Delhi to Samode Palace-Part 3

I saw the first monkeys of the trip as we were approaching Jaipur. They are beautiful with their black faces and long tails. In the distance hills become visible with temples and monasteries and you can see red Hindu prayer flags flying.

Finally we turn off the main road and onto a narrow country road which isn’t much more than single track. It is very busy with lots of vehicles, most of which don’t understand the idea of giving way.

After many twists and turns through some patches which aren’t well paved and through gullies which must flash flood during the rains, we come to a town of sorts. It appears the road goes through a dry river bed as we have to turn to get on the bridge over the river/road. As we turn onto the bridge we finally see the gate to Samode (the town).

In olden days (1550s) the palace was built first and the town built up around it. Higher castes lived in the center of town closer to the Palace.

The following is some information about the Samode Palace and Samode Bagh, which I visited, from Wikipedia because I am too lazy to do my own research (that said, I’ve tried to improve the flow of the original text): The Samode Palace was initially built in the sixteenth century (personal note - about the same time as the Taj Mahal, I think) as a Rajput fort, but in the early 19th century, under the direction of the nobleman Rawal Berisal, it was converted from a fort into an exquisitely designed palace in the Rajput and Muslim architectural style. At this time Rawal Berisal also served as the chief minister of Rajasthan and had a lot of power as a signatory for the Maharaja of Jaipur (personal note: hmmmm, wonder where he got the $$ to build the palace?). Amongst other things, he was signatory, on behalf of the Maharaja of Jaipur, to the treaty signed in 1818 with the British East India Company, which gave it the status of a protectorate to Jaipur. Rawal Sheo Singh, a descendant of Rawal Berisal and the prime minister of Jaipur State further expanded the Palace during the middle of the 19th century. This is when the beautiful and “extravagantly florid and hand painted” Durbar Hall was added/created. It contains a gallery and the Sheesh Maha hall of mirrors. The Palace was converted into the heritage "Samode Palace Hotel" when the government threatened to take over all the old palaces in India unless the owners cared for them and turned them into hotels. This palace hotel (along with the others, see below) are still owned by descendants of the original owners

There are two other palace hotels in the group: the Samode Haveli and the Samode Bagh (garden). The Samode Haveli was also built by Rawal Sheo Singh more than 150 years ago as a resort for the royal family. The Samode Bagh or Samode garden was landscaped more than 150 years ago by one of the sons of Maharaja Prithiraj Singhji of Jaipur. It is located about 4km from the Palace and was patterned on the lines of Mughal gardens, which the Mughals had developed in other parts of their kingdom and was created as a retreat for the relaxation and enjoyment of the royal family. The various palaces have been used as movie sets. The main palace having been the set for scenes in the movie Far Pavilions, amongst others.

My first impression of the palace was mixed. It looked a bit run down, but then I came to understood they had been closed for 2 years due to covid and only now was coming back online. Out of 40 rooms, only 3 were in use the night I was there. I was put in the best room in the house (as it should be!) - 214 - the honeymoon suite. What was a bit odd was that everyone seemed to know, including the guide at the Samode Bagh. Anyway, the suite was upstairs with a private balcony and a view to the east for the sun rise. I was told to keep the balcony shut and locked when not in use so the monkeys didn’t visit. The room was quite marvelous and I felt like a true maharani. The floors and pillars were all of marble and the bed was on a raised platform with a mosquito net which hung down in folds like a princess’s canopy bed. The bathroom had a lovely clawed soaking tub. For some reason, even with the ceiling fans, the bathroom was always about 10 degrees hotter than the rest of the room, so was glad I could close it off.

The staff was pushing that I take a camel tour or jeep tour, but the only thing of remote interest was a hike up to the fort - 300+ steps and a beautiful view. I was all set until they told me I had to go with someone for my safety, so that didn’t happen. I guess the monkeys get quite active and I didn’t want that either. I did take the tour of the palace, which was included in the rate, and later Manoj and I went to Samode Bagh and walked through the small town of Samode.

Amongst other amenities were 2 swimming pools and a gym, so I decided to try to find these. Immediately I felt like I was in the stairway MC Escher print and got hopelessly lost, eventually finding my way in the 96 degree heat. My first stop was to the gift shop where I found some perfect onyx/silver earrings to replace the ones I lost and they were a very reasonable $20. Then I finally found the infinity pool, mosaic pool and gym. After getting lost again several times, I finally made it back to the room. The gym was really hot, even with the air conditioning. The pool felt marvelous and was made from marble, but it was so hot that I had to splash water on the marble walkway to keep from burning my feet.

I decided to try a foot massage which I had just enough time for before my palace tour. The masseuse was wonderful, but it really aggravated my Achilles’ tendon problem and my right leg became quite sore, so the jury’s out as to whether this was a good idea.

I wasn’t sure what to expect on the palace tour since I felt I saw it all while trying to find my room. I couldn’t have been more wrong and my opinion of the hotel was much improved after seeing the Durbar Hall and the gallery. What I found out during the tour was that the palace is split into three areas, each with its own courtyard: one for the maharaja, one for audiences with him and one for the public. The Durban Hall contained the hall of mirrors, more like a gallery of mirrors, which had 300 year old hand painted murals. The maharaja’s private apartments had silver edged furniture and the main chandelier was made of Milanese glass. Other chandeliers were made of Belgium glass. What was truly amazing was that the hand painted murals were maintained by descendants of the original painters who lived in the village. The more public area for meetings was not as grand, but also had the hand drawn murals. Also interesting was the old car collection that included a 1954 Buick, various vintage 1930 American cars and one old MG, all in working condition.

From here I went to the Samode Bagh (garden). They had no guests, so it was very quiet. Besides the beautiful garden area, there were peacocks, cows, a local breed of horse and small chipmunks that came with the birds, to beg for crumbs when I had some Masala Tea and cookies at the end of the tour. I also saw a gecko and some lizards. One side of the garden wall was split into horse stalls from when they stabled the maharajas many ponies. Even as the sun was setting it was still incredibly hot.

On the way back we parked just inside the city gate and walked through town to hotel. Besides the cows and goats we saw black pigs which looked more like our wild pigs, but this was their domesticated variety. You could still see some of the old houses (150 years) with mural paintings near the doors.

The Palace is pretty after dark because they turn on small outside lights. That said, the electricity kept going out which made the whole experience that much more exotic. Unfortunately, there was still too much light to see stars but sun rise should be nice if I’m awake. As I walked to dinner I smelled the wonderful scent of orange blossoms in the warm night air. For dinner I had a grilled chicken sandwich and tomato/basil soup. The sandwich turned out to be grilled chicken salad sandwich- so rather interesting. See Part 4 for the video