Alila Fort-Finally

Oct 1 Day 2- from the itinerary: Drive to Bishangarh (200 km/4 hrs) / Hotel Alila Fort (B)

Depart to Bishangarh Village. Check into Alila Fort.

Recreating the flavor of Shahpura's royalty, the original fort is left intact, with much care given to ecological restoration and the reconstruction of new residential areas. Perhaps the only warrior fort that has been converted into a heritage resort, Alila Fort is a unique example of the Jaipur Gharana architecture influenced by both the Mughals and the British. Located in Bishangarh village, 6 km off Delhi-Jaipur national highway.

Late afternoon visit the village, see pottery, carpet makers and jewelers in the villages.

Here is my route for the next 3 days

Here is the view from my window in Delhi and my breakfast. 

The buffet has amazingly large choice of food- could have stayed longer but had to start at 9am.

Naresh is my driver who lives with his family in a village outside of Delhi with his wife and his parents.  He has a son who is 11 years old. I thought I got a photo of him and our car, but I guess not. Will try for that later.

Our drive today was supposed to be 3 hours and traffic was supposed to be light because it was a Sunday.  It took us closer to 5 hours as we didn’t get there until 2pm+.  We ran into 3 big traffic jams and Naresh took a wrong turn and we had a stop for a coffee break. 

Somehow we always ended up taking the side of the road that was unpaved, so really dusty and bouncy.  There was a big contrast between my Japan and India experiences.

It was amusing that the traffic along my road looked similar to the traffic in Saudi. At least I have snacks, water and can put my feet up.

The drive to Rajasthan (where I ended up today) was hot, ugly and dusty.  One encountered many things along the way.  We barely missed a cow that walked across our lane of the “expressway”.  There was a woman passenger on a motorcycle that was in danger of burning her bare feet if they touched the bike’s muffler. 

And the lady walking along carrying a huge amount of Sorghum on her head - she is walking towards us. There were some goats along the side of the road. And then there was the bike with the goat sitting on the passenger’s lap.  The goat was either drugged or dead - no photo. 

It was harvest time for sorghum used for animal feed.  I tried to get a photo of the bales in the fields, but no luck - only those along the road and the trucks loaded with it:)

We finally got to the correct turnoff for the Alila Fort and the village of Bishangarh is about 8 miles away from the Fort.  The village was old, dirty, and pretty much closed up.  I was rather happy at this because I did not want to do a tour and see the local handicrafts.

The fort itself is about 233 years old and is now owned by Hyatt.  A portion was renovated and another portion was built new and it has 59 rooms. It just re-opened in 2017 after a 7 year restoration and I’ve been trying to stay here since May of 2020 - first Covid and then the government bought out all the rooms in the hotel for an event.  I am glad I’m finally able to use this voucher.

The Fort is not far off the main road to Jaipur in Bishangarh.  It is an old warrior fort surrounded by the Aravalli Hills and built in the original Jaipur Gharana architecture which includes Rajput and Mughal influence.  It was occupied by kings and rajputs, so a rather romantic history.

I read that Rajasthan is the “pink city” (even though it’s a region) and Jaipur - where I’m headed - is also known as the pink city.  You can see that the local rock tends to look pink and, hence, the name.

The hotel is in two sections - the separate building at the bottom of the hill is for checkin/out, afternoon tea, and various diversions (archery, swimming, camel cart rides).  Then you ride (in a car) up to the actual fort, your room and actual dining. Upon checkin I was greeted by a local song and dance

My room is very nice. 

I suppose I was lucky, again, to get a room as much of the hotel is closed and they are almost fully booked. The photos below include the view from my window.

I didn’t bother with lunch, but did have a snack and asked for a yoga mat.  I actually did my exercise routine in peloton developed for traveling and it felt pretty good - nice to get the kinks out.  Then housekeeping made me a bubble bath which felt WONDERFUL.

Never a dull moment because I had to meet my guide for my fort tour.  The reconstruction kept the original foundation stones and incorporated them.  They really add character. Here is a short video showing the foundation stones.

The photos from the tour are above. There is some interesting wildlife which includes flocks of parrots.

After the tour it was time to drive back down the hill to afternoon tea. Here is the trip down to give you a context for the height of the hill.

I ended up eating outside near the pool and the bugs came out.  No photos of the tea and food options because, honestly, it was rather lack luster and I needed to get out of the grass.

Then it was time for my camel cart ride.  I was curious and didn’t really want to do it, but turned out to be ok and was a rather low impact way of seeing the immediate small village around the fort. It was smelly and camels can't walk and go to the bathroom at the same time.

Back up to the fort to prepare for dinner.  I was able to get a nice video during dusk to give a context of the area

I went to the local Rajasthani restaurant.  Here are some photos.  First appetizers was samosa inspired .  Next included yams, another apricot and the third spinach

Dessert included saffron/milk dish, beetroot halva, and a honey sweet. There was a small ensemble playing local music.

It was a lovely evening. Here are some photos from the restaurant.

Back in the room, I had a friend come to visit.