the heart of the
When sunlight illuminates its rosy sandstone National Park was declared a wildlife city is the River Ganges, where pilgrims
buildings, you can see why Jaipur has been sanctuary 50 years ago. As your small group flock to the bathing ghats for ritual
nicknamed the “Pink City.” The city’s many traverses the evocative landscape, you’re purification rites each year. You'll witness
enduring sights include the honeycombed sure to cross paths with some of the many this devotion both at sunset on a visit to
sandstone windows of the Palace of the memorable creatures in the jungle, perhaps the sacred aarti light ceremony on the
Wind, the mirror-embossed Sheesh Mahal encountering the rare Bengal tiger, leopards, riverbanks and at sunrise on a pre-dawn
room at the Amber Fort-Palace, and the still- striped hyenas, nilgai (Indian antelope), cruise, with your O.A.T. local Trip Leader
accurate 18th-century sundials at the Jantar sloth bears, mongooses, snub-nosed marsh there to explain the rich symbolism of what
Mantar astronomical observatory. crocodiles, pythons, and more than 250 you're seeing.
species of birds.
Palace of the Wind, Jaipur
Heart of India

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