I am going to repeat this a few times, but I was born and raised in northern Madhya Pradesh in India. Datia is a small town 69 km southeast of my hometown, Gwalior. It is the administrative center of Datia District and was formerly the seat of the eponymous princely state in the British Raj.
Datia's seven-storeyed palace built entirely of stone and brick by Raja Bir Singh Deo in 1614, is considered to be one of the finest examples of Bundela architecture in the country. It is also one of the finest examples of Hindu domestic architecture available in north India. Within the palace are some fine wall paintings of the Bundela school.
So, of course, it was nearby, and it was fun, and we went there