15 ~ Cloak & dagger stuff with insider help : Junagarh Fort

Got into Bikaner at 1pm / 13:00 and it was straight to Junagarh Fort.

Look at the sequence of photos of the sign being changed while we waited the 10 minutes for Javed my local guide for the afternoon to arrive. Told him about my photography interest and away we went. He listened and just gave me what I will call the “Reader’s Digest” version of the Fort’s history but more importantly took me to best places to shoot photos. This was because he was a photographer himself!

Junagarh Fort

Here is the link to Tripsavvy:

Although Junagarh Fort is one of Rajasthan's lesser-known forts, it's no less impressive. What's particularly notable about it is that it's one of the few forts in India that isn't situated on a hilltop. The fort is right in the midst of Bikaner and the city grew around it.

Raja Rai Singh, the sixth ruler of Bikaner, built the fort during his reign from 1571 to 1612. He was a well-traveled expert in arts and architecture, and this knowledge is reflected in the fort's superb structures. Subsequent rulers added elaborate palaces, ladies quarters, audience halls, temples and pavilions.

The fort's original name was Chintamani. The renaming of it to Junagarh (Old Fort) took place in the early 20th century, when the royal family relocated to Lalgarh Palace outside the fort limits. However, they continue to maintain it and have opened part of it to the public. Guided tours are conducted, and there are also two museums with many compelling royal artifacts and memorabilia.

https://www.tripsavvy.com/top-palaces-and-forts-in-india-1539345

Junagarh Fort is located amidst the Thar Desert and was built by Raja Rai Singh in 1594. Located on a sprawling land of 5.28 hectare, this place is studded with temples, palaces and pavilions. Its 986m-long wall, with 37 bastions, is surrounded by a (now dry) moat. Within the vicinity of fort, there are 7 palaces, viz. Bikaneri Havelies, Phool Mahal ("Flower Palace"), Anup Mahal, Chandra Mahal, Ganga Mahal, Badal Mahal and Bikaneri Havelies.

https://www.tourmyindia.com/states/rajasthan/junagarh-fort.html

Javed took me to a “secret” passageway with the stain glass providing beautiful colours streaming in with the sun behind. This passageway was not accessible to the tourists, so we waited to they had passed before I could enter. All cloak and dagger stuff with his insider help!

Afterwards gave Javed a list of places from the various travel guides in Bikaner that I would like to see in the remaining time that we had.