Northern India
We had a day time flight from London to Delhi, where we arrived in the late evening and completed all the formalities including a check of our temperature in case we were to bring bird flu into the country and then transfer to our hotel.
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Tour of Delhi
A sightseeing tour of New and Old Delhi, and our first taste of Indian traffic.
Drive to Agra
A 5 hour drive today to take us to Agra. In the afternoon we had an excursion to Agra Fort which dominates the centre of the city. The construction of the fort was begun in 1565. The walls, gates and first building were built for the Emperor Akbar and his grandson Shah Jahan later added the Imperial Quarters and the Mosque.
Visit to the Taj Mahal
Up early this morning for a sunrise visit to the Taj Mahal. This was built in 1630 by the Emperor Shah Jahan and is the tomb of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. The heart-broken emperor took twelve years to build his wife’s mausoleum working tirelessly with his Persian architect and 20,000 craftsmen brought in from Persia, Italy and France. Little Taj
Drive to Jaipur
Another long drive today to take us to Jaipur – the pink city of Rajasthan. En route we stopped to visit the graceful buildings of Fatehpur Siri, which were built in 1569 and were the ancient capital of the Emperor Akbar. The emperor had many wives but no living heir as all his children died in infancy. He asked for holy men to pray that he would have a son, a Sheikh living in Siri told him that he would have three sons and shortly after one of his wives did indeed produce a son and heir – Salim. The emperor was so impressed that he built his new capital city at Siri in honour of the Sheikh.
The city of Jaipur itself is surrounded by hills on three sides and encircled by a fortified wall guarded by seven gates. It was built according to the principles of an ancient Hindu treatise on architecture.
Visited the Amber Fort
In the morning we visited the Amber Fort, just outside Jaipur. We rode up to the fort on the back of an elephant. The interior of the fort has various royal halls which are decorated with intricate ivory work, wall paintings and tiny mirror chips which produce a tantalising reflective effect. In the afternoon we continued our tour of Jaipur with visits to the City Palace museum and a drive past the Palace of the Winds. A highlight of the afternoon was a visit to Jantar Mantar, which is an astronomical observatory built in 1728 and 1734.
Long Drive
A seven hour drive today to take us to Kota
Another long drive
Today we had another long drive (seven and a half hours) to take us to Udaipur. On the way we stopped to visit the Chiltogarth Fort. Within the walls of the fort we saw Rana Kumbha and Fateh Prakash palaces, the Gaumukh Reservoir, Tower of Victory and many other splendid monuments.
Tour of Udaipur
A quieter day today as we had a tour of Udaipur, visiting the City palace, the Jagadish Temple and the lovely gardens of Sheldon Ki Bari which display the unique lifestyle of the Royal ladies who once lived in the Palaces.
Visited the Chaumukha
Our drive today took us firstly to Ranakpur where we visited the Chaumukha Temple Complex. This is one of the largest and most important Jain Temples in India, with its huge, beautifully crafted marble architecture. No two of its 29 halls (supported by 1444 pillars) are alike. This was one of the highlights of the trip. Further along the road we visited an altogether different Temple – The rat Temple and watched the rats scurrying around the floor and helping themselves to the food being prepared for the hundreds of pilgrims visiting the site – we were not tempted to eat here! From here we continued our drive to Kumbhalgarh for an overnight stay. Another seven hour drive today to take us to Jodhpur
Tour of the city of Jodhpur.
A lovely tour of the city of Jodhpur. This was the home of the Rathore rulers of the state of Rajasthan. Once through the city walls we visited the red sandstone fort of Mehrangarh. A beautiful palace with intricately adorned panels and lattice windows.
Drive to Bikaner.
A five and a half hour drive today which brought us to Bikaner. En route we visited the Khimsar Fort at the edge of the Thar Desert. For two nights we stayed outside the city at the Gajner Palace Hotel which is set in a wooded area overlooking a lake and with its own wildlife sanctuary.
The Gajner Palace was built by HH Maharaja Sir Ganga Singh of Bikaner and was converted into a heritage hotel in 1976. The hotel’s compound stretches over 6000 acres. The palace was primarily a hunting resort during the days of the British Raj. Besides its panoramic landscape and architectural beauty, the Palace Complex also has the remnants of a historic railway station: this hunting resort was connected to Bikaner Palace by rail in 1922.
Early Start
We were up before breakfast to explore some of the grounds and try to glimpse some of the wild animals. The highlight was catching a glimpse of a wild Jackal. During the morning we had a tour of the walled city of Bikaner which was founded in 1588.
Exploring the Havelis.
We journeyed on to Alsisar and spent some time exploring the Havelis – these were originally merchants houses richly decorated with frescoes, very beautiful, but many had fallen into very bad states of disrepair.
A day’s drive back to Delhi
Images
Videos
No videos clips for this trip, probably because our old camcorder packed in.
Map