Ninth chapter: Jag Mandir, a palace on the lake
We continue in the beautiful white city of Udaipur, we continue to remember that calm and that golden light of sunset... as I told in my previous article (read it here: Udaipur, the white pearl).
And we also continue looking towards the lake, Lake Pichola, which was built by three majaranas (Amar Singh, Karan Singh and Jagat Singh) from 1551 to 1652 by flooding the ancient city of Pichola by raising the dam. Since then it has become a kind of magical place where two majestic and elegant palaces appear, as if they had always been there, as if it had come out of nowhere, from those calm waters...
Some waters that remain paused, indifferent to everything that happens around them, oblivious to the looks of amazement and serenity of the lucky ones who look out there. We only perceive a slight movement, waves that form when a boat moves slowly and ceremoniously to those dream places.
What if we daydream, with another story, in another time and in another distant place? It seems that we are on the stage of an exotic legend, a fairy tale, a tale of the Arabian Nights, a fantasy movie or a magical dream. We feel for a moment out of time, and in an imagined space that fascinates us.
As the sun goes down, we look towards the horizon again, curiosity pushes us, and those lovely buildings there? We discovered two islands, two palaces: the Lake Palace on Jag Niwas island, which is now a five-star hotel, and the Jag Mandir Palace, on the island of the same name, which they say was the inspiration to build the Taj Mahal, also called Lake Garden Palace.
And we feel the desire to get there. From the boardwalk we walk, everything is a different color, we approach a boat and start our journey towards the wonder, we arrive at the Jag Mandir palace.
As if we were relevant personalities from another era, we are received by an entourage, almost royal, almost imperial, surrounded by lavish decorations, they welcome us. We felt like the owners of everything.
At the same time I never cease to be amazed by the exquisite architecture, even before disembarking, those marble elephants built on the wall stand out, marked out as a defense or the first display of majesty of the many that we were going to find inside.
We cross the entrance to enter a beautiful garden in an oriental and imposing style, with more ornaments and decorations, with water fountains, with secret places, with a kind of giant cage or golden aviary that perfectly frames part of that structure of the beautiful palace that it seems enchanted, eternal, as if it had never changed.
Strolling through a patio full of pleasantly arranged chairs and tables, in a beautiful open-air restaurant from where you can enjoy the breeze and dazzling views that leave us speechless.
We enjoy the most special moment, at the peak and most evocative point of sunset and everything seems even more magical, more unreal. I kept thinking… time seemed to have stopped, is this a dream? I didn't know if I was awake or if I had traveled to another world recounting endless emotions in my head that now crowd together again in a text that I don't know where it's going anymore...
Palm trees, flowers and towers, decorated walls, colored pennants, lampposts that light up in harmony, and the silence continued. No voices were heard, perhaps no one spoke because it was almost impossible to say something, because the ecstatic words between unique sensations drowned in those waters bathed in a golden light that is difficult to explain, in that magic mirror from which wonders like these emerge, in the lake Pichola.
In the end we had to leave, back to the city, and from there Udaipur, from this wonderful pearl of India, we continued this incredible journey, and soon in the next chapter we arrived at the great city par excellence, full of contrasts, just the opposite to all this episode that I have told you.
Thanks so much for reading. Soon the next stop... Have an incredible day!
The text is mine and the photos are mine too ©Duvinca
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