Next day we planned to head to the slightly lesser known Udaipur Island resort located in the middle of the Jaisamand Lake, known to be the second largest manmade lake in Asia. Since the Jaisamand Lake is about 60 km from the Udaipur City, not many people travel towards this resort. An hour’s drive in the Superb took us to the edge of the lake, from where you have to hire a boat to reach the island. A half an hour boat ride takes you to the beautiful resort where you can have your lunch while soaking in the gorgeous view of the unusually picturesque water body peppered with small hills.
We spent the afternoon in the resort at lunch, generally having a look around and sprawling lazily on the pristine lawns. We weren’t particularly pleased with the food for the price, but we hadn’t come to this place for gastronomical pleasures anyway. We enjoyed the breathtaking view for as long as we could and managed to kill more time than ideal in the process. A nonchalant look at the watch suggested that we were short of time to reach the SajjanGarh Palace, also known as the Monsoon Palace – the Gondor like structure that fascinated us right from the time we first saw it from a distance.
We rushed back to the boat, and half an hour later, were gunning towards the Sajjangarh palace using Google Maps’ directions. As we had imagined, we were late. The road leading up to Sajjangarh is quite narrow and steep, and since the hill and the associated forest is a wildlife sanctuary, entry for outsiders is banned post 6:00pm.
Curse as we may the lacunae with our system, it helped us eventually get our way. We were allowed in, and a short drive later, were greeted by a majestic palace. Overlooking the lake Fateh Sagar the palace was named as Sajjangarh after Maharana Sajjan Singh of the Mewar Dynasty, who built it in 1884. Offering a panoramic view of the Udaipur city the palace was built to watch the monsoon clouds; hence, it is popularly known as Monsoon Palace. Previously owned by the Mewar royal family, it is now under the control of the Forest Department of the Government of Rajasthan and has been opened to the public recently.
The short visit at Sajjangarh turned out to be the highlight of our trip to Udaipur, and we cursed ourselves umpteen times for being too lazy earlier in the day.
The fag end of the evening was spent in the narrow streets of Udaipur window shopping and collecting some gift items for friends and family. By the time we reached back to the hotel, we were tired. But the weather, the wind, the food and the beer awaited us at the rooftop, and we simply could not forget the magical experience we had the previous evening. We made it a late night enjoying the food and discussing random things, with the lights of the City Palace twinkling in the distance – another day well spent.
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A typical Amit’s article
Always a delight to read.