Mandawa - Bikaner

On this route a stop is needed in Fatehpur to admire some havelis.
It's so beautiful that we do not get tired of it.

We learned that a French woman was at the origin, for about twenty years, of a restoration with ancestral techniques based on natural products in order to preserve these architectural jewels of Rajasthan.

By taking again the road, the landscapes become more desert and it is not rare to see dromedaries, gazelles, peacocks. We are in the Thar Desert. In Bikaner, we discover a walled city which was a princely capital in the fifteenth century, founded by Rajput leader (caste warriors), Rao Bikaji.

It is the great Maharaja, Gaga Singh who will bring the city to its peak.
He built the Ganga Canal, which turned the desert into productive land through irrigation.
Fort Junagarth, fort red, (1589-1594 built by Raj Singh) is one of the riches of this city.

The exterior does not look, the treasure is discovered inside.
The architecture is a mixture of medieval military and a refined decoration with beautiful facades carved in red sandstone.
To the east, the Suraj Pol gateway or sun gate is facing the rising sun.
Iron spikes garnish the posts to prevent elephants from returning during armed conflict.
Two statues of the same pachyderms guard the entrance.
The construction contains several palaces and temples.

On the wall are sculptures representing hands fingers upwards that evokes the practice of sati. Sati is the immolation of the widow at the stake of her husband.

This sacrifice is no longer fortunately relevant.
A very nice temple dedicated to Ganesh (lucky door) welcomes visitors.

In one of the courtyards the maharadja sat on a Carrara marble throne, and during Holi's party his subjects had the right to sprinkle it with colored water.
Women could watch the show hidden behind the moucharabiehs of the balconies. Wall paintings evoke the start of the train, canal and electricity. Other curiosities: the courtroom with its 130 kg silver throne, the palace of the clouds, with its blue clouds paintings evoking the freshness and the rain, the maharajah and the maharani's room, a single-seater plane and well others. An unforgettable visit ..