Tuesday, November 15, 2022
Temperature 13 – 28 C ( 57 – 82 F ) , No Smog Index
We had breakfast between 7 am and left for Ranthambore at 8:30 am. It would take about 6 hours to drive straight to our destination, however, there was a stop planned that would take us out of our way. We spend most of the day travelling to our next destination but the stop made it very interesting.
As we drove to our destination, Shail pointed out too many interesting places and things for me to remember them all.
We had lunch along along the way and our first stop was at Chand Baori. Before we entered the site, he asked us if we could guess what it was but no-one guessed correctly.
The attraction was called Chand Baori and it is a stepwell situated in the village of Abhaneri in the Indian state of Rahasthan. It extends approximately 30m (100ft) into the ground, making it one of the deepest and largest stepwells in India. Stepwells are large wells or ponds with a long corridor of steps that go down to the water level. They are examples of the many types of storage and and irrigation tanks that were developed in India, mainly to cope with seasonal fluctuations in water availability. It consists of 3,500 narrow steps over 13 stories.
Originally there was only the well. The upper structures with the columns and palace were added much later. It was quite impressive.
We decided to take a group photo with the well in the background.
Back Row ( from Left to Right ): Kirk, Bijaya, Prat, Shailendra (Shail ), myself, Carol, Paul, Karen, Maurice, Mardi Front Row ( from Left to Right ); Mihkel, Danny, Malcolm, Lonnie, Jean
From Chand Baori we drove to the Tigress Hotel in Ranthambore. This is a beautiful 5-star hotel and, as with the previous hotel, we were each given a guava drink and a flower Lei.
We unpacked our bags, freshened up and had dinner on the top floor of the hotel. During dessert we had some local entertainment and the dancer convinced several members of our group to join her.
We were tired from the long drive, so we did not stay up very late, especially since Shail had arranged for the hotel to give us wake-up calls at 5:30 the following morning,
Ralf Hamm 
Ralf,
Your trip is amazing and thank
you for sharing.
Looking forward to reading your blog each morning.
Continued safe travels and blessings to you and your companions.
Kathy
Ralf,
Your trip sounds amazing; thank you for sharing. Pete and I definitely want to take this trip someday soon.
Continued safe travels to you and your companions.
Kathy
I look forward each day to reading of you adventures. As you did, we left Agra and travelled to Jaipur in Rajastan (I would think that is your destination tomorrow???) stopping at an ancient sandstone complex for a few hours along the way. We didn’t stop in Chand Baori. I can’t remember the name of the sandstone complex at the moment, but Jaipur was quite the visit. Wonder if you are headed there. SOOOO much to see in India….
Hi Ralf
Beyond words…what a tour you are on. The sights are AMAZING!!
Thanks for the pic’s and all your detailed Journaling…Carol
Knowing how much you appreciate great architecture, I suspect that you really enjoyed the visit to Chand Baori. Did your guide talk about how long it took to construct the well?
Our guide may have told us how long it took to construct the well but I may have missed it. Apparently there is not a lot of definite information about the well and some of it is ‘ assumed’ that’s one reason I didn’t write more about it.