Udaipur...Part 2

Udaipur is a royal city that had been the capital of Mewar rulers for centuries. The romantic city of Udaipur has a legend behind its origin and it goes like this. Once, Maharana Udai Singh happened to meet a holy sage when he was on his hunting expedition in the Aravalli Hills. The Sage counseled the King to establish a kingdom in the fertile valley that would be well-protected by the elevated Aravalli Hills. Subsequently, Maharana Udai Singh laid the foundation stone of Udaipur in 1557 A.D. 

It is quite famous for its lakes, palaces and temples so the number one attraction is the City Palace...

The Palace took over 400 years to build and is one of the largest in Rajasthan. It is built on a hill overlooking the city and the lake and is quite a majestic building.

One of the many gates...

There is a beautiful courtyard in front of the Palace which was very busy when we were there...

In fact, most of the visitors were Indians who were often dressed for the occasion...

The interior of the Palace is built around some very lovely courtyards as well...

This one with tiled floors and walls was quite lovely...

My favourite courtyard was the one featuring the Peacock which is the national bird of India. The mosaics here were beautiful...

Detail of the peacock mosaics...

Then there were the mosaic mirrored rooms...

There was once a Maharana of Mewar who had a beautiful daughter. When she came of age he instructed his ministers to find a suitable prince for her. Due to an ‘administrative goof-up’ [this was the term that the audio guide used] alliances were sent to the princes of Jaipur and Jodhpur simultaneously. Both the princes accepted and arrived in Udaipur to marry the princess.

The Maharana fell into a dilemma. Accepting one prince over the other would mean a certain war with the rejected suitor. Rejecting both would be even worse. There was only one solution to the ‘problem’: the princess had to die. No princess = no dilemma. It was decided that the kindest way to kill the princess was through poison. The story goes that the poison was not very effective and it took a couple of days for the poison to act and for the princess to die a painful death.

Here are her rooms, the colours were magnificent...

As they were in these rooms...

Some of the stonework...

Arches everywhere, most often with someone posing for a picture...

There were also some great views of the lake below...

The Lake Palace, a very exclusive hotel which also was featured in a James Bond movie, Octopussy...

Also views of the city below...

Each of the palaces and forts we have visited so far in Rajasthan have been beautiful but this one was a true feast for the eyes! 

Udaipur has many lakes but the most famous is Lake Pichola which can be seen from the towers of the Palace. From there as well we took a boat trip around the lake and got some great views of the buildings from the water...

Our boat...

A view of the Palace from the water...

Some of Udiapur’s skyline...

Rooftop restaurants overlooking the lake...

Doing the washing...

There are many beautiful buildings around the lake, many owned by the royal family and turned into very expensive hotels...

We enjoyed our evening cruise around the lake as it gave us a different perspective on the city. 

Udaipur is one of the most popular cities in Rajasthan for local visitors and as a result it is quite crowded with traffic and cows...trying to get across the bridge to our homestay...

Don as usual talking to the locals, many people speak English here and are very curious about us...

Our final memory from Udaipur was the master cooking class I took from Hari. Along with a young Chilean couple we prepared many dishes...

Roasting the eggplant...

Don preparing the dough for the chipattis...

The best butter chicken, got the recipe!

We really enjoyed our stop here, we are looking pretty contented with ourselves so far!

Now off to Jodphur...