Udaipur

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We start our day by visiting the City Palace.This is Rajasthan’s largest palace with a façade 244m long and 30m high. It is a conglomeration of buildings built and extended by various Maharajas but still retain uniformity of design. Construction was begun by Maharaja Udai Singh II, the city’s founder. There are nice views over the lake and the city from the upper terraces. The palace includes a small museum and fine historical paintings.

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Nearby lay the superb Jagdish Temple. This fantastically carved Indo-Aryan temple was built by Maharaja Singh in 1651. It enshrines a black stone image of Vishnu as Jagannath, Lord of the Universe. There’s a brass image of the Garuda (the bird vehicle of Vishnu) in a shrine in front of the temple, and the temple’s steps are flanked by elephants. As we leave the temple, we encounter a real elephant passing by, seemingly unworried by the traffic surrounding him.

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We head to Shilpgram, a craft village, set up by the government to promote the culture of Rajasthan and neighbouring states (Gujarat, Goa and Maharashtra). A guide (50Rs) give us very informative explanations on architecture, customs, and crafts from all those regions. There are excellent demonstrations by traditional performers and artisans.

Tips:

Lunch at Ambrai. Setting nice (view of the ghats), food ok

Diner at Lake Pichola. Nice view from terrace, food nothing to write home about.

As for most tourist attractions, it is best to take a guide. 50 Rs for a small site, 100 for a more important one. 150 Rs for a major site. Like anything else, guide prices are negociable. Some guides are great, some average. A trick is to agree on a minimum price and say you’ll add 10 to 50Rs if explanations are great.

Avoid the Monsoon Palace, full of aggressive monkeys and you can get a similar view from the City Palace.

Some craft can be bought at Shilpgram, cheaper than in town, since there are no intermediaries (you still need to bargain though)

It’s been quite rainy during our stay here. Phrase of the day: “it pours at Udaipur”.

A Lunch or Diner at the Lake Palace is expensive: 1500Rs per person+taxes+drinks. There are mixed reports about the quality.

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