We have been exploring various places to make your experiences a worth a try. Udaipur was always top of our list, and finally we were able to travel to the City of Lakes. We travelled in the Month of April when the festival of Ganguar is celebrated in Rajasthan.
Though it was hot, in April, but it was not good enough to stop us from walking in the lanes of colorful, cheering yet relaxing, modern yet charming Udaipur.
Most Important places to visit in Udaipur
- City Palace
- Mansoon Palace
- Jagdish Temple
- Gangaur Ghar
- Saheliyon Ki Baari
Udaipur welcomes every traveler with the delightful sightseeing of royal and enormous palaces, vivid and large lakes, and evergreen and colorful monuments, but this time of year Udaipur celebrates the Gangaur festival which is most celebrated Festival of Rajasthan. Thanks to unwanted, stupid and painful delays, we were part of grand celebrations of Gangaur@Rajasthan’s most charming city.
We had our brunch at Srinath Restaurant which is on a walking distance from Railway station and popular for tha authentic Gujarati and Rajasthani Thalis. Rajasthani thali was served with at least 4-5 vegetables, Raita, 2-3 sweetmeats, papad, salad, and breads of various varieties. Food was so tasty that we all tested limitations of our stomach. The restaurant surely exceeded our expectations.
Recommendation: If you want to eat good and authentic Rajasthani food, you must not miss this restaurant.
Our expedition started after the heavy brunch. It started with the City Palace which is the most popular and visited tourist place. Palace was built by Maharana Udai Singh. This palace is an exuberant display of Mughlai and Rajasthani architecture. Udaipur’s Maharaja owns the palace and resides in its one section, which is not open for public.
We hired a guide, but he was in great hurry. Though he was helpful, he was neither informative nor patience enough to answer us our queries. He rushed us through the various places of the greater historical significance and skipped lot of information. He was more interested in explaining us the various phases of peacock’s sex life than explaining us the importance and significance of various artifacts, and places in the palace.
Tripolia (triple) gate, Suraj Gokhda (public address facade), Mor-chowk (Peacock courtyard), Dilkhush Mahal (heart’s delight), Surya Chopar, Sheesh Mahal (Palace of glass and mirrors), Moti Mahal (Palace of Pearls), Krishna Vilas (named after Lord Krishna), Shambu Niwas (royal residence now), Bhim Vilas, Amar Vilas (with a raised garden) that faces Badi Mahal (the big palace), Fateprakash Palace, Shiv Niwas Palace (the latest addition to the complex), and Princess Marriage Mantap are the various parts of Immensely large palace. Palace hosts a museum called Crystal Gallery which contains numerous Rajputana artifacts. Indian tourist rarely visit the gallery due to cost of the entry ticket. Apart from the crystal gallery one smaller gallery also exists in palace. This gallery demonstrates history of the palace, kings and dynasties, and Udaipur in pictures.
City Palace can be rented to organize marriages. It is bizarre as such businesses do not justify the greatness of such monuments and Government must restrict owners to maintain the sanity of monuments of historical importance.
Next we headed to the Sajjan Garh palace which is located on a hill, in the outskirts of the city. It was built to watch the monsoon clouds; hence, it is popularly known as Monsoon palace. Kings and Queens used the palace for rest during hunting. It offers a panoramic view of the Aravali hills.
Palace has three floors. Among these 3 floors, first 2 are accessible to general public. It is surrounded by Aravali Range. Views from the 1st floor are indescribable. One side of the palace unleashes breathtaking views of the Udaipur city, whereas another side unfolds awesome views of the range. Many people visit the palace to see the glorious sunset. Though the Sun was still too high to elope, but as last vehicle was returning from hill top, so we returned without viewing the sunset.
It was too difficult to find an auto from the outskirts of the Udaipur, but we found few generous guys who sacrificed own comfort to accommodate two of us. We reached to the Ghat by 630 in the evening.
We reached the Ghat. Story at the Ghat to be continued…
If you have any queries and questions about the sight, please add a comment. We would answer you as soon as possible. If you are planning to travel to Andaman, Kerala, Rajasthan, Ladakh, Kashmir, Jain Tirth Yatra, Meghalaya, Sikkim, and any other place, give LazYatra a chance to plan it for you. You can call me at +91-9540-611-889 or +91-9911-61-5555 or mail us team@lazyatra.com