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Udaipur... pretty white building in a lake, but great hunting lodge!

Udaipur, India


The next morning we were up and on our way for the long 7 hour drive to Udaipur with the now common road-side stop for lunch. This place was the best of very few. Not many tourists drive from Jaipur to Udaipur as it is much easier to fly. The food was strange and not that good, but when you are hungry just about anything will do and we didn’t get sick at all! We fed some of the stray puppies with our left overs, some of them are so adorable you want to play with them, but this is not such a good idea here. We made it into the city an hour and a half before sunset and pulled into our hotel at the Maharaja’s old hunting palace. This heritage hotel (Shikarbadi) was beautiful and tranquil. It is surrounded by the Maharaja’s horse stables, complete with many of his prized horses, his own private airport, a deer park, peacocks and lots of monkeys in the trees. After supper, while trying to feed one of the horses, we apparently disturbed a monkey who was sleeping in the tree above us. In retribution, he tried to pee on us from the top of the tree, but got out of the way before getting hit because we heard the rustling in the tree.

The city of dawn, Udaipur, is surrounded by what were once azure lakes (Lake Pichola), hemmed in by the lush hills. Udaipur has a long history of being the inspiration for poets, painters and writers. It is also known as the jewel of MEWAR – a kingdom ruled by the Sisodia dynasty for 1200 Years who never succumbed to the Mughal or British rule. The modern Udaipur is a small (by Indian standards) city that has surprisingly clean, tiny winding streets in the city center.

Early the next morning we visited the Jagdish Temple dedicated to the god Vishnu. The temple is situated in the middle of the city and was completed in 1651. It is a tribute alike to the tenacity of its builders and the resilience of the art tradition it represents. It attaches a two story hall to a double storied sanctum. The walls of the temple are covered with intricate carvings depicting the story of Vishnu and many parts of the Hindu Gita.

After the temple, we went to the City Palace. Standing on the east bank of lake Pichola, is a massive series of palaces built at different times from 1559 A.D. The balconies of the palace provide panoramic views of "Jag Niwas" (the worldwide famous Lake Pichola palace hotel), Jag Mandir on one side and on the other the city of Udaipur. The palace is like many in Northern India, filled with many arches, series of courtyards, terraces, corridors and gardens. The Krishna vilas is a palace within the City Palace that was constructed in memory of a princess of striking beauty who poisoned herself to avert a bloody battle for her hand in marriage by two rival princes. The palace now contains many antique articles, paintings, decorative furniture and utensils. The Mewar rulers have been known throughout history for their contributions to charity and the downtrodden. At certain ceremonies the king would weigh himself on a giant scale and give away his weight in gold coins to the masses. Presently the Palace is still occupied by the royal family and much of it is cordoned off to the public, but they allow many artisans to take residence in the courtyards to sell their goods.

Many tourists probably appreciate the convenient opportunity to shop, but we found it another overzealous attempt to get us to buy goods that we don’t need or want with a dose of guilt because you are kind of forced into sitting with the artist while they explain their trade with ’no obligation to buy’. However after the 5-10 minute demonstration and the sad puppy dog eyes, it is always with trepidation that we have to walk away without buying anything.
We headed to the Saheliyon ki Bari, or 'garden of the maidens', which was built for the Queen and all of the kings concubines to entertain themselves, because they were always confined to smaller courtyards and kept hidden from any other males except the king. There are four pools and all around are flowerbeds, lawns, pools and fountains protected by a series of walls and shady trees. The garden has a lotus pool, a sitting room decorated with paintings and glass mosaics. However, the gardens now are a sad unmaintained version of some of the magnificent gardens of Asia and Europe.

After a great lunch at on an outdoor patio we were rushed off to catch a cruise on Lake Pichola. The boat ride showed us a unique view of the lake city; hotel Jag Niwas, Oberoi Udaivilas (voted the #1 hotel in the world several times) and the Jag Mandir Palace a second island palace in the middle of the lake. We got off the boat and wandered around the island which was being set up for a glamorous wedding that night. After the boat ride we went back to our hunting lodge retreat for a relaxing night, enjoying the tranquility. The next morning the staff even brought us breakfast to our room at 5:30 in the morning so that we could eat before heading to the airport.




permalink written by  ECRadventure on February 6, 2010 from Udaipur, India
from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog
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