Jan 20th - 21st Udaipur

I really liked Udaipur, a city of fantastic lakes that seem to meld into each other and the only place I visited where it seemed possible to get around on the roads without feeling you were in an eternal traffic jam! Part of this perspective was to some extent due to Basant taking me around to different places on the back of his scooter that weaved its way through traffic fairly rapidly. At first it was fairly nerve-wracking clambouring onto the back of it and thinking i was about to fall off, but once i'd got used to hanging onto the little metal handles on the side, it was fine and gave a totally different experience of getting around, with the breeze blowing across my face. In the back of an auto-rickshaw, your perspective on what is going on around you is quite obscured, so it was quite liberating to have that enhanced sense of your surroundings.

On the 21st I visited the main City Palace of Udaipur that was built over a period of about 400 years, and what a stunning place it is, combining different architectural styles, and I suppose to call it a single palace is a bit simplistic as there are a number of different palaces as one Rajput king after another but their own stamp on the complex through building another structure or adding to an existing one.

Everything is constructed in granite and marble. On the upper floor there is a tree growing in one of the quadrangles, which feels like a bit of an optical illusion, but also a reminder that the palace's / fort's foundations are actually embedded into the rocks below, like the other Rajasthani forts. The marble workmanship and inlay of different stones and glasswork is really impressive, particularly in the Peacock courtyard, and the views of the city are wonderful. The current rulers have set up a trust to maintain the place, which perhaps explains why it is in better condition than the other forts i've visited. It's a fantastic place!

City palace

City palace

City palace

Golden palanquin

Peacock courtyard

City Palace