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| From Udaipur '07 |
The city of Udaipur lies deep in the southern section of the state of Rajasthan which encompasses a massive, desert landmass about the size of Texas covering most of the northwestern quarter of India. It’s an area still proudly entrenched in rich traditions stemming from its fascinatingly complex history that’s full of epic struggles between Rajput kings, Muslim sultans and Moghul princes. As proof of Udaipur’s role in the area’s varied history, the city boasts no less than four palaces and a handful of temples all mostly within a stone’s throw of each other.
The city, and it’s assorted palaces and temples, lies between a low lying gap between the surrounding Aravalli mountains. It was built alongside three laterally aligned lakes, each connected by short canals, that run along the city’s western edge. Lake Pichola, home to the Lake Palace (and a second, less impressive lake palace called Jag Mandir), is the centerpiece of the trio of waterways. The city’s original settlement, now the old quarter, snuggles up against the eastern shore of Lake Pichola with views from either the city or the lake providing equally memorable views.
I tended to favor the views from the city over those from the lake for the simple, but important, reason that they also provided the best vantage point from which to take in the some excellent sun sets. Luckily, our hotel actually provided one of the best spots from which to take in the scene of the sun setting over the western mountains with Lake Pichola and the Lake Palace in the foreground. In our three nights in Udaipur, that sight never got old.
Partly due to it’s unique position for sun set viewing, our hotel turned out to be a bit of an attraction in itself. It inhabits what’s called a haveli which is essentially the former estate of a wealthy merchant built around the same time as the various maharana palaces. Many havelis are built like mini-palaces and our hotel was no exception. Rooms featured marble floors, arched doorways, and stained glass windows. A central courtyard served as the structure’s centerpiece while a network of zigzagging staircases provided a sometimes Mario Brothers like escapade to get from one floor or section to another. The best feature, of course, was the top floor restaurant with it’s open air, lake facing views from a series of cozy bay window nooks where we often sat absorbing the magnificent views while slowing picking through our meal so as to extend our viewing pleasure as long as possible despite the tasty cuisine.
Despite it’s ideal vantage point, our hotel remained eclipsed by one other, the Lake Palace itself. The palace has long been converted into a five-star hotel which is touted around Udaipur for having been the setting for one of the scenes in mid-1980s James Bond film Octopussy. Unfortunately, the palace’s privatization means that most tourists and locals are left only to admire from afar as there are no tours allowed of the property. But, you can get around that if you are willing to shell out a little money either as a paying guest - for about $500 a night to start- or by making a reservation for lunch or dinner at one of the hotel’s two restaurants which is a little less draining on the savings account.
We did just that, indulging in a first class dinner at the hotel one evening, preceded by a fairly informative boat tour around the lake. To get to the hotel, you arrive at a check in desk city-side then take a gondola-like boat across the lake to the hotel/palace. There, you’re given the royal treatment with welcome drinks of the non-alcoholic variety, a flowered lei and multiple rounds of ‘welcome’ and ‘hello’ by the hotel staff. The hotel grounds definitely live up to their five-star status although not so much so that you’d be disappointed if you only got to see the palace from the city instead of from the inside. Before dinner, and after our lake tour, we were treated to a captivating performance of traditional Indian dance in the hotel’s courtyard before sitting down to a sumptuous dinner that, despite being authentically Indian, managed to agree with my stomach a bit better than anything else so far.
During the daylight hours we managed to pull ourselves away from the mesmerizing lake and palace views to explore a bit more of Udaipur. The city is home to some 800,000 inhabitants although its low, sprawling layout feels more like around a less imposing 100,000. The centerpiece (figuratively, not literally) of the city is the suitably named City Palace. It’s a towering structure that sits on the shores of Lake Pichola directly across from the Lake Palace. It’s interior is a dizzying collection of narrow passageways, royal rooms, and courtyards built largely using marble and granite with stained glass adorning most windows. It also provides excellent views of the surrounding city and mountainside.
The city itself has an old world feel to it, at least the portion we managed to explore in our short stay in Udaipur. Most of our forays into the city were restricted to the old quarter simply by virtue of our hotel being located there. But, it also seemed to be the most interesting area, connected by narrow, winding streets that barely fit one car - or a cow and two motorbikes….or three cows and two people…or a cow, a motorbike and a tuk-tuk….you get the picture. Merchant storefronts line the narrow streets which, although they’ve long since converted from selling local goods to hawking tourist trinkets, still provide a sense of what the city might have felt like centuries earlier. The area is teeming with life as locals go about their daily business socializing, pumping water from urban wells, purchasing supplies for their own families, or even trying to entice a foreigner to just stop in for a look at what they‘ve got on offer.
But during our stay, I found it difficult to tear myself away from the views of the Udaipur’s lakes and mountains, not to mention the sunsets. While the backwaters and mountains of Kerala were equally amazing, it was partly because I found that type of tropical landscape so unexpected for India. But, I think I kept coming back to the mesmerizing landscapes surrounding Udaipur because I knew this was authentic India and I was finally beginning to like what I saw.
UDAIPUR PHOTO ALBUM (click photo):
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| Udaipur '07 |
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