Aravalli Sunset at the Monsoon Palace

You wind up the wooded slope of the Sajjangarh sanctuary to the Monsoon Palace, the hilltop summer retreat the Mewar kings built to watch the rains roll in.

From its high terraces the whole valley spreads below — Lake Pichola, Fateh Sagar and the rumpled Aravalli ridges fading into dusk — as the sun sinks and the city lights begin to glimmer far beneath you.