From Jodhpur we caught a six hour bus ride south to Udaipur. We spent a fair bit of time exploring Udaipur as there was a lot to see and do. Udaipur is situated around a number of lakes which lead to its nickname, Venice of the East.
Our hostel was in the heart of Udaipur with most things walking distance.
Jagdish Temple
Extremely close to our hostel and on the way to City Palace, Jagdish Temple reminded me a lot of the Khajuraho Temples we had seen, though not at all erotic. The central god was a bronze statue of a Garuda, which was quite scary with his big painted eyes.
City Palace
From Jagdish Temple we walked south to the City Palace complex though the Tripolia Pol (Triple Gate). City Palace was like many of the previous palaces we had seen, interesting highlights were the Surya Choupad (Assembly Room) which housed a huge ornamental sun.
Mor Chowk (Peacock Courtyard) had beautiful peacock statues. So intricate were the peacock statues that each barb of the feathers were an individual strand of coloured glass.
The City Palace also had amazing pastel blue rooms filled with wall and window decorations all painted this pastel blue shade.
Lal Ghat
From City Palace we walked back to our hostel stopping at Lal Ghat. Lal Ghat provided us beautiful views of Pichola Lake, including Jagniwas Island (Lake Palace, made famouse with the Bond movie Octopussy) and Moun Mandir.
Udaipur at Night
Walking across one of the lake’s bridges at night, we managed to catch the City Palace and ghats illuminated against Pichola Lake.
