Friday Day 03: Jaisalmer

06.15 hours
Arrive at 06.15 hrs at Jaisalmer. Spend the day in this isolated, but Architecturally, one of the greatest Royal Bastions of the World. After a safari dinner served under the stars, at a campsite, come back to the train to resume your journey.

Jaisalmer was the stronghold for the Bhatti Rajputs, and a hardier race never lived. Bandit marked their earlier settlement, as they looted caravans at will, stealing horses, and inviting the wrath of the West Asian invaders. Over time they began to settle, the 12th century fort with its ninety-nine bristling bastions was established on top of Trikuta hill, exactly as prophesied for these descendants of Krishna. Isolated Jaisalmer may have been a lost city in the sands of the Thar, more mythic than real for those of who heard it, but the caravans that passed through its territories enriched the coffers of the treasury. It also kept Jaisalmer in touch with the world, for such caravans carried not merely goods but also artisans and master-craftsmen.

The Maharawalas of Jaisalmer thought little of making use of their services to build the magnificent, sandstone architecture for which it has become known around the world. However, even more magnificent, along the cobbled stone pathways of the fort, arose the havelis, the mansions of the Jain merchants who were as powerful in the court of the time, as they were adept in business. Their homes are poetry of sandstone, carved and pierced incredibly into different patterns, and though they are opulent and effusive, the result is in perfect harmony, and never offending the eye.

Not only is Jaisalmer's Architecture magnificent, the meandering lanes, the many homes within the ramparts and the resounding rhythms of the Langa and Manganiyar musicians have frozen this citadel into a medieval time warp. Escape from here to the desert sands around the fort, and see them drift in the breeze, or take a Camel ride, or simply enjoy the mesmeric dances of its folk performers. So must the kings have watched over their kingdom? However, you no longer need to travel to Jaisalmer in a caravan; your carriage is a luxurious train - fitting in the royal context. Enjoy dinner and Cultural programme.

2300 hours
Depart for Jodhpur

Saturday Day 04: Jodhpur

0800 hours
Its time for you to visit yet another desert kingdom, Jodhpur, where you arrive at 08.00hours. You can spend the morning at Mehrangarh Fort that towers over the city like an eagle's eyrie and then come downhill to lunch at Umaid Bhawan Palace, the largest art-deco residence in the world and now home to the head of the royal family, museum and luxury hotel.

The 500 year old history of Jodhpur, the bastion of the valiant Rathore Rajputs, bristles with conflicts and sieges, with battles and savage skirmishes, so it is difficult to believe that they found the time to not only build the impossibly invincible looking Mehrangarh Fort. Its lavish and delicately embellished palaces.

Within the Fort, reached by a steep path with huge guarding at its turns and places at angles, to prevent elephants from storming them, are a large number of apartments where the maharaja's retainers now serve as guides. Within, the apartments are painted and gilded and have windows and balconies to allow them an uninterrupted view of the desert around it, now peopled with homes. The vintage battle arms of the royal past are well presented - swords and daggers and spears and matchlock guns; a battle tent seized from Emperor Jehangir; howdahs and chariots and carriages; cribs and beds; the royal, octagonal throne; musical instruments, large drums, even a collection of turbans. From the ramparts of the fort, where the cannons are still mounted, the sweeping view also takes in a huge palace located on top of another lower hill.

This is Umaid Bhavan, the palace the Maharajas set out to build as a famine relief project, but also ambitiously as the World's largest private residence. It was intended to and did rival the presidential palace coming up then in Delhi. Build by a British Architect; while the planning has incorporated the elements of the Rajput lifestyle (large county yards, for example, or a zenana wing), there is a formal western sense of symmetry and restrained sense of ornamentation. Only in the royal suites does exuberance take over, since a Polish artist, then traveling in India, was given the permission to create huge paintings to suit the art-deco theme of the architecture and furniture in the palace.

The grounds of the palace are huge and towards the back, there is a bougainvillea garden, perhaps the only of its kind in the world, and at the end, a Baradari, a pillared pavilion where the maharajas held Mehfils, entertainment courts. Within the palace the courtrooms are more formal, while the ballrooms resounded, till recently, with the sounds of revelry, now captured in the whispered conversations of tourists.

1530 hours
Departure, after unwinding and relaxing at the palace. Dinner and overnight on board.