Udaipur has been called the Venice of India, due to its watery landscape and ancient white buildings. While there are no canals, we did see a gondola last weekend as we cruised around Lake Pichola in a tourist boat. The lake also washes at the foundations of the old buildings that line the shore and the Lake Palace Hotel, which occupies a full little island out in the middle of the lake.
We stayed at the beautiful Jagat Niwas, which was so graciously designed and decorated that every time we talked about going out, I thought twice. There was this beautiful window seat begging me to just sit quietly and read a good book. Spacious enough to hold five people, it was appointed with a bounty of cushions and had pigeons that liked to huddle right outside our windows. A small table was perched on the seat cushion where we could sit tea or our evening cocktail. It would have been cheaper if I had sat tight, but the silver shop and kashmir shop and the little alleys full of gold and spangly textiles awaited me. As well as temples, a fort and monkeys, so many monkeys.
We stayed at the beautiful Jagat Niwas, which was so graciously designed and decorated that every time we talked about going out, I thought twice. There was this beautiful window seat begging me to just sit quietly and read a good book. Spacious enough to hold five people, it was appointed with a bounty of cushions and had pigeons that liked to huddle right outside our windows. A small table was perched on the seat cushion where we could sit tea or our evening cocktail. It would have been cheaper if I had sat tight, but the silver shop and kashmir shop and the little alleys full of gold and spangly textiles awaited me. As well as temples, a fort and monkeys, so many monkeys.
I asked my friend to take this picture so that I would remember
sitting here and eating breakfast in the fresh morning breeze.
This window seat, in the restaurant at the top of our hotel, was open.
The Lake Palace hotel is visible outside the window.
This is a window looking out of the courtyard of a second island that
sits in the middle of Lake Pichola.
One of many turrets that distinguish the landscape of Udaipur.
Elephant sculptures are everywhere.
Udaipur pavilions.
A cow alongside the road, decorated for Dusshera.
The window seat of the room I shared with a friend.
The central courtyard of our hotel.
The Jagdish Hindu Temple in Udaipur.We actually
went in this 17th Century temple and walked around its
center, viewing the gods who were adorned for
the Dusshera holiday. Inside the temple is a shrine to Vishnu, the supreme god of Hindus.
The ornate carvings on the temple signify the ascent of karma, from demons
at the bottom to the gods at the top.
A common view all over India. Women in bright saris
carrying, working, reaping.
Kumbhalgarh Fort Palace, seen from a knoll before
our driver took us in.
Inside the walls of the fort, looking out. The walls
embrace a village and 17 specific temples, some of which
have the form of later temples and some of which look like
they could be at the Acropolis.
The Central turret of Kumbhalgarh. The tower to the right is where
Maharana Pratap was born,son of the founder of Udaipur. This fort fought
off many invasions. Built in the 15th Century, it is protected, along with its village,
by a still-sturdy wall that encompasses 32 square miles, a refuge for Mewarian rulers.
It was only taken once, and then for only two days.
Hunting pictures, and pictures of elephants actually painted on the walls, adorn
Kumbhalgarh and the City Palace built in Udaipur by Pratap.
The lush (in October) hills of Rajasthan, from the fort's battlements.
The characteristically scalloped doors of Indian architecture.
The monkeys of Ranakpur animal sanctuary, in the hills between Kumbhalgarh
and the Jain Temple in Ranakpur, dedicated in 1496. I couldn't take pictures
inside the temple because my camera was in my phone. But the temple is supported by 1444
marble pillars, each carved with different designs and stories.
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