Imagine an ancient royal Indian city in the desert and you have Udaipur. Fantastical palaces situated right on the picturesque waterfront of tranquil lake Pichola, temples, havelis and countless narrow, timeless streets add the human counterpoint to the city’s natural charm.
We were finally starting to feel normal again after our neverending sickness, but we were still exhausted from a lot of long travel days and a busy schedule. We decided to use our time in Udaipur to rest and relax. Massive shoutout to Alice’s parents Jo & David who treated us to some nice accomodation in Udaipur out of the kindness of their hearts. We stayed at a place called Jagat Niwas and it was by far our nicest accommodation on this trip. There was a rooftop swimming pool, buffet breakfasts and live music in the restaurant every night. In India you can get luxury for relatively cheap, we were paying what you might pay in New Zealand for a run of the mill motel.
As we were staying in such a nice place, we didn’t really do much sightseeing in Udaipur. We spent a lot of time reading our books by the pool and escaping the heat during the afternoon in one of the many nooks and crannies of Jagat Niwas. As our appetites were finally returning we made the most of some incredible north Indian restaurants, but had to be careful as it’s a touristy town and some places were very overpriced.
By our last day we were starting to feel a little guilty about being so lazy, so we finally ventured out to do some sight seeing. The City Palace looks out over the lake and is only two doors down from our accommodation, but on a much grander scale. We got a tour guide for this and it was well worth it as we learnt a lot about the royal history of Udaipur. The palace is incredible. It is built on a natural hillside, so the top level actually has a garden with trees and flowers. There are some incredible glass mosaics and paintings inside the palace.
Udaipur was a romantic respite from a busy travel schedule and we took the opportunity to relax and rest. It was also an exciting moment as we were starting to feel healthy again for the first time in a couple of weeks. We were both a little sad that we didn’t see much in Udaipur and Rajasthan in general, but we realised that Ragistan at this time of year is not really possible with the heat. We will have to come back and explore this amazing part of India properly one day.