We left Jaipur to catch an early morning flight to Udaipur, also known as the ‘Venice of the East’ because it is a city on five lakes.
However, our flight was delayed and we ended up waiting at Udaipur airport for a few hours before finally making it and arriving in the city known for its zinc mines and its white houses and floating palaces.
To reach our boutique hotel in “old Udaipur”, we had to walk over the lake bridge into the old quarter.
On the way, we saw an elephant, cows lying in the road, which we had to gingerly walk around, a train of pygmy donkeys and before the day was out we would also see monkeys and camels.
Not bad for a first day.
Of course, our walk into the old town was also eventful as we needed to carefully weave our way through the bustling traffic of tuk tuks, scooters, cars and motorcycles and through busy streets with store fronts selling food and leather goods and all sorts of other products.
Our hotel, Udai Kothi, turned out to be well located next to the lake and had a pleasant Bohemian Indian hippy feel to it with a lavish exotic garden and beautiful rooms not to mention a spectacular pool area and roof terrace where we had our evening meal.
But before then, we took a convoy of taxis and headed up the mountain, through a series of tight switchbacks, to reach the 19th century hilltop Monsoon Palace, a.k.a Saijan Garh Palace, the one time palatial residence of a Maharaja.
This location gave us stunning views of the city and Lake Fateh Sagar Lake and of the surrounding rugged Aravalli Hills.
The place is still boasting how it was featured in the James Bond movie, Octopussy, but this was of minor interest to us.
We were much more interested in the views and the monkeys that were bouncing around everywhere and filling the trees on the hillside.
We came to this mountaintop location specifically to see the sunset, which is particularly beautiful.
It occurred at precisely 6:30 and the crowd that gathered to watch it applauded and cheered the moment the sun dipped below the horizon.
We quickly descended, whizzing around the 17 or 18 switchbacks to get back to our hotel, although it did involve walking through the streets in the pitch black which was a little alarming, especially when we came upon cows sitting in the middle of the path and when motorcycles bearing women in flowing sarees on the back came zooming out of nowhere.
We made it back okay but were relieved to see the light of our hotel and the comforting ambience of the courtyard and lobby and garden oasis.
The next morning, we went down to the lakeside and took a boat around the beautiful Lake Palace (Jag Niwas) on Lake Pichola.
We stopped on the way at one of the island resorts on the lake for coffee and a walk around the beautiful gardens with their serene lake views.
The atmosphere on this lake is not unlike that of the Italian lakes, Como and Maggiore, and some thought it also had something of the feel of the Bosphorus in Istanbul.
But there is no doubt about the Italian link, which is why Udaipur and the lakes get the “Venice” label. The low-buildings and their bright colours are very similar to those on the Italian lakes but the architecture is very different and could never be mistaken for anything but Indian.
From the lake, we wandered up to the magnificent City Palace complex and after a leisurely lunch we started to explore the complex which has been in the Singh family for more than 400 years – making them one of the world’s oldest dynasties.
Inside the palace, we found a number of elaborately decorated rooms and courtyards, towers and balconies, with extensive use of marble for floors, cupolas and colonnades.
One of the highlights was the Peacock courtyard, once used for entertainment, where wall-niches featured exquisite peacock inlays.
At night the City Palace is beautifully lit turning it into one of the most magical sights, especially when the image is captured and reflected in the still waters of the lake.
Tourists from France, England and Italy were here, but few Americans. We were something of a novelty and many of the local people wanted to have a photo taken with us.
In the evening, we went for dinner at a restaurant on the edge of the lake where we enjoyed spectacular views of the City Palace and other buildings around the lake beautifully illuminated by ambient lighting.
This was one of the prettiest spots we have been at night during the tour and it was very memorable.
Back in town, I decided to pop into the tailor shop opposite our hotel and have a few more shirts made.
The tailor made them for me in four hours and they fit perfectly and the price was fantastic.
Every morning while in India, we have read the Times of India. We read about Trudeau’s faux pas over the invitation of the alleged Khalistani terrorist and we also saw a cartoon mocking him.
But the newspaper also carries some shocking stories, such as the one about the suspected “child lifter” who was attacked by a mob of 50 people and beaten so badly that he died 16 days later.
And the story of the funeral procession that was attacked in a village by swarms of bees that sent more than a dozen people to hospital with serious injuries.
Other talking points here included the demand for more sari-guards on motorcycles to prevent women being injured from their garment getting tangled up in the wheels of the bike.
On the Global page of the Times, there was also the story of the pub in England that was forced to cancel a snail race because of icy conditions making it “too slow” to compete.
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