Palaces and more Forts

March 16 - Sunday

Picked up at 9:00 we had a few things to see before we left Jaipur. Trace had seen a gate yesterday as we drove past the City Palace and wanted to get a closer look. The gate was quite lovely and worth the drive, especially in the quiet morning traffic. Not far away is Jal Mahal, or the Water Palace. Built in 1699, two of its 5 floors are below water level!

Tracy's gate

A different gate in the Pink City (Jaipur)

Water Palace

We then began a 6.5hour drive to Udaipur, where we stayed for 2 nights. We stopped for a toilet break and lunch but otherwise it was another long journey. I kept an eye on the Grand Prix - disappointed for Piastri - and was messaging Grant throughout.

I've spoken of the roads and lack of any real rules, but one thing today summed it all up. We were on a 4 lane divided highway, with a median strip in the middle, when we came across a car doing a three point turn. Yes that's right, he wanted to head the wrong way along the highway. Granted the next legitimate way to cross over and head back on the right side of the road was 3 or 400 metres up the road, but still...

Oh and to top it all off, after he completed the 3 point turn, there was a small bus behind him, also on the wrong side of the road. You might wonder what our driver and the 3 or 4 cars behind us did? Not much, no honking of horns or anything, just let him thread his way through us all and continue. Jeet did kind of laugh and said 'Incredible India', but otherwise nothing.

Our hotel for the 2 nights was another 300 year old Haveli in the old part of town. Jeet had to leave us about 350 metres from the hotel as cars can't fit in the narrow streets. As we stood around deciding whether to walk the last little bit a complimentary tuk tuk from the hotel turned up and we grabbed that instead. The building was pretty nice and our room simple but comfortable. Havelis have a central courtyard open to the sky with the rooms around the perimeter, and the rooftop restaurant had a view of Lake Pichola nearby.

March 17th - Monday

A later start this morning, meeting Jeet at 10:00am. It gave us time to sleep in a little and enjoy breakfast at the rooftop restaurant. Nice views but almost too warm already at 9:00am.

The plan for the day was to go the the City Palace in the old part of town, but the Rajasthan Royal Family is in town so the Palace was closed to the public. Instead we went first to the 'Garden of the Maidens', a set of gardens created in the 18th century for the Queen of Udaipur and her maidens. It was quite nice here and very lush, with many fountains and ponds including one full of water lillies.

Next was the Monsoon Palace, a smallish place high on top of one of the surrounding hills. It was built in the 19th century with great views of the lakes and city. There were several artworks inside along with numerous stuffed animals. The Monsoon Palace was featued in the James Bond movie, Octopussy.

Lunch was at a restaurant overlooking one of the lakes, followed by a boat ride on that lake. The boat ride was fairly short, heading out to a small island then returning. The boat itself was powered by an electric outboard motor, so made the trip very quiet and serene.

We did a little bit of shopping, buying a small wooden Ganesh statue, before returning to our room around 3:30. We chilled for a little while before heading out again around 4:30 on our own. No real destination in mind, simply wandering. We found a 'pedestrian' bridge that had special gates at either end to ensure no motorbikes used it. It was certainly relaxing being able to wander across without having to constantly look over your shoulder or listen to all the beeping horns. Of course it didn't last long and we soon found ourselves sharing the road with motorbikes, tuk tuks, donkeys and of course bulls.

It was nice having a chance to simply walk and look at the shops. We were approaohed by several different people claiming to be artists who wanted to take us to their gallery. One in particular walked with us for about a kilometre before reaching his shop, but we still didn't go in. Vegie Pizza for dinner, as a change from Indian, and back to the room.

Some rooms have had Google TV's that include YouTube, so we have been playing music. I also have a few shows downloaded onto my tablet so we have them to watch once diaries, blog, Insta and Facebook are updated.

March 18th - Tuesday

The City Palace had reopened so that was our first destination. The palace is the largest palace in Rajastan and is well organised, with plenty of signs showing which way to go. The building itself dates back to the 1500's though it took almost 400 years to be completed to it's current state. The palace overlooks Lake Pichola on one side and the city on the other, giving beautiful views.The wall art in many of the rooms and open spaces was also lovely and while they had a mirrored room or two, others were very tasteful - to me anyway.

2 hours here and it was time to head towards Chittorgarh, only a two hour drive away. We arrived about 1:30 and stopped for lunch before heading up to the Fort. This Fort is huge, at 5 kilometres long and around 308 hectares inside the walls. Within those walls are 65 historic structures including 4 palaces, 19 temples, 4 memorials and 20 dams. We didn't visit all of these but did go to one of the palaces - or the ruins of - and several of the temples/memorials. The carvings in many of the temples were remniscient of Cambodian temples we have been to. We were minor celebrities today, being stopped four times by Indians wanting their photos taken with white people. They are friendly and it was amusing, though very strange. We finished close to 5:00, which was good because the heat was making us flag - and the water in the car was nice and warm and not the least bit refreshing.