21st to 23rd February 2014 (Day 13 to 15) Sardargarh, Rajasthan, India

We arrived at Sardargarh Heritage Hotel in the late afternoon and this was our welcoming party.

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We had arrived at a modern hotel inside a massive ancient fort, built by Sardar Singh from 1738 to 1743.  He also built the Lake Palace in Udaipur.  I have been able to find little of the fort’s history but at one time it was severely damaged by the explosion of a powder magazine and at another was besieged by the Holkars of Indore, about 500 kilometres south-east.

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This is a view from high on the wall of the fort looking NNW across what must be a flood plain.  The fort clearly occupies a strategic location with no high land for many miles in this direction.  Had we chosen a different room, this might have been the view out our window.

This is a multi-image panorama that will appear quite small on the page.  However, if you click it, you will find yourself in a huge image that you can zoom right into and observe the detail.

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In the other direction is Sardargarh town.

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Sunset looking about WSW.  The next few images are in the low evening light after sunset.  At least some are time exposures that must have been taken from a tripod.

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Next morning I arose very early to photograph before dawn.  This is looking south from the northern end of the fort.  .

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There are roads beside the interior walls on both sides of the fort.

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It is now well past sunrise and this is at the south end of the fort.

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Back now at the north end of the fort, looking towards some small temples on top of the ridge.

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This is a lone shot from that night.

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The next morning, as we were about to leave, I scurried around for some final images.

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These last two are infrared.

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Staying at this historic fort as guests of the maharaja and maharani was definitely a highlight of our trip.

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