Day
4
Udaipur
is known as city of lakes. The Lake Pichola is an artificial lake which is the
source for fresh water. We covered City Palace, Jag Mandir Palace, Monsoon
Palace or Sajjangarh Palace, Bagore Ki Haveli, Vintage Car Museum, Doodh Talai
Musical Garden & Ahar Cenotaphs on the first day of our stay at Udaipur. Jag
Mandir Palace & Lake Palace are situated in the middle of the lake. So, you
need to go by boat. Lake Palace is run by Taj Resorts & it is open only for
guests who stay there. But Jag Mandir is open to public as well, even though
there are some restricted entry points so that the privacy of the guests
staying there is not hampered.
On second
day at Udaipur, we covered Fateh
Sagar Lake, Saheliyon Ki Bari, ShilpGram & Eklingji
Temple. The temple has a marvellous architecture with pyramidal style roof.
Photography is strictly not allowed. The temple is dedicated to lord shiva with
four faces. This temple is 20 kms from Udaipur. Shilpgram is a rural place
which is 3 kms from Udaipur, dedicated for arts & crafts. It depicts the
lifestyle of the folk & tribal people. There are handicrafts shops at
Shilpgram and also various cultural programmes like puppet show, dance etc
presented by people living there.
The other highlights of Udaipur is the
presence of two restaurants which we liked very much. This blog would be
incomplete if I don't mention about them.
- Charcoal by Carlsson : Their speciality is food cooked over charcoal. The staff are very friendly & helpful. They provide you whatever information you need about the items in the menu. The food is great and could be enjoyed with spectacular night views of Lake Pichola. This is a rooftop restaurant on the 4’th floor of a building and we have to climb a number of steps (P.S. No lifts). But one would never regret climbing those for the food, surreal ambience & views you get. It would be best if you could arrive at the restaurant few minutes before the sunset. Don’t forget to book your table beforehand itself to get those boundary seats.
- Ambrai Amet Haveli : This restaurant is situated on the
banks of Lake Pichola. The view, ambience & food are really good and not
that expensive. It is an open-air restaurant with well shaded trees and is on
the same level of the lake.
Day
6 Udaipur -> Jodhpur 276 KMS, 6.5 Hours’
After
breakfast we started our journey for Jodhpur. On the way we had a stop at
Kumbhalgarh Fort for site seeing. Kumbhalgarh Fort is known as Great Wall of
India. Here you have to reach on or before 11 am or else you will have to park
the car very far and have to climb the road to fort. The fort is situated on a
hill. It is the second longest wall in the world after Great Wall of China and
also is included in UNESCO heritage site.
Day
7
We
went to Mehrangarh fort, Jaswant Thada, Rao Jodha National Park & Mandore
Gardens which all were in 2 km radius.
We
decided to stay at a desert camp at Sam Sand Dunes. Before checking in to
desert camp, we went to Lodhurva Jain Temple, Kuldhara Village & Khaba
Fort. Khaba Fort & Kuldhara Village are amid great Thar desert. The village
of Kuldhara also called ghost village, was home to the Paliwal Brahmins from
the late 13th century. Around 80-90 families were residing in various huts and
small houses scattered around the village. The mysterious story of Khaba starts
in 1825 when one night, all the villagers deserted the village and went to some
other place. Till date, nobody knows where the villagers went and this remains
an unsolved story.
The
desert stay was a different experience. Once the sun sets, the desert
temperature falls down and it turned to be very cold. Here we went for a jeep
safari on sand dunes & a camel ride. We could only see heaps of golden sand
all around us. With every wind a new sand mountain was formed and old one
vanished. Till then I had seen it only in movies. At night, there was a
cultural programme arranged which was in an open-air theatre. It included a
puppet show and dance programme.
Day
9 Jaisalmer ->
Jodhpur 281
KMS, 4.5 Hours’
After
checking out from desert camp, we headed to Jaisalmer fort and then also went
to Salim Singh Ki Haweli, Patwon Ki Haweli & Sadar Bazar. Initially we had
planned to stay at Jaisalmer. But due to previous day food, we decided to stay
somewhere on the way to Jaipur. That’s how we settled at Jodhpur which was half
way. On the way to Jodhpur, we also paid a visit at Jaisalmer War Museum.
We
went to Amer Fort, Jaigarh Fort & Nahargarh Fort. It is always better to
wear a pair of comfortable shoes. In Rajasthan, to enjoy the beauty &
marvel of the architecture, one has to see these forts & museums for which
we need to walk a lot.
Day
11
The
site seeing on this day includes Sisodia Rani Ka Bagh, Central Park, Albert
Hall Museum. There is an Egyptian mummy at Albert Hall Museum. Rest of the day
was spent for shopping in local markets like Tripolia Bazaar, Johari Bazaar
& Bapu Bazaar.
Next day morning we headed back home with lot of sweet memories of Rajasthan hoping to come back once again to visit the places which we missed. It includes Pokhran, Mount Abu, Abha Nagri, Bhangarh Fort and a safari at Jhalana National Park & Desert National Park at Jaisalmer.
Click here for photos from Ranthambore National Park.
Click here for photos from Rajasthan.
The two restaurants/cafe I should mention about
- Meraakki Kitchen : The place is well setup with lots of indoor and outdoor seating. The whole decor and lightings are well done. The food is exceptionally good and so is the ambience. The staff can be trained on a bit of soft skills otherwise this place is perfect.
- Tapri Central : The café was really good. It offers an indoor & outdoor seating with very good ambience. The masala tea I ordered was very tasty that we bought a packet of tea leaf before heading back to our place. But its bit overpriced. A rooftop restaurant which is opposite to the Central park with a store below from where we got the tea leaf. In case you need to speak to the waiter, you don’t have to call him. Instead, just press on the bell placed on your table.
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