City Palace

Location:	On the banks of Lake Pichola
Built by:	Started by Maharana Udai Singh, completed by his successors
	Started in 1559 - till 18th century

This an amazing palace that goes on and on and on.  Talk about meandering!  Large and tiny rooms with carved stone pillars, intricate tile and mirror designs and courtyards with pools and gardens.  It seems each ruler wanted to add their own special take and it often reflects what was going on around them with British influences apparent after the 1800's.

City Palace

King's quarters

Rooftop courtyard

Princess Krishna's memorial room

Sun god (On the wall, that is)

Marble lattice screen for women to see without being seen

Island Palace view from City Palace

One tragic story that occurred here concerned one of the ruler's daughter's Krishna, who was quite beautiful.  Due to a bureaurcratic mix-up, her hand was offered in marriage to two different powerful suitors.   Both suitors arrived at the palace with entourages after long journeys and encamped outside the palace gates.  Knowing that disappointing either one would lead to a war, the ruler decided the only way out was to kill his daughter.  No palace guard would agree to stab her with his sword and so the task fell to her maids in waiting.  Krishna prayed to the gods for her life.  She was given one, then two, then three cups of poisened tea with no result.  Finally, a very strong opiate was added to the tea and after drinking it Krishna fell into a deep sleep and never awoke.  The ruler was heart broken and built a beautiful room onto the palace in her memory.
Across from the City Palace, on the waters of Lake Pichola,  is the very white Lake Palace or Jag Mahal, which appears to be floating on the water and encompasses the entire island on which it sits.  This is where the prince lived when he and his father had a falling out. It's now used as a resort for very wealthy tourists.