It was just another weekend to say. But it was quite exciting for me as it marked the beginning to “the wanderer’s journey 2017. Yes the first trip of 2017, all the way into the heart of the Royal Residencies.

Started from Pune by a flight to Jaipur, we landed right in the early morning, mind you, swear early – 2am.

The airport was bustling but as we  headed to the city it was cold and quite. The calmness of the city welcomed us. We checked in to our hotel and went fast asleep. We woke up quite early compared to the late time we went to sleep, had our breakfast and headed to our first place to visit: the Birla temple.

Birla Mandir is a part of one of the several Birla Mandirs located all around the country.
The grand temple is located on an elevated ground at the base of Moti Dungari hill in Rajasthan. It is dedicated to Lord Vishnu (Narayan), the preserver and his consort Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth.
The temple is built with finest quality of marbles and standing still on it for more than a minute was sending chills in the bones.
The marble work mesmerises the onlookers and the Laxmi Narayan image is just fetching.

After paying our tribute to the temple we headed to the City Palace, Jaipur.

City Palace is a palace of huge complexes, museums, the most prominent structures being: Chandra Mahal, Mubarak Mahal, Mukut Mahal, Maharani’s Palace, Diwan-I-Aam. Certain complexes are holding museums and handicrafts centres.

The intricate art on the walls and the roofs, the beautiful doors were eye-catching. And while I was clicking a pic of one of the doors, I got a chance to click picture with the person who guard’s the door, he was happy indeed to be clicked, subtle pleasures of Humans 🙂

After spending long hours at City Palace, we headed towards Hawa Mahal which was at walk-able distance from the Palace.

Impressed by the mean machine of Canon in my hand, a cute kid at strolling in the Mahal asked me to click his picture and I did. Who can say no to a kid right? Such a cute chap!

Well I don’t think I’m good at writing informational posts (not the kind of writer that I’m). So I have embedded the Wiki-Link for information about the places, don’t mind 😉

It was already 2 PM and hungry that we were, started searching for place to eat. We wished to have the famous “Daal Baati Churma” of Rajasthan, but unfortunately couldn’t find a place on our way to Amer fort. So we had to quite our hunger pangs on Moong Kachodi, Pyaz kachodi, Bharma Mirch with kadhi. To top it was hot cup of tea.

With our stomach full, we started with Amer fort. We spent almost 3 hours exploring the beauty of the fort. We had a good time admiring the palace and little bit sneak peek of the guides who were explaining (to the groups who hired them) the story of the Amer Palace and its history.

So huge and marvelous it was, I wonder how the people used to spend their living in the palace. The fort area itself was like a city. 3 hours also were not enough to explore it completely. We burnt enough calories there in walking around. The Royal’s indeed had a glory of time living there I believe.

It was late, 6.30 PM around and the  cool breeze was soothing our tired souls. In the meantime me and my friend lost track of the rest of the group. But we didn’t bother cause we got a cup of tea there, which was perfect for the moment. We spent some 10 mins sipping it and then 1 chap from the group called up saying they were waiting for us to leave. We followed the “Way to the Exit” sign and left from the lovely Amer Fort.

Later we had our dinner in the Pink City and headed to the railway station to catch our train to Udaipur.

6.45 AM at Udaipur, chilly cold, we headed to our hotel, checked in and went to have a tini-tiny nap, only to wake up at 11 AM. When I saw the time I was disappointed with myself for wasting 3 precious hours in the city of lakes. Nevertheless, probably it was the rest we needed to cover a whole day of moving around in Udaipur to start.

We had our brunch and walked to the City Palace of Udaipur.

We spent almost 3 hours in the palace, admiration and  amusement it was.

After leaving from the City Palace, we went for a boat ride in the Pichola lake to have  a close look at a palace which has now turned into a resort, commercialization stories you know!

Late in the evening we went for the live show named Dharohar at Bhagore ki Haveli. The show depicted the folklore of Rajasthan. After the show we headed to Krishna hotel for dinner, the menu: the famous Daal baati churma and Gatte ki sabji.

Next day, with just the morning half in our hands, we managed to visit Sahelion ki baadi & Sajjan garh.

Little of shopping, then lunch and then we headed to the Maharana Pratap airport to mark an end to the journey of Udaipur.

3 days short notice trip was worthwhile and the first trip for 2017 was awesome 🙂