Road trip to Rajasthan: Chittorgarh-Mount Abu-Haldighati-Udaipur (Part 2)

We all had a very sound sleep and woke up refreshed on the early morning of 26^th March 2014. After a quick breakfast on day 2, we headed for Mount Abu. The drive to Mount Abu was great, roads were top notch and through small mountains. To the delight of kids there were few tunnels as well.

No one in sight on the way to Mount Abu

We reached Mount Abu around 12:30 pm and it appeared like a ghost town. We knew this was off season and will get discounted hotel rooms even up to 50%-60%. We selected a decent hotel with lot of open space. Again there were around 10-12 points to be covered but we decided to cover a few of them and spend quality time there. Another quick lunch and off we were to the first point. Guru Shikhar is the highest point in Mount Abu and Rajasthan and is about 18 km from Mount Abu town. Mount Abu is on the border of Rajasthan and Gujarat and from Guru Shikhar one can view both Rajasthan and Gujarat. After the 18 km drive, there are steps to the top (something like Vaishno Devi) with shops on both the sides. There was a 360 degree view from the top and a small temple.

Guru Shikar – highest point of Rajasthan

The next point was Dilwara temple. Having read so many times about these temples in history books I never realized their importance until I saw it with my own eyes! These carvings typically done on huge blocks of lime stones over 1300 years back by investing crores of rupees! Each carving was exquisitely done and we gasped in admiration of this great spectacle. There are no words to describe these carvings. There are 4 temples built on the same lines in the compound and built for Jain Thirtankara’s (Gurus).

The next point was Nakki Lake. It was very crowded here. Kids insisted on boating so we went for 2 paddle boats and they made us race like anything. We were exhausted after half an hour of rigorous paddling and chilled out with some ice-cream!

Boating at Nakki Lake, Mount Abu

The next and last point was to view the sun set; unfortunately due to cloudy skies the view was not that great. Kids entertained themselves with a ride on tall white horses at a reasonable speed. By this time it was getting dark and we headed back to the main city. This city has a Gujarati touch and we could find many Gujarati food joints.

View of Sunset from Sunset point

Day 3: Mount Abu – Haldighati – Udaipur, 27^th March 2014

We woke up to a bright and sunny morning and after a light breakfast started on way to Udaipur. The drive was short rather one of the shortest so far and we had to drive back on the same highway. On previous day on the way to Mount Abu I saw directions to Haldighati and having read so much about the war had a yearning to visit that place. So once I started to see the directions to Haldighati I mentioned my interest to Teena and together we decided to take the detour. The drive was on a single road fit enough to drive a single car across sleepy towns.

Haldighati is a small village and there is nothing much there besides a museum dedicated to Maharana Pratap. A private trust has build up this museum. The museum among other things has a model of battle of Haldighati, as to where the war was fought and how Chetak helped Rana Pratap escape and finally died in doing that.

Rana Prataph Museum, Haldighati

There are various model scenarios depicting the life of Rana inside the museum (something similar as in the Akshardham temple in Delhi).

Maharan on Chetak fighting Raja Jai Singh (Battle of Haldighati)

Model of Chittorgarh fort

Model depicting story of Panna dai (sacrificing her son to save Udai Singh)

Near to the museum there is Chetak Smarak as the name signifies is the smarak for Maharana Pratap’s beloved horse Chetak. Chetak died at this spot while saving the Rana and was buried here. After clicking few pictures here we headed towards Udaipur.

Chetak Smarak, Chetak is buried here!

While doing my research before the trip I realized that the best places to stay in Udaipur were on the banks of Pichola lake, which provides lake and sun set view. I called up few good hotels earlier and they were not available so deferred the hotel selection for later. I decided to just walk in few hotels in that area and decide at run time. Direction from Google maps were good until we entered city and then it started to mess up and there we were lost. Asked few people for directions and as it is a person on a two wheeler asked us to follow him, which we did and after many turns and narrow roads we were behind the city palace gates. We parked the car with some difficulty and looked at few hotels, the area was very congested and we did not like it. We got back into the car and headed for outskirts – an area named gulab bagh, where we could find many good hotels. After checking a few of them we checked into Vatika Inn. After a quick lunch we headed to city palace. After the highs of Chittorgarh and Haldighati, City Palace did not appeal that much to us. So thereafter, we headed towards the ropeway – Dudh Talai. Dudh Talai is a place on a small hill, where there is a temple and it provided a 360 degree view of Udaipur. We stayed until sunset and clicked many photographs. This was one of the highlights of Udaipur.  We headed back to hotel for some rest, followed by dinner and thereafter called it a day.

View of Udaipur from Dudh Talai

View of Pichola lake with Lake Palace, Udai vilas

Sight seeing in Udaipur is divided in two parts – there are points of interest around Pichola lake and around Fateh Sagar lake. We decided to focus next day on the point around Fateh Sagar lake.