India 2012

Saturday3November

We continue our journey in stages and arrive in Bikaner to visit the Junagarh Fort.

This fort was built in the 16th century by Raja Rao Bika, who gave his name to this city of Bikaner.

The entrance is through the "Suraj Pole", the Sun Gate.

The "protective" spikes of the gate

The double pink sandstone staircase of the first courtyard

This fort is a superb palace. Allow several hours to explore it and visit the courtyards, corridors, rooms, lounges, balconies, and other immense halls.

The Carrara marble pool with a central throne...

Detail of the shield displayed in the courtyard

Blue ceramics depicting scenes of rural life

The perforated walls to see without being seen  

The mosaic tiled floor

The equally finely decorated doors

Superb narrow wooden door

Phool Mahal, the Palace of Flowers. The oldest part of the fort.

The coronation hall. In all simplicity...  

Badal Mahal, the cloud room with small red lightning bolts.

Small room where you find photos of fakirs and their usual instruments like the nail board, or even better, the saw board...  

wooden door handles

Rings run along the ceilings of the corridors surrounding the rooftop terrace.

In Gaj Singh Manda's room, the swing dedicated to Krishna

The royal chamber of Chatar Mahal

The first elevator installed in Rajasthan, dated 1914

The perforated walls allow light and ventilation in the corridors

Some period documents. I'll let you translate...

The enormous yet magnificent conference hall dating from 1937.

The walls are adorned with very beautiful animal scenes, carved in stone.

This is followed by museums on maharaja costumes, weapons, and palanquins.

The number of fort visitors per year.

The 1st column, foreign visitors, the 3rd column, Indian visitors.

Believe it or not, these palace visits are not relaxing at all. A good lunch is a must. Still as spicy, of course, but we're starting to get used to it, fortunately... or maybe not...

On the right, "pan masala", the traditional little sweet treat that extinguishes the fire of the meal! It's very, very good. These are anise or licorice herbs accompanied by small sweet pearls. It was pure joy when (not always) the waiter brought us this little dish!