Pushkar Palace
Undoubtedly Pushkar Palace is one of the
most beautiful places to stay while visiting the city. It once
served as the home of the royal family, and is now a lovely
hotel. After being greeted by the doorman shown in the photo
above, guests pass through a small reception area, and then
take a left past the first set of rooms arriving at the dining
area. The interior walls are white, with beautiful wooden
window frames, seen in the photo to the left. The dining area
consists of a small indoor sitting area, and a large outdoor
area, overlooking Pushkar Lake (photo to the right). Food at
the hotel consisted largely of rice and curry dishes, and was
strictly vegetarian. The dining area offered a panoramic view
of the ghats that line the city, and which are used for both
worship and bathing. Accordingly, pictures are only permitted
at times when these two daily rituals are not taking place.
One also gets a very different view of the city from the lake
than from 
walking
through the city. While the city streets are crowded and
dusty, the view from the lake is serene, as most of the
temples are built backed up to the lake, giving it a more
placid demeanor than the city at large. The rooms of Pushkar
Palace are centered around a series of lushly vegetated
courtyards, that form a second outer ring of rooms around the
white central cluster of rooms shown in the photo above. The
room decor reflects the desert motif, with browns and red
predominating. The photo to the left shows the interior
courtyard of 
Pushkar
Palace, while the photo to the right affords a glimpse of one
of the rooms. The rooms that we had each sported a small
balcony overlooking the lake. The photo below shows a view
from the balcony, with a view of both Lake Pushkar and the
nearby mountain from which Savriti, Brahma's peeved consort,
looks down on the city her mate created. Want to see
more of the Pushkar Palace? Here
is
a link to a page featuring panoramas of the Pushkar Palace
