Neemrana Fort Palace

As some of you know, we were given a fantastic gift for Christmas this year. We got to stay for a night at Neemrana Fort-Palace, which is in a neighbouring state, Rajeshtan. It was a long 2 and a half hour ride from south New Delhi, but once we got there, we were struck with awe, and fascinated by the ancient architecture. This place was originally built in 1464, but fell to ruins after several wars and changing hands several times also. It was pretty well only a pile of rubble in 1986 when it was bought for restoration. Renovations commenced and in 1991 it opened for business with just 15 livable rooms. Since then it has one again become a magnificent Fort-Palace now with 11 levels of 45 suites, a pool, spa, gorgeous gardens, amphitheatre, restaurants and it's ancient jaw dropping views. Every room is unique, hard to find, and represents a period in history all the way from the 15th century to the 21st. I believe we had something in the middle. The rooms are named, not numbered, and if you forget the name and area, you will be searching for quite some time. But thankfully your room key has a large metal tag on it with the name of your room, so if you get lost you can just show the tag to someone who works there and they'll take you there, or if you like being lost like I do, you can wander around until you find it again!

This is our room. It was wonderfully cozy, had it's own front sitting room with a single bed in it, and had a fantastic view from the little terrace. The picture above with the amphitheatre in it was taken from our terrace, and the one to the right is our terrace. The lower of the two. Even the little bathroom windows had a spectacular view! I don't think I took any pictures of that though.













After a relaxing evening of exploring and eating, we retired to rest up for the next day. We found out late the evening before when we were wandering around that there were ruins of an old look-out fort at the top of the hill behind the fort. So we set off to find a way up at around nine thirty in the morning. It turns out that not many people wish to trek up their on their own because we found the gate described to us by the registration office, but it was boarded up and locked. It took nearly an hour and a half for someone to scare up the keys to unlock said gate, and once we got going, it was after eleven. With checkout at 12, we hurried up the mountain, took a bunch of photos, explored as much as we could and hurried back down. As it turns out, we could have meandered a bit more, since they are very relaxed about check out times. We learned this after returning from our hurried trek. Oh well, so be it! We still enjoyed ourselves. As you can see the view was spectacular. Just as we reached the lookout, the fog began to lift and we could see the farmland stretching out across the horizon. It made me miss Christmas hill and Mt. Finlayson and looking out over Victoria. It made me smile to see green and yellow fields, green trees not completely caked in dirt and dust, and flowers, after being in this dust bowl of a city for so long. I may just start crying when I step onto the ferry and see the ocean, trees and mountains once again.

The count is now on, and with only 13 days left here in India, we are going to try and squeeze in a trip to Agra (the Taj Mahal) and Jaipur in the next week or so. Then we're off to London for three days before returning home. It is just so hard to believe that it's almost over. I don't know if I'm ready, but I suppose I'll have to be. I will most likely write next after we've gone to Agra and Jaipur. And so until then, farewell.