Royal Retreat

Month 'November' has always been a happening month in my life. My first job offer, engagement, wedding and my li'l princess all happened some November. Round the year I am excited and eagerly waiting for November, as this is the month we take our celebrations to some new place. This time it was UDAIPUR, The Lake City.

Early morning flight landed at Maharana Pratap Airport, Udaipur at 6:30 AM. The moment I stepped out of the airport, I just knew that I am going to love this place. Something about the place was very positive, fresh and vibrant. And in my subsequent stay there I realized all that was true.

We had booked Hotel Lake Pichola for our stay, we reached there around 7:30 which was way too early for check-in. Hotel staff was so nice and co-operative they arranged a temporary room till we could check-in. Soon we freshened-up and headed to explore the city. The first location on our list was Sai Snacks Corner for Alu Parathas. Its a small food joint but food was really tasty, so much so that till date my husband says its the best parathas he ever had. Those parathas just took our expectations on food in Udaipur very high. And I gladly want to share that wherever we ate during the trip the food was lip smacking.

After a heavy breakfast we moved to wander through Gulab Bagh & Zoo. Long walk, many many photos and mini train ride was much needed to make space in our stomach for our next meal. One thing that strikes you when you are in Udaipur is the friendliness of people. Everywhere we went people were welcoming, smiling, and helpful. I guess this is where positive and fresh energy is drawn from. After spending some time with nature we moved on to our Hotel to experience more nature :)

Hotel is next to the beautiful Lake Pichola (hence the name) and has a spectacular view of City palace, Bagore Ki Haveli and of course the lake. We were awestruck by seeing our room and the view it offered. Take a look

Li'l one finally got some place where she could bounce, run, hide and lie down. In fact we all got to do all of that.

Around 1:30 in the afternoon our craving for food started again and that lead us to Hotel Natraj for authentic Rajasthani food. And no doubt food was delicious, if I had to exaggerate it was plate smacking. We headed back to our hotel room and took rest for the entire afternoon.

Just as I thought how beautiful the lake and surroundings are, sun started setting and the reflections of historical monuments started glittering and evening was alive. We stepped out to experience the glittering evening. Took a leisurely walk in the narrow lanes of the city, did some window shopping, decided on our shopping list and finally landed to see cultural folk dance show in Bagore ki Haveli. To our surprise our princess managed to be in one place for an hour, we enjoyed the show and  finally headed to our hotel.

Sunday morning started very late for us, after breakfast at hotel and Kachori from a local joint, we started our sightseeing tour. Visit was planned to see city palace.  It was magnificent, it took us almost 3 hours to cover entire palace. Each corner of place has view of entire city and lakes around. I wonder how luxurious it would have been to stay here. Absolutely stunning. After seeing this grand palace, it was a time for royal lunch and we choose to taste local staple food Dal-Bati. We then started to take our very first rope way ride. It was nice but the wait was too long. After a jampacked sight seeing tour all of us just needed to crash. We did just that.

Monday morning we visited Jagdish temple and braced ourselves for much exciting shopping. We visited almost all market places in and around city and returned loaded. literally.

Evening we took leisurely walk through city lanes and rested. Dinner was reserved at The Upre Rooftop restaurant. Awesome night view of lake and delicious food, its a must visit.

Tuesday we called it a trip and headed back home. Of all the anniversary trips, this one will always be special, as our star was with us very first time for the celebration.

PS: While writing this I just could not stop thinking of going back to Udaipur :)