Udaipur - Venice of the East

After breakfast we headed out to the road to wait for the 9am bus which didn't come. The 10am bus was very crowded and we just managed to squeeze on with our bags. We all had to stand and even passed through one town where there were about 8 people waiting to get on the bus but there was no room for them all. We did stop in other towns to pick up the odd passenger and we were jammed in like sardines. Eventually a few people got off and Catriona managed to get a seat. David did not get a seat for most of the journey and when he did finally get a seat he was harassed by a lady with a baby who wanted him to touch it.

Once in Udaipur (the most romantic city in India) we headed to the hotel in the auto rickshaws and had lunch on the rooftop terrace of the hotel with spectacular views over Pichola lake and the lake palace.

After lunch Badam took us on an orientation tour of the area around the hotel through the narrow streets and down to the Gangori Ghat where men and women were bathing and washing their clothes.

We then walked around by ourselves and Catriona bought a skirt. We met up with the group again in the evening and walked to the Bangore Ki Haveli where we all watched a cultural program of music and dancing from across Rajasthan. It was an enjoyable show with dances by both men and women and a very funny puppeteer. We had dinner in a rooftop restaurant overlooking the lake.

After dinner David and Marcus went up to the rooftop and watched the Brazilian Grand Prix on Marcus' iphone and Catriona went to bed.

28th November, We had a huge breakfast in the rooftop restaurant with the view over the lake. We had a guided tour around the city palace with a local guide. The city palace is the second largest in India, the largest being somewhere in the south of India. This palace was built over a 300 year period being added onto by  by 29 rulers who can trace their ancestry back to around 500AD. We entered through the tripola, the triple arched gate into an area where they kept their elephants and had an elephant tug of war that was last done in 1951. We entered first into the oldest part of the palace which is now a museum, and on through passage ways, courtyards and many rooms. The palace is split into 4 sections, 2 are hotels, 1 is where the royal family still live and the last is the museum. From the top of the palace we had magnificent views of Udaipur and the lake.

The two of us had lunch at a heritage hotel called Jagat Niwas hotel which was on the lakes edge. We sat on cushions at a small table overlooking the lake, it reminded us of Turkey.

 

At 4pm we went for a boat ride around the lake where we enjoyed great views of the city palace, lake palace and Jag Mandir (where part of Octopussy was filmed) which is another island that and has a restaurant on it.

 

It was very peaceful to be on the lake away from the hustle and bustle of Udaipur. We watched the sunset with the group in the rooftop restaurant then went out to have dinner with Marcus while watching the 007 James Bond movie Octopussy.