Udaipur Lake Tour
A one hour flight from Delhi took Broch and I to Udaipur in the Indian
state of Rajasthan. Rajasthan means the Land of Kings and it has more
individual kingdoms within it than any other Indian state. Maharana
Udai Singh founded the city ("Pur" meaning "city of") in 1559 when he
chose to move his court from Chittoragarh to escape the encroachment
of the Mughal emperor Akbar. This city and kingdom was never taken by
the Mughals - quite a feat in those days. It's really quite
picturesque, and our guide made sure we knew that it had won Travel
and Leisure's award for best city for 2009.
boat tour of Lake Pichola in Udaipur. Like us in central Texas, they
have had a few years of drought, but the lake was back up to more than
half it's normal level. In the lake are 3 structures, at least one of
which is believed to have been built before the dam was put in to
create the lake. Before that it was a marshy low-land. The largest of
the structures is now owned by the Taj Hotels group and is a posh,
high-end hotel with a great reputation for it's romantic restaurant.
The second largest structure is the Jagmandir, once an entertainment
palace where the Maharana could host guests and throw musical affairs.
It can now be rented out for weddings, etc. and is a beautiful tourist
stop mid-boat tour for a glass of wine or milkshake. The 3rd is a
small structure that has yet to be renovated and looks to have been an
open garden setting now overgrown with grasses and weeds. We got to see the sunset from the Jagmandir, and were the last people
to leave along with a young Indian couple on their honeymoon (as
evidenced by her henna'ed hands, and confirmed by our guide who took
pictures of them with their camera).
