Apart from the City Place, this city has lot more to offer. There are beautiful temples and parks that are worth a visit.
Lake Palace
Lake Palace is one of the most beautiful places. The Palace situated amidst the scenic Pichola Lake. It was constructed by Maharana Jai Singh II in 1746. Raised in white marble, the magnificent palace stretches across four-acre island. Other name of this palace is Jag Niwas named after the King.
The wonderful architecture of the Lake Palace comprises of may courtyards. Each of these courtyards are aligned with numerous columns, terraces. The palace has many beautiful fountains and well laid gardens. The palace has several beautiful rooms by the name of Bada Mahal, Khush Mahal, Ajjan Niwas, Phool Mahal and Dhola Mahal. These exotic rooms are decked with carved arches, paintings, crystal work, stained glass work, inland stones of pink and green lotus leaves.
Currently, this palace has been transformed into a five-star hotel that is managed by Taj Group of Hotels. Special thankls to my friend Raghu for this picture. When we had visited the place there was not much water in the lake. He had clicked this snap on his earlier visit.
Jagadish Temple
The temple is located 150mtr north of the entrance to the City Palace. It is built in Indo-Aryan architecture and is the largest temple in the city. The temple was built by Maharana Jagat Singh in 1651.
To reach the temple one has to climb 32 marble steps and at the top the entrance is guarded by 2 huge stone elephants. Right at the entrance of the temple there is a stone slab with the inscriptions with reference Maharana Jagat Sing. At the entrance of main shrine one can see a brass image of Garuda. In the main shrine there is a huge black stone idol of Vishnu with 4 arms. This idol is carved out of single piece of black stone. At the four corners of the main shrine there are 4 smaller shrines dedicated to Lord Ganesha, Sun God, Goddess Shakti and Lord Shiva. which is a image in black stone.
It is a three-storied temple with marvelous architecture comprising of beautifully carved pillars, decorated ceilings, painted walls. The shikar of the temple is decorated with sculptures of dancers, musicians and various animals such as elephants and horsemen.
Sajjan Niwas Garden
This city is famous not only for lakes, but also gardens. There are lot of gardens in the city and we had time to visit only one of such garden.
It occupied around 100 acres of land and this garden famous for the roses. For the same it is also known as rose garden.
From Udaipur we traveled to Jaipur, the Pink City.
Distance: Udaipur ---> Jaipur 405 kms
P.S: December is the month when lot of tourists land in Rajasthan. So if you really want all the arrangements to be done properly this has to be done before October end.
Melkote (High or Superior Fort) is located in Mandya district of Karnataka state in India. It is in a hilly area comprising of the oldest rock formations on the earth's crust. It is a a religious and a pilgrim center for Hindus, and is home for various famous temples and ponds. The origin of the town is lost in antiquity, but it rose to cultural and religious importance in the 12th century AD when the great philosopher and teacher, Sri Ramanuja lived in the town for twelve years.
Some of the well known temples of this place are:
Sri Cheluvanarayanaswamy Temple
This temple is located at the center of Melkote. The temple complex has a main unit consisting of a Garbhagraha and an Ardhamandapa, a narrow pillared corridor, a Mahamandapa and a small Mukhmandapa. There is a large courtyard surrounded by a prakara wall with a broad pillared closures on its inner and outer sides. The main area of temple where deity of Sri Cheluvanarayanaswamy is located is a very plain square building of large dimensions. The Utsavamurthi is a metallic image, representing the deity can also be seen here in this hall. According to a legend, this image was lost and was recovered by Sri Ramanujacharya. On the strength of epigraphical evidence, that the presiding deity of this temple was already a well known object of worship before Sri Ramanujacharya worshiped at the shrine.
In the narrow pillared corridor, the pillars are carved beautifully. The carvings on the pillar are very unique. No 2 pillars of the corridor are identical. The uniqueness of the each of pillars can be seen in the above snap.
In the above snap one can see beautifully carved sculpture Lord Ganesh on the pillar.
The timings at the temple are, 8.30am to 12.30pm,and 4.00pm to 8.30pm. During Saturdays and Sundays, the timings will be from 8.30am to 1.30pm. and 4.00pm to 8.30pm.
Sri Yoganarsimhaswamy Temple
This temple is located at the top of the hill. People can climb the steps from the ground level which is approximately 500 steps to the top. If not they can go by their light motor vehicles till the half way almost nearer to the temple. Still from here there are approximately 250 steps to the top.
The temple is at the height of 1777mtr from the mean sea level is a creation of Hoysala times with a beautiful image of seated Yoganarasimha with Yogapatta. A panoramic view of the surrounding vast area can be had from here. Thia is one of the 7 holy centres of Narsimha woorship. A huge drum donated by Tipu Sultan and a bell donated by the Mysore Parakalamatha can be seen here.
The timings at the temple are, 9.00am to 1.00pm and 5.30pm to 8.00pm. During Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, the timings will be from 11.00am to 2.00pm and 5.00pm to 8.00pm.
Note Photography is strictly prohibited inside both the temples but people can carry their cameras along with them.
How to Reach There
This place is located interior to the Bangalore - Mysore 2 lane highway in the right side while going towards Mysore. Just after crossing Mandya one can see a road on the right and directions are available on highway. It is 37kms from this highway and from Bangalore it is around 130kms. The roads are very good and people do drive here at good speed.
The wonderful architecture of the Lake Palace comprises of may courtyards. Each of these courtyards are aligned with numerous columns, terraces. The palace has many beautiful fountains and well laid gardens. The palace has several beautiful rooms by the name of Bada Mahal, Khush Mahal, Ajjan Niwas, Phool Mahal and Dhola Mahal. These exotic rooms are decked with carved arches, paintings, crystal work, stained glass work, inland stones of pink and green lotus leaves.
To reach the temple one has to climb 32 marble steps and at the top the entrance is guarded by 2 huge stone elephants. Right at the entrance of the temple there is a stone slab with the inscriptions with reference Maharana Jagat Sing. At the entrance of main shrine one can see a brass image of Garuda. In the main shrine there is a huge black stone idol of Vishnu with 4 arms. This idol is carved out of single piece of black stone. At the four corners of the main shrine there are 4 smaller shrines dedicated to Lord Ganesha, Sun God, Goddess Shakti and Lord Shiva. which is a image in black stone. 
It is a three-storied temple with marvelous architecture comprising of beautifully carved pillars, decorated ceilings, painted walls. The shikar of the temple is decorated with sculptures of dancers, musicians and various animals such as elephants and horsemen.
It occupied around 100 acres of land and this garden famous for the roses. For the same it is also known as rose garden.
