Fatehpur Sikri is about 40 kilometers from Agra on the Agra-Jaipur road, I believe. This was quite an interesting fort; several significant aspects of emperor's lifestyle were pointed out by our tour guide, who was very knowledgeable about these monuments; he is the same person who guided us through the Taj Mahal the previous day; when asked what kind of educational preparation he had for this job, he mentioned he had a Master's degree in History: quite appropriate for a guide, I thought.
After a brief stop for a lunch on a roadside restaurant, we began to be curious about what was in store in the Rambagh Palace. Rambagh Palace is an imposing building set out well inside a large compound; it was, after all, the palace of Sawai Jai Singh. It was here that I realized how some of the emperors were quite knowledgeable in Vedantic concepts: the motto of the emperor was, in Sanskrit, यतो धर्मः स्ततो जयः [Transliteration: Yato Dharmah Statoh Jayah]. That is, victory is only as much as there is righteousness in the approach to the task. You can double click the icon shown here to view it in a larger version.
The hotel management offers a "wine tour" of the palace hotel, intended to familiarize regarding the various aspects and conveniences of the hotel. We took this tour around 6:00 PM and were quite impressed by the history regarding Rajmata Gayatri Devi.
We then set out to visit Chokhi Dhani, which turned out to be probably the most enjoyable experience we had during this tour. A private entrepreneur has very nicely put together a place intended to bring to you, the visitor, a total experience of native Rajasthan, beginning with a traditional Rajasthani welcome, the camel ride, and many of the assortment of activities that you may find among native Rajasthanis, complete with a Rajasthani meal. The place has a native Punjabi portion as well, but we chose to go to the Rajasthani side.
The best day of the tour ended with a very comfortable sleep in Suite 101.
After a brief stop for a lunch on a roadside restaurant, we began to be curious about what was in store in the Rambagh Palace. Rambagh Palace is an imposing building set out well inside a large compound; it was, after all, the palace of Sawai Jai Singh. It was here that I realized how some of the emperors were quite knowledgeable in Vedantic concepts: the motto of the emperor was, in Sanskrit, यतो धर्मः स्ततो जयः [Transliteration: Yato Dharmah Statoh Jayah]. That is, victory is only as much as there is righteousness in the approach to the task. You can double click the icon shown here to view it in a larger version.
The hotel management offers a "wine tour" of the palace hotel, intended to familiarize regarding the various aspects and conveniences of the hotel. We took this tour around 6:00 PM and were quite impressed by the history regarding Rajmata Gayatri Devi.
We then set out to visit Chokhi Dhani, which turned out to be probably the most enjoyable experience we had during this tour. A private entrepreneur has very nicely put together a place intended to bring to you, the visitor, a total experience of native Rajasthan, beginning with a traditional Rajasthani welcome, the camel ride, and many of the assortment of activities that you may find among native Rajasthanis, complete with a Rajasthani meal. The place has a native Punjabi portion as well, but we chose to go to the Rajasthani side.
The best day of the tour ended with a very comfortable sleep in Suite 101.
