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| 18th century Jag Niwas palace, now a luxury hotel on Lake Pichola |
Udaipur is one of the loveliest places that I have visited in India. Lakes, palaces, ghats, temples, and painted houses create a sense of magic. Clean, and more orderly than other tourist spots in India. Okay, you still have to watch out for zooming motorcycles, roaming cows and honking tuk-tuks!
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| Lovely hotels surround the lake |
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| Stone elephants on Jag Mandir island |
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| Stone elephant |
It was such a treat to escape the smoggy skies of Delhi and float along the lake peering at blue skies. And I was in elephant delight!
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| 16th century City Palace |
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| A must see palace |
Rulers were weighed in gold or silver and the value was distributed as food to the poor. The least they could do...
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| Interior room with carved arches and mosaic glass walls |
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| Escorting someone of great importance out of the palace |
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| Woman bathing in early morning |
Of course, the extreme wealth of India and poverty is apparent everywhere. While the middle class is steadily growing in India, I never fail to be amazed at the level of poverty that prevails.
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| Sadhu at Jagdish Temple |
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| More sadhus |
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| Women carrying sacks of corn |
Our second day in Udaipur we decided to hire drivers to take us 2 1/2 hours into the mountains to visit Kumbhalgarth Fort. Gorgeous drive through high desert mountains, full of picturesque farms and villages. We asked our drivers to drop us off at the edge of one village so we could walk and take photos.
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| Jenna visiting with village children |
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| Women carrying water and hay so perfectly in their beautiful saris |
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| Village elder happy to have his photo taken |
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| Kumbhalgarh Fort |
The fort has perimeter walls that extend 36 kilometers in length, claimed to be the longest in the world after the Great Wall of China. We were quite surprised that this fort was not largely talked about or suggested. Although the interior is mostly ruins, the vistas are breath taking!
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| The Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary surrounds the fort, covering an area of 578 square kilometers. |
Our drivers told us that the forests are full of wildlife, including leopards, but no tigers. We sure saw lots of monkeys! Next time I would find a nice forest retreat to do some trekking.
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| Jenna inside the Jain Temple |
On our way back to Udaipur we stopped at a Jain Temple. It had over 1,000 carved columns. And full of stone elephants!
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I am so pleased that we decided to make this 3-day trip to Udaipur. It is a must see on travels through India!
