Cheers Sippin Gypsy  Team Gin! This post comes to you while enjoying  my Sippin Gypsy End of Summer  Party Cocktail.  My friend Rahat from India is sharing some of the best places to visit during one of the most vibrant and beautiful celebrations, Holi!  Enjoy!!

Firstly I thank you for giving me an opportunity for writing a guest post for your site. So let's start the post by sharing my brief introduction. My name is Rahat Arora I am from India. As per my passion and interest I am a passionate traveler, love to explore new places and their cuisine and culture. I am a frequent traveler exploring different destinations in India for last 3 years. I have yet to visit destinations out of India...however,  my list of travelling to abroad is getting bigger bigger and I am going to visit them soon and I share my travel experience through my blog www.traveltrivago.com

To know more about my travel experience follow my social media links:
Facebook: Travel-with-Rahat
Instagram: .instagram.com/arorarahat/
Twitter: twitter.com/arora_rahat
Pinterest: pinterest.com/rahatarora/

Sharing a guest post  on places to visit in India on the eve of Holi. Before sharing about the places let me give you breif introduction about Holi festival. Holi is one of the most fun loving festivals celebrated in India with lots of positive vibes. Holi festival is celebrated in the month of March and normally a festival celebrarted by all communities but Holi festival is very important for Hindu community. Holi is known as spring festival and also known as the festival of colors where people apply colors on each other faces.
​
During Holi festival whole India looks vibrant to enjoy the vibes of this festival but there are still certain places in India where you must visit to enjoy this festival.

Here are the few must visit places in India on the eve of Holi

1. Mathura & Vrindavan:
If you are planning to explore India during Holi festival then Mathura & Vribdavan is the most vibrant places in India to enjoy the festival. Mathura & Vrindavan is in Uttar Pradesh state of India and is very easily accessible by the means of railways and road from New Delhi the capital of India. I suggest you to visit a week before the eve of Holi because here the Holi is celebrated 1 week earlier different events.

To know about reasons to visit Mathura & Vrindavan 1 week reasons click the below link
http://www.traveltrivago.com/top-reasons-to-visit-vrindavan-on-the-eve-of-holi/

2. Barsaane:
Another popular town near Vrindavan which is approximately 40 kms. Tobreach Barsaane from Vrindavan buses andTaxi's are  easily available from Vrindavan. Barsaane is famous for Lath Mar Holi where you must visit if you are visitibg to Mathura & Vribdavan. Barsana was the home of Radha where Krishna went to tease her and her friends. Taking offence at this, the women of Barsana chased him away. The main celebrations at Barsana, take place at the Ladliji temple, dedicated to Sri Radha Rani. The two day celebrations of Lath mar Holi is a unique experience. In the first day men from Krishna’s village, Nandgaon travel to Barsana to tease the women there. The women chase men and hitting them with sticks, hence the name Lathmar Holi. Men are allowed to protect themselves with shields. The second day women from Barsana go to Nandgaon to play Holi with men of Nandgaon. To view this unique event Barsaane is must visit on the eve of Holi.

3. Anandpur Sahib:
Holi festival also celebrated by Sikh community in unique waycas they celebrate Holi (called as Hola Mohalla) at Anandpur Sahib, Punjab. To reach here from New Delhi railways and air are easily available. If you travel to Anandpur Sahib by train from New Delhi then you can catch these  trains Uhl Janshatabdi (12057), Himachal Exp (14553) and Ned Uhl Sf Exp (22457) etc. The minimum time a train takes to reach Anandpur Sahib from New Delhi is 6h 15m.
To reach here by air their is no direct connectivity of flight between New Delhi and Anandpur Sahib. You can take IndiGo from New Delhi to Chandigarh then take taxi from Chandigarh to Anandpur Sahib to enjoy Hola Mohalla is an annual air celebrated a day after the Hindu festival of Holi. It was first organized by Sikh Guru Gobind Singh to celebrate Holi. Apparently, the name Hola is the masculine name of the feminine Holi. While the vibrant Holi festival boasts of sprinkling colors, Hola Mohalla takes the form of demonstrating martial skills in simulated battles.

4. Jaipur & Udaipur:
​Holi is one of the major festivals celebrated in Rajasthan. The holi festival celebrated for two days. The first day of Holika Dahan is observed at the City Palace in Udaipur, among the most popular Tourist Places in Rajasthan. The customs of lighting the Holika Dahan is traditionally performed by the current custodian of the Mewar dynasty. The following morning, the celebrations of Holi are all out on the streets of  Udaipur & Jaipur. An elephant festival kicks off the celebrations in Jaipur. Every year the Holi festival begins with a massive parade including elaborately decorated elephants, camels, horses, and folk dancing through the streets. The owners of these animals take significant pride in how they dress up the elephants or camels, and it is often a friendly competition amongst neighbors to see who can create the most lavishly decorated animal. There are also elephant polo, elephant races and tug-of-war between elephants.

5. Pushkar:
Another popular place in Rajasthan. To reach here first you need to reach Ajmer city and from their Pushakr is only 11 kms away. Pushkar is one of the holiest places in India according to Hindu community. In Pushkar people gather and apply colors on their faces and just enjoy the vibes of this popular festival.

One of the things I love about Summer into Fall is the perfect not too hot, not too cool evenings, and amazing nights out in the back yard with friends enjoying the last few nights of late sunsets and the beginning of Autumn and all those nostalgic flavors.

I was challenged with a group party to want to offer my guests craft cocktails but struggled with everyone liking a different spirit and my not wanting to be trapped behind the bar for the whole night.  After a little playing around with flavors and recipes and some tips from some of the amazing bartenders I admire here in my Orlando area, we came up with this fun party idea:

A batch recipe that would be a base for a cocktail to partner with almost any popular liquor.  After a few weeks of playing with combinations, my favorite flavor combo was the refreshing Ginger Carrot!! Not too sweet, but perfect for sippin' and a great compliment to Tequila, Gin, Vodka or Whiskey!

For my party, I prepared the reduction and found cute single serve bottles where I had the reduction and a little crushed ice.  I set the individual bottles with ice, squeeze of lemon juice and  Ginger Carrot reduction in the freezer for three hours before the event to chill even more.  As guests arrived, they were able top off with the spirit of their choice, shake slightly and enjoy directly from the small bottles!  I was a wild success!

Recipe:
Equal parts Ginger Carrot Reduction to liquor
(my small party bottles held 3 oz. reduction and guests topped it off with an additional 2.5-3oz. of the liquor of their choice)
Juice of half a lemon
Short rosemary sprig
Shaved Ice

Ginger Carrot Reduction Recipe:
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add the following:
2 lbs of finely shredded of fresh carrots
½ cup turbinado sugar
½ lb of broken ginger pieces *if you want a stronger ginger flavor, use ½ lb of ginger but finely diced instead of large broken chunks
Zest of a large orange
3 pinches of salt
Juice of 1 lemon
Let boil together for 1 minute, stirring with a wooden spoon…. then remove from heat and cover.
Once cooled, strain through cheese cloth and refrigerate. 

*Reduction will last in fridge for up to one week.  To add a longer shelf life add 1/4oz. of a high proof grain alcohol (such as Everclear) to the reduction before bottling for storage.