India - Udaipur

Our next city to visit was Udaipur. Udaipur (उदयपुर) is a city and a municipal council in Udaipur district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is the historic capital of the former kingdom of Mewar, and the administrative headquarters of Udaipur District. Udaipur was the capital of the Rajput kingdom of Mewar, ruled by Ranawats of the Sisodia clan. The ancient capital of Mewar was Chittor or Chittorgarh, located on the Banas River northeast of Udaipur. Legend has it that Maharana Udai Singh came upon a hermit while hunting in the foothills of the Aravalli Range. The hermit blessed the king and asked him to build a palace on the spot and it would be well protected. Udai Singh established a residence there. In 1568 the Mughal emperor Akbar captured Chittor, and Udai Singh moved the capital to the site of his residence, which became the city of Udaipur. As the Mughal empire weakened, the Sisodia ranas, and later maharanas, reasserted their independence and recaptured most part of Mewar except the fort of Chittor. Udaipur remained the capital of the state, which became a princely state of British India in 1818. After India's Independence in 1947, the Maharaja of Udaipur acceded to the Government of India, and Mewar was integrated into India's Rajasthan state. For more info see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udaipur,_Rajasthan

For me personally Udaipur has been one of the nicest places in Rajasthan so far. It is a cute and especially clean city (at least in the touristy old part of town near the Palace) and I enjoyed my stay very much.

The Lake Palace seem from the lake itself at sun set.

Local woman doing the laundry in the lake. Also many people use the lake as a big bath tub.

A sweets store in the shopping area of Udaipur. They serve delicious (but very sweet candies, and deserts) that they make on the premises. Here one of the employees cooks milk to evaporate most of the water and provide a naturally sweet base for a desert.


A construction project in the Lake Palace. It was always amazing to watch how simple, yet efficient these projects moved forward. However, again I had the impression that the women are doing the more physically challenging labor, e.g. carrying the mortar and bricks.





A dancer balancing clay pots on her head. She reached a maximum of 11 clay pots that reached almost 1,50 m high above her head, while dancing or marching on glass pieces.

Off course we need another "Kitsch" photo. The lake at sunset.

A view from the roof deck of our hotel. It had amazing views over the lake.



A view from the hotel roof deck.


A 5 star hotel in the lake itself where many scenes of the James Bond movie "Octopussi" have been shot.

Mode of transportation. Woman commonly carry large loads of fire wood, water and other goods n their head.

Cooking class ..... for several hours we learned how to prepare Indian meals, Massala Chai, Chiapati, vegetable cutlets and curries. It was a lot of fun and we got to eat what we cooked .... it was actually quite good. Here you see Liz (a.k.a. Frodo) and myself.