tradition – Sneha Dharwadkar

We saw a part of Udaipur in my previous post. The second day at Udaipur was quite eventful as well.

We woke up leisurely and went to Govinda’s cafe for breakfast. It is a small and humble cafeteria serving breakfast near Lalghat guest house. After having filling breakfast of two cheese omelette, one plain omelette, a banana pancake (super delicious and must try!), two ginger-lemon-honey tea and one masala chai between three of us, we roamed the streets and shopped for colourful and bright ethnic clothes.

Colourful clothes on sale at one of the road-side shop.

A street near the city palace of Udaipur

After shopping, we had lunch at Rainbow multi-cuisine restaurant which serves delicious ker sangri- a typical Rajasthani spicy curry made of beans and berries which are unique to Rajasthan. We relaxed a bit and then my friends left for Ahmedabad while I carried on with my Udaipur sight-seeing.

I visited Bagore ki haveli in the afternoon. It is a beautiful haveli built in 18th century by Amir Chand Badwa, Prime Minister of the Mewar State. It has more than 100 rooms and now it has been converted into a museum where there are various artifacts at display, turban museum, paintings and musical instruments open to public display.

Entry of the Gangour ghat and the entry of the Bagore ki haveli next to it.

As I was walking across the corridor of the haveli, I met a painter named Pinku. I saw him painting and was totally amazed at his skill in producing smallest details. Very creative, he drew a nice art on my thumb nail.

Pinku's gift for appreciating his paintings. So humble! — Pinku’s gift for appreciating his paintings. So humble!

Beautiful glass window in one of the rooms of the haveli.

One of the exhibit of turban museum. Turban museum has exhibits of different types of turbans worn by varied castes, sects and communities of the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra — One of the exhibits of turban museum. Turban museum has exhibits of different types of turbans worn by varied castes, sects and communities of the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra

Gangour ghat een from the terrace of the haveli — Gangour ghat seen from the terrace of the haveli

After spending good two and half hours at the haveli,. I went and had green tea at Cafe Edelweiss. I was disappointed by the ticket vendor when he told me the city palace wasnt open to public that day because of a wedding going on. But I was free to roam on the grounds outside the palace. So I took that chance and walked about the grounds.

Evening was pleasant and windy. After having dinner at Rainbow restaurant, I went off to bed. Next day I was to leave for Mount Abu early morning.

Udaipur is a beautiful city and traveller friendly. It has no pompous air around it and one can easily lounge about on her own. The city has perfect mix of places for travellers around the world. Lakes, forts, palaces, shopping places, great places to eat, etc. Two days aren’t quite enough and I am hoping to return here someday again and explore Sajjangarh wildlife sanctuary, Saheliyo ki badi, city palace and other places that Udaipur has to offer. But whether you tick off all the places in Udaipur or you just spend time dipping your feet in Gangour ghat, it is worth it.

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Manjula, who left us for heavenly abode. She was very fond of travelling and the last pictures and stories we shared was of this Udaipur trip. You will be sorely missed, friend.

I was to bid Adieu to Ahmedabad, the city of Gujarat where I spent my past three and half years. Ahmedabad has many tourist destinations close by and Udaipur is one of them. Since I had never been there, I decided to travel to Udaipur before I leave Ahmedabad with two other friends. Just 261 km from Ahmedabad, it hardly takes 5 hours, an overnight journey by a sleeper bus and you are almost there. I left for Udaipur by a sleeper bus on the night of 1st April 2015.

The view from the inside of the bus that took me to Udaipur

I reached the next morning on 2nd of April 2015 and joined two of my friends who had already reached the previous day. We stayed at Lalghat Guest House, a comfortable hotel. You get a range of staying options, from a small single room with shared toilets (which are super clean) to lake-view room with a huge balcony all at a very affordable price.

2_1 — A view from the terrace of the Lalghat guest house

On the first day, we visited the Jagdish temple, dipped our feet and spent a lazy morning at Gangour ghat, had breakfast at Café Edelweiss and lunch at Lotus Café. Café Edelweiss is a nice cozy place to eat. The German Bakery in the café serves nice pastries, baked goodies and sweets.

The first place we visited in Udaipur. The Jagdish temple.

Jagdish temple was constructed by Maharaja Jagat Singh the first in 1651.

The temple is carved out from sandstones

The carvings at the temple show life of many Gods and Goddesses

Women going about their business while the tourists flock at Gangour ghat at Pichola lake

This platform at Gangour ghat is used for performances during Gangour festival. Everyday morning, people come and feed the pigeons. Parrots and cows join them too occasionally.

After having lunch, we visited monsoon palace in the afternoon. The monsoon palace is also known as Sajjangarh palace and was named after Maharaja Sajjan Singh of Mewar dynasty who built the palace in 1884. It is situated high in the Aravalli hills at the height of 932.6 MSL. Here you will come across a neglected board which informs us of the amazing architectural skill of the architects of those days in conservation of water.

As we entered the palace, we were greeted by a pleasant sight of a young kitten suckling on an old Labrador mother.

The cat baby and dog mother. The cat though believed that he was dog and refused to clean himself as cats usually do. Seen at Monsoon palace.

The monsoon palace at Sajjangadh once housed the Royals. Now it houses the nature. Swallow and wasp nests and beehive.

Sprawling city of Udaipur seen from the monsoon palace

A view from the balcony of the monsoon palace

Enjoying the serenity of the place. It was super windy!

We then hogged at an old sweet mart in the town. People travelling to Udaipur, do not miss moong dal kachori, pyaaz kachori, mirchi pakora and sweets at JMB (Jagdish Mishtan Bhandar) sweet shop.

Evening was spent watching a traditional dance and music performance at Bagore ki Haveli, located next to Gangour ghat. Everyday skilled artists perform from 7 PM onwards. The show is open to all after paying a minimal fee.

Very cool puppetry performance! Brought back lot of childhood memories.

Women performing dance which women of the earlier days performed doing their day-to-day chores. Quite talented women of those days!

This 68 year old lady performed a dying form of dance. Earlier, women had to fetch water from very faraway places. They kept themselves entertained by various dances and songs. — This 68-year-old lady performed a form of dance which is not performed by local ladies anymore. Earlier, women had to fetch water from very faraway places. They kept themselves entertained by various dances and songs.

After dipping our feet in the cool waters of Gangaur ghat and relaxing for a while, we had dinner at hotel Lake View, which true to its name, has a beautiful lake view. One can watch the serene lake waters and have dinner. We retired to bed after a busy yet interesting first day at Udaipur.

I shall share the interesting events of the second day in the upcoming post. Stay tuned!

Update: Udaipur in Photographs: Day 2 can be viewed here.

Tag: tradition

Udaipur in Photographs: Day 2

Udaipur in Photographs: Day 1