Welcome to Tales From India

Day 1 –Wednesday, Delhi, the capital city of modern India, a city known for it's rich, valorous and exotic history. Once the fabled city of the heroes of the Mahabharata, and ruled by the Rajputs before they were displaced by foreign invaders. The tour starts in the evening with a ceremonial welcome aboard the Palace on Wheels at Safdarjung New Delhi. You will be introduced to your fellow travellers. Feel free to explore your new home, and acquaint yourself with its various facilities. Relax with a drink at the bar. Dinner will be served on board in its two restaurants.

Day 2 –Thursday, Pink City, known for it's colourful and fascinating architecture. Your tour begins at the Hawa Mahal or the Palace of Winds, followed by a visit to the Amber Fort, riding on canopied elephants in pomp and royal style of ancient maharajas. After indulging oneself in shopping at Rajasthali, the State's Handicrafts emporium for souvenirs and crafts, an exotic and sumptuous lunch awaits you at five star hotel.

Day 3 –Friday, Jaisalmer. Spend the day in this isolated, but architecturally, one of the greatest Royal Bastions of the World. After a dinner served under the stars, at five star hotel, come back to the train to resume your journey. Jaisalmer was the stronghold for the Bhatti Rajputs, and a hardier race never lived. Their earlier settlement was marked by bandit, as they looted caravans at will, stealing horses, and inviting the wrath of the West Asian invaders. Over time they began to settle, and the 12th century fort with its ninety-nine bristling bastions was established on top of Trikuta hill.Isolated Jaisalmer may have been, a lost city in the sands of the Thar, more mythic than real for those of who heard it, but the caravans that passed through its territories enriched the coffers of the treasury.

Day 4 - Saturday, its time for you to visit yet another desert kingdom, Jodhpur, where you arrive at 0700hrs. You can spend the morning at Mehrangarh Fort that towers over the city like an eagle’s eyrie and then come downhill to lunch at Umaid Bhawan Palace, the largest art-deco residence in the world and now home to the head of the royal family, museum and luxury hotel. The 500 year old history of Jodhpur, the bastion of the valiant Rathore Rajputs, bristles with conflicts and sieges, with battles and savage skirmishes,so it is difficult to believe that they found the time not only to build the impossibly invincible looking Mehrangarh Fort, but also its lavish and delicately embellished palaces.Within the Fort, reached by a steep path with huge guarding at its turns and places at angles, to prevent elephants from storming them, are a large number of apartments where the maharajas retainers now serve as guides. Within, the apartments are painted and gilded and have windows and balconies to allow them an uninterrupted view of the desert around it.

Day 5 - Sunday, Sawai Madhopur, to spend the day in the wilds of Ranthambhor where your hosts are, of course, royal. Ranthambhor National Park is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger, the most majestic of the big cats, and magnificent in its agility and grace. As it moves through the underbrush, its tawny gold hide striped with black bands, merges with nature, and the jungle stands to attention.Ranthambhor is also very picturesque. A number of lakes from the shallow lands where tiger sightings are quite common, and where herds of deer can be seen foraging, while crocodiles bask in the sun. The lofty hills ring the park, and in the distance, the ramparts of Ranthambhor fort create a dramatic silhouette.

Day 6 – Monday, Udaipur, the capitals of the Sisodia Maharanas, enjoy pre-eminence among the Rajput clans of Rajasthan. Spend the day sight seeing at Udaipur. Maharana Udai Singh, laid the foundation for a new kingdom-Udaipur-situated by Lake Pichhola, where the impressive City Palace was lavished with aesthetic and imaginative works of art, and the art of miniature painting was encouraged.

Day 7 - Tuesday, Bharatpur a royal kingdom where the Jats, rather than the Rajputs, ruled. Bharatpur’s Jat history is not too old, with Suraj Mal establishing a firm stronghold in a region contested by both the Rajputs and the Mughals. Suraj Mal’s exploits are legendary, and the fort, Lohargarh, or Iron Fort, has a history that recounts it with pride. The only fort in the state to have bastions of mud, these proved meritorious because they simply swallowed up the cannon shells, not allowing them to impact.The Keoladeo Ghana National Park one of the finest bird sancturary in the world was developed by a royal edict when dykes were created so that water could be canalized for the hunting preserve as the maharaja of Bharatpur wished to create.

Day 8 - Agra, a visit to the world’s most well-known monument and well worth its fame; The Taj Mahal. Built in the memory of his beloved empress by Emperor Shah Jahan, this marble mausoleum is the greatest gesture of love known to mankind, and is breathtakingly, bewitchingly beautiful. Land for the building of the Taj Mahal in Agra came from the maharaja of Jaipur and the marble used in its construction was from the mines of Makrana, also in Rajasthan. The precious stones used in its inlay, and the craftsmen employed for the twenty-two years its construction took, came not only from India, but from all over the World.