Day Tour of Udaipur

10th September 2018

We woke up to light rain and a very overcast day, so we are not too sure how the tour of Udaipur will go today as some of it is scheduled to be outdoors. Our tour guide picked us up at the hotel at 9 am, and whilst the rain had eased, there were still intermittent light showers.

Discussing the plans, the guide first advised us that we would not be going to the markets, because they had been closed for the day by the Government, as anti government protests were being held in town to protest about the increasing cost of living, and in particular fuel. India's fuel prices are now similar to ours in Australia. Not only are the markets closed, but so are most of the shops.

Our new plan is to visit the City Palace first. This turns out to  e a good decision as we were there before the masses of tourists arrived just as we were finishing our tour. The City Palace was the main palace of the ruling dynasty here and was built over a 400 year period. The city, Udaipur, was named after the First King Maharana Udai Singh II, who reigned from 1537-1572. The Palace is gigantic, and is now home to two 5 star hotels, a school, a residence for the Royal Family, and 40% of it is devoted to a museum, which we visited.

Only seen from the water, can the Grand Scale of the Palace be realised

Once inside the main wall, we walk up towards the main entrance

This entrance leads to the part of the Palace where the Royal Family still resides

Next we pass the Reception for one of the 5 star hotels

and then have a long walk to the section that is now the museum

First we enter a large square which on one side has the main entrance and on the other side, is the stables which have been converted to a range of shops selling local handicrafts and souvenirs.

The Old Stables (now shops)

Elephants were tied up to these posts when visitors came, and there were depressions in the paving for the elephants to lie down (see in old stables photo)

This entrance took us into the area where all Royal marriages were performed.

The groom had to touch the top of the entrance with his sword to gain entry, and it is so high up, that he rides an elephant. There is a set of stairs, carved out of marble, inside the gate for him to dismount once inside.

The whole Palace is carved from marble and there are so many rooms, courtyards etc that I will just show a few highlights.

Coronations were carried out in this Courtyard, and women were allowed to observe from the upper level where the shutters are

There are many other stunning courtyards

There are some elaborate rooms.

One of the Kings Bedrooms

A Swing in the Queen's Palace

A sitting room with a Loofah

A room where the King dined

The Palace also has some wonderful views of the lake and the City

The White Building on the island is a Taj 5 star hotel

City Views from the Upper level of the Palace

The Maharana had many Palaces and forts but this was the largest.

Next we visited a nearby Hindu Temple,  Shree Jagat Shiromani Ji Temple, which was within walking distance from the Palace.

Walking down the street to the temple

Carved out of marble, the Temple is quite spectacular

The detail in the carving is quite amazing

There was a service going on in the temple when we there and they were happy for us to walk through and observe the service, but no photos were allowed.

Before we leave the Palace area, we are going on a boat ride on Lake Pichola. We have to wait a little while before the "cruise" departs, but eventually we are on our way to get a view of the shoreline, from the water.

On the way to the Lake we passed a team of donkeys carrying broken bricks and building rubble in bags on their backs

The boats are ready and all of a sudden a bus group also turns up so there are now 2 boats anxious to leave at the same time.

Ill fitting life jackets were compulsory

We initially followed the shoreline the Palace was on.

Part of the Palace

A little further down we saw a few locals going through their bathing ritual

and doing a bit of laundry

A bridge was coming up, so we turned around and headed toward the island occupied by a Taj Hotel

Taj Lake Palace Hotel

We then went to Jagmandir Island, which is the site of another spectacular hotel, Jarmandir Island Palace Hotel, and beautiful gardens. It is a very popular venue for weddings. We were dropped off here for around 20 minutes to have a walk around.

Jagmandir Island

Back on board, we were back to shore within 15 minutes and starting to get pretty hungry. It is now 2pm. We had a quick snack in a restaurant along the way to our next stop, the Folk Museum. Here we saw some local folk art, musical instruments, local costumes and a puppet show ! The highlight of the visit. Puppetry here is a very popular artform.

Next we were off to the Monsoon Palace, another of the Maharana's Palaces. This one is located 300m above the town on a steep hillside and affords great views of the countryside. It is also a lot cooler up there.

The light in the sky in the centre of the picture is the Monsoon Palace

View over the city in very hazy conditions

It is not a strikingly beautiful building and is undergoing renovation

OH&S has a way to go

The monkeys like it here

Back down a windy and very narrow road, we head for our last stop of the day, the Maids of Honour Garden. The garden was designed in the early 18th century for ladies of the Court and is famous for its many fountains that are fed by gravity from a lake at a higher level.

Entering the Gardens

The Central Fountain with accommodation for the Maids of Honour behind the Lake

Another fountain filled with waterlilies

Our guide dropped us back at the hotel at around 4.15pm, after a pretty busy but very interesting day. 

Before dinner we went for a walk around the grounds outside the hotel, and on returning back to go to our room, noticed a daily ritual that takes place on the grass terrace each night at around 6pm, a bagpipe band !

Tomorrow we have a long drive to Jodhpur.