Connecting the dots...

Udaipur - There is a good number of website where one can get all the information about the city’s tourist attractions and accomodation options.

http://www.rajasthantourism.gov.in/Destinations/Udaipur/Udaipur1.aspx

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/india/rajasthan/udaipur

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udaipur

As a part of the hotel package we were given :

1) half day tour of the city by hotel car along with a guide.

2) entry tickets for the city palace.

3) heritage walk of the hotel (summer palace called Jag Niwas), boat ride on Lake Pichola to view sunset and visit Jag Mandir island. This was then followed by an evening of entertainment by local artists.

4) Rajesthani thali dinner for 2.

Apart from these, from our personal experience there were other benefits for staying at the hotel.

1) At the entry gates to the Palace, hotel’s and guest’s vehicles are given priority entry. This is particularly advantageous during tourist season when the whole area is congested.

2) The hotel guests are given a special visitor card. This card allows you to enter any gate with ease. This card also allows you to walk along the palace at night when the palace gates are closed for tourists.

3) The boat ride to and from the hotel is by itself an added attraction. There is normally a long queue for the boat ride on the lake for the general public. 

On the first day of our stay, by the time we were ready it was almost 10 am. We were advised to upgrade the city tour to a day tour at a nominal charge. This way we could get away from the tourist crowd thronging the Palace and its museum since we had a delayed start of the day. A tour of Saas-Bahu temple at Nagda and Eklingji temple was organized, both of which are roughly about 30 kms from the city. If time permits we were told that we could also visit the Vintage and Classic Car Collection of Maharana of Mewar.

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We started the day with a visit to Saas-Bahu temple at Nagda. This is a Vishnu temple belonging to the 600 AD. The temple is in a quite place away from the hustle bustle of the city. The temple is constructed on a raised platform alongside a lake and a small garden. The temple is maintained by ASI (archeological survey of India). The intricate carvings and its location makes it worth visiting. There is no entry fee. 

Our next stop was Eklingji temple. It is a Shiva temple where the main deity Eklingji is a lingam with four faces. It is a functioning temple and cameras/cellphones have to be switched off. The temple security strictly enforce this by constantly prowling around the temple premises. Eklingji temple is the deity of the ruling King of Mewar. We were told that a representative of the royal family visits the temple every monday to offer prayers. We offered flowers to the deity and exited the temple around 1pm.

We wanted to have authentic Rajesthani thali. Since we had planned to visit the Vintage Car collection, we decided to have lunch at the restaurant in the same premises. On reaching we were told that there was a 1hr wait !!

It was 2 pm and we were hungry. We discussed our options. Again being the holiday season, we would face huge crowd wherever we went. We decided to eat at a Pizza place which we saw near the entrance. As we got out of the gate, on the opposite side we saw a good crowd eating at a line of mobile vendors. The hotel staff is instructed strictly not to take guests to any street vendors. But from the sight of it, the food was fast moving and the place around was fairly clean. We also brought our driver and guide along with us for lunch.

As we were having chaat items ordered from one vendor, we could smell melted butter and awesome aroma of parathas from the next vendor. Oh mine wish we had taken a photo of the parathas…variety of hot thick parathas straight from the hot tawa served with a 1 inch block of butter !!  This defenitely was the highlight of the day. 

Sai Baba Center - After returning to the hotel, we were told that even the staff sometimes orders food from here ! everybody knows but still a secret kept from the guests !

After a sumptuous lunch, we went back to the Vintage Car Collection. 

1) The entrance fee is Rs. 150 which includes a drink.

2) The Vintage cars are kept in the garage. It is the Palace’s garage.

3) Most of the Vintage cars are in working condition. We were told that once a week, the cars are taken out for a ride.

This is the Phantom II car used in Octopussy movie.

The horse carraige is used by royal family during festival parades. It was exciting to see the words “Simpson’s Madras” inscribed inside the lamp :-)

Next we decided to give a shot at visiting the Winter Palace but only to turn back after seeing a huge queue to enter the palace !! The guide advised us to take advantage of “premium ticket”. By paying Rs.560,( the regular entry fee Rs.50), one gets an early entry of one hour before the regular scheduled opening time of 10 am.

We went back to the hotel just in time to view the beautiful sun set on the lake.