Door

 

On a trip to Udaipur, India we stayed in a boutique hotel built in a heritage style. The place gives a royal feeling with the beautiful art and the decor. This was a beautiful hand painted door for one of the room.
Sharing here for Weekly Photo Challenge.

Ranakpur Temple

On our recent trip to India in March we were travelling to Udaipur by road. En route is the small town of Ranakpur which is famous for its marble Jain Temple. This is said to be the most spectacular of the Jain temples. It is said that the construction of the temple started in the 15th century and it was renovated time to time.

We reached there early in the morning and the place felt tranquil. The temple offers an exquisite work of art and architecture.

This renowned Jain temple is dedicated to their Guru ‘Tirthankara Adinatha’. 

The temple has 29 halls, 80 domes and the pavilions include about 1444 pillars; each of them carved intricately and artistically. 

Inside the temple figures of dancing goddesses are beautifully engraved at the pillars. It is believed that each pillar is different from the others in design. 

We could not take pictures inside the temple as photography is allowed inside only during the afternoon hours. 

At the back side of the temple are few rooms for the priests and the other workers. 

We also spotted few langurs in the surrounding trees. They are believed to be one of the ‘Old World Monkeys’. The term ‘langur’ means ‘having a long tail’ and the name suits the animal perfectly. 

 

We stayed there for about an hour and enjoyed this small glimpse of India’s cultural heritage and unique architecture. We also had food in the cafeteria there and it was delicious. We all were full and we moved for our next destination.

Intricate

 

On our trip to Udaipur, India we stayed in a boutique hotel built in a heritage style. The place gives a royal feeling with the beautiful art and the decor. This was a wonderful hand-painted wall along the indoor swimming pool area. Sharing here for Weekly Photo Challenge.

Jag Mandir Palace

On our recent trip to India we visited Jag Mandir Palace in Udaipur city. It is a beautiful palace built in early years of 17th century on an island in Lake Pichola.

There is a short boat ride to reach the Palace. The pavilion is decorated with large elephants carved in stone, four on each side of the entry steps.

The Palace has huge gardens and impressive marble buildings. It is a large place for hosting parties and many weddings take place here.

The place also offers beautiful views of Lake Pichola.

This three-storied Palace is a palatial structure made in yellow sandstone and marble.

We strolled in the gardens and it looked beautiful at night.

We had made our dinner reservations in advance at their Darikhana Restaurant and enjoyed the lip smacking cuisine of Rajasthan.

We loved the romantic ambience of this place.

Lake Palace as viewed in distant from the boat ride.

From the boat ride to sight seeing and the dinner, it was a royal experience. This was an evening well spent with family.

Ephemeral

This picture is from our recent trip to Udaipur in India. I was taking pictures during sunset from our hotel terrace when I decided to capture this moment with the stone built fountain in the foreground.

Sharing here for Weekly Photo Challenge.

Another of my post for sparkling moments can be found here.

Five Photos- Five Stories- Mysore Palace

During one of our vacation in India few years back we visited Mysore city for a day. The trip would not be complete without visiting the Mysore Palace. It is one of the largest and most spectacular monuments in the country. The palace itself is a three-storey stone structure which has a series of square towers with arches covered with domes. There is also a large open space in front and the palace is surrounded by a large garden.

The palace is now converted into a museum that is home to souvenirs, paintings, jewellery, royal costumes and other items which were once possessed by the formal royal family. We had a knowledgeable  afternoon knowing more about the history of the palace before we left for our next destination.

My thank you to Priceless Joy for nominating me to this special Five Photos Five Stories challenge. I am to post a photo each day for five consecutive days and attach a story, either fiction or non-fiction, or a short paragraph, to the photo each day. Next I am to select one person (each day), to carry on this challenge. Accepting the challenge is entirely upto the person nominated, and is not mandatory.

Today I would like to nominate author of the blog Story Teller, to participate in this challenge.