A car drive to Chittorgarh is about 2 hours from Udaipur, and since our next train from Chittorgarh to Agra was leaving at midnight, we decided to sleep in late and leave Udaipur around 11am.
We arranged the car to take us to the fort and also to drive around, as the fort grounds are almost 250 hectares and everything is scattered around.
This was the first day when it got really cold and you could feel the winter.
By the time we arrived to Chittorgarh it got a bit wormer. The fort is situated all the way on the plateau and you have to pass 7 gates before you get to the first set of buildings.
Most Indians walk around the grounds without taking the taxi or auto rickshaw...
The first set of buildings was once a palace, now very much destroyed.
Next stop - a compulsory Jain temple.
Further at yet another group of temples...
At Chittorgarh there is a huge number of monkeys running around and copying everything that humans do.
A 38m long victory tower and the structures around it are the star attractions.
This woman stands in the water all day, poring it to those who came to the Ghat and putting a mark on their forehead.
Further within the fort's grounds other remains of the structures are scattered around..
... but most of the fort's territory is neglected...
... and occupied by hundreds of monkeys.
Even further away there is a queen Padmini's palace, quite well preserved. According to the story, she was the reason Chittorgarh was destroyed in the 13th century by the Sultan of India (the story is told HERE)
The rest of the territory was once given to the animal sanctuary, but according to our guide there are no other animals to be seen but monkeys, so we turned back.
The city bellow Chittorgarh fort wasn't at all interesting so we asked the driver to drop us off at the hotel near the railway station. Here we had to wait for our train that was leaving at 00:35 to Agra.
We arranged the car to take us to the fort and also to drive around, as the fort grounds are almost 250 hectares and everything is scattered around.
This was the first day when it got really cold and you could feel the winter.
The fort has its own small Ghat
While I was running down and up to make some photos, Dima was playing celebrity for some girls.
The city bellow Chittorgarh fort wasn't at all interesting so we asked the driver to drop us off at the hotel near the railway station. Here we had to wait for our train that was leaving at 00:35 to Agra.
The train's arrival was delayed by an hour (again!) and we almost froze while waiting for it. At the other stations we saw special waiting rooms for 1st and 2nd class passengers, so we went to find one here. There was indeed one, but it was packed with people who clearly had nothing to do with any of the classes that it was meant for. After seeing a big rat crossing the room, we decided to take our chances outside and try not to get a cold, instead of risking getting something from the people in the waiting room.
Conclusion: the fort is great and really worth visiting. However the town is completely crap and the railway station is probably the worst we've seen. So the smarter thing to do was to higher a car and then to return back with it to Udaipur (it would not have made a difference for the costs, as you still for the car to drive both ways), boarding the train to Agra from there. We couldn't do that anymore because of already fixed train ticket, but oh well, may be next time :-)
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