India: Jaipur – Jal Mahal aka Water Palace
If you are a Maharaja you need a lot of palaces. Jal Mahal aka Water Palace was built in 18th century by Jai Singh II. It ain’t open for tourists but the views of it from the lake shore are pretty spectacular – with mountains in the background and pelicans and cormorants in the front. The building is 5 stories high but 4 of them are underwater and suffered substantial water damage and seepage (that’s what typically happens when you build a palace underwater from a relatively porous sandstone).
