Guided city tour

The guided tour of Mysore includes the Chamundi hills, Mysore Palace and the colorful Devaraja market. The Chamundi Hills are located close to the palace city of Mysore. You get a panoramic view of the city from the top of the hills. Among other landmarks, you can see the race course, the Lalitha Mahal palace, Mysore Palace, Karanji and Kukkarahalli lakes. There is a long stairway leading to the top of the hill, comprising 1,511 steps in all, and climbing the first 400 or so steps takes some effort. En route to the top, the steps pass the large monolithic statue of Nandi the Bull. The Palace of Mysore is the official residence of the Wodeyars - the erstwhile royal family of Mysore, and also houses two durbar halls (ceremonial meeting halls of the royal court). The Wodeyar kings first built a palace in Mysore in the 14th century. It was demolished and reconstructed many times. The current palace construction was commissioned in 1897, and it was completed in 1912, and expanded later around 1940. The architectural style of the palace is Indo-Saracenic, and blends together Hindu, Muslim, Rajput, and Gothic styles of architecture. The palace is surrounded by a large garden. The three storied stone building of fine gray granite with deep pink marble domes was designed by Henry Irwin. The Palace is illuminated on Sundays from 1900-2000 Hrs. Devaraja market is an apt place to get a flavor of the local way of life. With more than 100 years of history, this market is well knitted into the heritage of Mysore. This is a good sample of a traditional Indian market place that is colorful, noisy and vibrant. You will find a generous mix of vegetable shops, fruit stalls, incense shops, shops selling traditional household tools, conical piles of kumkum (coloured powder used for bindi dots),beetle vine, banana leaves, local flowers, seeds and even some souvenir stalls. There is no concept of ‘cold storage’ here; everything is raw, straight from the farm to the market to the homes. This is a photographer’s delight and best visited in the evening when it’s busy!