Monday 24th September: Lake Pichola, Udaipur
A leisurely breakfast overlooking Lake Pichola at the restaurant in the Amet Haveli Hotel provided sustenance to get us through a busy day seeing the delights of Udaipur.
Palaces and water was really the order of the day.
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| Tricky to get across a bridge when there is a line of donkeys |
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| It's a little difficult anticipating when a large cow might launch itself on to the road |
Fortunately we arrived at the City palace unharmed and spent a few hours wandering around. It was first built in 1500s and still provides a home for the current King and his family. He has one son who has a daughter, so she can't be King and some other 'relative' will be appointed to the position.The palace was very ornate and the pictures tell the story!
A life-sized elephant greeted us as we entered the palace grounds through very impressive gates large enough to accommodate elephants of course!
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| The current King is elderly and has one son who will succeed him when he dies. The son only has one daughter who will never be crowned: some distant male relative will be appointed eventually |
 These women were dressed in traditional Rajasthani outfits for a photo shoot. The bright colours and long headscarves are a feature. |
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| This formidable cage was used to transport and accommodate tigers  The intricate tilework and carving on each of these galleries makes them very ornate.  |
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| The painting on the ceiling of this gateway was beautiful, but notice the huge spikes on the huge wooden doors: designed to injure elephants ridden by enemies |
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| These weird looking curves in the paving and the chains on the posts were used to tether the elephants |
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| This panel hangs over the doorway in one of the gateway arches . It is removed and placed across the gateway for weddings. Many important symbols are seen: ganesha ( the happy God) the 30 symbol is actually sanskrit for 'Om" the chant used to commence prayers and the not-swastika symbol has four branches. It points clockwise, not anti clockwise as the swastika used by the Nazis does. |
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| A very ancient sacred Ganesh |
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| There were a number of brightly coloured tiled 3-dimensional peacocks, (unfortunately protected by glass which makes clear photos challenging) |
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The king's horses were fitted with these weird 'trunks' to deter enemy elephants from attacking them in battle. No adult elephant will attack a 'baby' elephant
There was a gallery filled with important sculptures
from centuries ago: usually depicting one of the many hundreds of Gods.
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We couldn't resist shopping at the Anokhi shop in the palace grounds before avoiding the stalls clustered outside and jumping into tuk tuks for the perilous ride back home.Some of us soon experienced the risks of travel by foot as we walked home! Colourful embroidered umbrellas, bejewelled bags, patterned clothes and of course every sort of bangle was on offer.
After a lunch overlooking the comings and goings on the river it was time to don the world's most uncomfortable lifejackets and cruise around the Lake.
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| One of the many small temples dotted around the lake |
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| On the opposite bank lies the City Palace |
palace provide the royal family with considerable income as they are rented out to two exclusive hotel chains.
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| Some cormorans drying out in the sun |
For James Bond fans the barge was used in the film Octopussy.
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| The tiny building on the top of the mountain is called the Monsoon Palace as the King would go there during monsoon season to watch over his province... and probably some of the destruction the monsoons caused. Then again maybe he didn't like wet feet! It was a busy but satisfying day so after dinner on 'our'terrace it was off to bed. Your getting-into-the-swing-of-things correspondent Dianne |
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