A Visit to The Southern Rajasthan

Our journey began from Indira Gandhi International airport Delhi- hailed as the world's best in the category of 25-40 million passengers two years running.(2014 and 2015) The flight took off at 5:15am and we reached in an hour, 25 minutes before its scheduled time.

After collecting our luggage we had plans to be off to Mount Abu. The cabs though didn't have the same professional behavior as the flight, we had delays even after booking it well in advance.

Anyways, we made our way to Mount Abu rescheduling our plans a little bit.

First of our destinations-

Adhar Devi is a magnificent cave temple, a must visit if you have come to Mount Abu. But it is not for the elderly as you have to cover exactly 365 stairs same as the number of days in an year.

The next halt - Dilwara (Jain)Temple has amazing architecture and is a definite no miss for people visiting Mount Abu. In total it has five temples in it namely Vimal Vasahi, Luna Vasahi, Pithalhar, Parshvanath and Mahavir Swami. The temple provides a free guide to all the people visiting the temple.

Nakki Lake is just mesmerizing the view with the hills is just amazing. Nakki Lake has boating facility till 5 pm(30 mins) though only paddle boats so we decided to go against it. As I was having a 360 degree look around I saw toad rock in distance which was on my list of places to visit in the beginning. I asked around he said it was getting late( 6 pm) not the right time to do such a steep climb so I decided to do it the next day.

The next day our first destination plan was to go to Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary but in the end we decided against it we were off to Shanti Bhawan.

Trevor's Tank a slightly less visited beauty was our next stop.

Trevor's tank is a dream come true for reptile and hill lovers. We saw a crocodile sitting in disguised form of sleeping perhaps searching for its prey, the many fishes in the pond. There are also two hiking routes to observe the view of the hills along with the pond from the top.

Guru Shikhar was the next place in line.

Guru Shikhar is the highest point of the Aravali Range standing at 1722 metres but still reachable by road.

Toad Rock was the next spot for our visit, the one I was not able to make a visit to yesterday. I went alone while the rest of my family went shopping. People had told me to it would be hard and take about half an hour but that was not the case it took me just 8 minutes to reach the place which provided a beautiful view of the hill with the lake.

Kumbhalgarh has the second longest wall complex in the world after "The Great Wall of China" and is the second largest fort in Rajasthan.

We had hired a little guide to tell us the whereabouts of the fort.

In the journey from Maharana Pratap Museum to Kumbhalgarh, you witness the most beautiful mustard-coloured hills which tells you that you have reached Haldighati.

Vijay Stambha as the name suggests is the victory monument located within Chittorgarh Fort. The tower was constructed my Mewar King, Rana Khumbh. The topmost storey has a picture of the person I was talking a little bit earlier- Padmavati.

We spent the night at Udaipur in anticipation for the journey to Chittorgarh the next day.

The largest fort in Rajasthan, Chittor Fort's most prominent queen is Padmavati.

Some legends suggest that Alluladin Khalji invaded Chittor Fort to capture the beautiful queen Padmavati. It is believed that to protect themselves from the tyrant, Padmavati and other queens commited 'jauhar'. Most of the modern day historians have rejected the authencity of these legends.

We didn't hire a guide this time to give us an overview of the fort. A mistake on our part ? It's of utmost importance to hire a guide to know about different parts of the fort. On the contrary, the guides are really expensive for things that you forget after a short period of time.

Saheliyon ki Bari has fountains and kiosks, a lotus pool and several marble elephants. It's a perfect set up for maidens.

The most interesting phenomenon that I observed in the Bari was near the fountain where claps meant that the fountain had it's height increased. There is a secret phenomenon behind it. A secret for you to discover when you visit the place.

The monument was built to depict the beauty of Jainism. Kirti Stambha literally translates to "A Tower of Fame". Kirti Stambha is older than Vijay Stambha in the same fort.

Sajjangarh Biological Park is home to 60 animals of 21 species including tigers, panthers, lions, ostriches, alligators, rhesus monkeys.

The zoo has a golf cart to cover it's huge area on a minimal chargeable basis.

Monsoon Palace is situated just above the zoo.

The palace somewhat underwhelms the fairy-like castle on the hill. It lacks lustre that the other palaces in Rajasthan have. The view from the palace is beautiful though, it overlooks the beautiful Fateh Sagar Lake.

A place you could avoid if you are short on time.

Shilpgram offers you something that you might go looking for when you visit Rajasthan- Tradition.

The place has this rustic village feel to it. Acts such as pottery, snake charming, Kathputli(Puppet) dance, traditional Rajasthani dance keep the place alive.

You won't be short of traditional food choices that is for sure.

The sun set was right upon us when we reached Udaipur after our day travels to Chittorgarh.

We were in Udaipur now, I had gained even more knowledge about the Great Maharana and I was starting to visualize some of it.

Chetak was the ruler's horse who sacrificed himself in order to save his master's life. The Chetak Smarak is a tribute to this sefless being.

Fateh Sagar Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes in Udaipur would be best observed in a boat ride. A boat ride means a full circle of Udaipur's beauty.

The palace is set on the banks of Lake Pichola. It was built over 400 years ago with contributions from several rulers of the Mewar dynasty.