Fit for a Maharaja

	Lounge in Luxury
	Photo: Taj Lake Palace

My car bumped over a dirt road through clay and grass villages, swerving around cows, toward the western sky's burgundy glow.

Then the path began to circle upward, revealing a gleaming palace right out of the pages of an old adventure novel.

Soon I was watching the end of the sunset sitting atop a spire of antiquated stone while in the distance a horn echoed through the valley and the evening sounds of animals drifted from the hills nearby.

"This sure beats the Ritz," I thought, while enjoying a dinner of traditional Indian specialties such as garlic naan bread and dal, a spicy lentil dish, in an outdoor pavilion lit by flickering candles.

That night I retired to a room with bright draperies offset by stone latticework windows, which once hid the ladies of the king's harem as they looked down on the courtyard, perhaps watching a secret lover.

India's palace hotels are not for the faint of spirit; their walls emanate romance and culture dating back centuries. Here, nothing is black and white -- including the line between past and present.

In the Days of Kings

"Travel, give value to the time you are spending on planet earth," says Neemrana Hotel's slogan. For this chain of palace hotels, value means more than a price tag. ...