India Day 6 Udaipur

We woke up very early around 5am to start our plane trip to Udaipur.
We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and the baggage porter was amazed at the little bit of luggage we had and he tried to wrestle it away from us, just so he could earn a few bucks. But don't worry, we were able to wheel our single small carry-on bags and backpacks without the assistance of our friendly Indian porter.

After we got through the airport, we experienced the fun of India air travel and were delayed by 30 minutes, but were then on our way to Udaipur via Mumbai.

Our flight from Mumbai to Udaipur was also delayed...yes the theme here is that we took 4 domestic flights in India and only one was close to on time.

After our arrival in Udaipur, we headed straight for our hotel. The hotel was the real reason we came to Udaipur to celebrate our anniversary. It is called the Taj Lake Palace hotel and is consistently rated one of the best hotels in the world. It is an old palace that was converted to a stunning hotel...the kicker is that this palace/hotel is in the middle of one of the lakes of Udaipur and you get there by boat.

The greeting at the hotel was through a shower of rose petals (literally) and then a welcome drink and a quick tour of the grounds. The hotel itself was fabulous with a lotus pond for relaxing, a roof top look out over the lake, old architecture that had been renovated to feel new and fresh.  Simply stunning.

Our Lake Palace Hotel
Entrance of our Hotel

Lotus Pond for Relaxation (beautiful)
After a brief stop off at the hotel, we took a boat ride on the lake of Udaipur to another lake palace (officially called the summer palace)...

The front of the Summer Palace

The city jetty next to the lake
The City Palace (on the shore of the lake)
Then off to the Saheliyon Ki Bari, or Garden of Maidens, that had intriguing fountains that sounded like jungle rains and simple monsoon rain as well as decorative fountains. The garden was named the Garden of Maidens because it was built for royal women to get away from politics and just enjoy the lush greenery of the garden.


After the garden we made our final stop of the afternoon at Jagdish temple in old town Udaipur. It was a still functioning Hindu temple that smelled of incense, had bearded holy men out front, and had a very interesting Garuda statue (because it looks more human than most we've ever seen).

After the temple we headed back to our hotel for happy hour, experience traditional dancing, and soak up the 'congratulations' cake in our room. We then set off for a very upscale and varied dinner experience at the Neel Kamal (again check the food adventure post when that comes up.)

We slept in the next morning and then headed off the airport to fly to Hyderabad to visit Uncle Wally and Aunt Eve our family that lives in India.

This of course was quite an adventure as our tour guide had booked our flight for the incorrect day and we spent about 45 minutes arguing about how to get a new ticket issues. We got two separate Indian guides to help us out, see photo below.

We then rushed through security as the last people on the plane and of course got stopped at security because our marble inlay art purchased in Agra was not allowed as a carry on (despite the fact we carried it on the two prior flights). We had to bargain, cajole, and Carrie almost broke down <> before they checked the bag plane side as we were for once happy for the delayed plane.

Our helpful guides yelling through the window

3 comments:

  1. My best holiday trip was to Udaipur. Udaipur, City of Lakes is very pleasant and a dinner at a restaurant in Udaipur will rejuvenate your energy.

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  2. Udaipur, the city of Lakes is a marvelous place every one should visit and enjoy. There are many resorts in Udaipur which were converted from huge palaces.

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  3. Lovely pics. I am sure you had a great time in you Udaipur trip. Udaipur is a charming city often referred to as "Venice of the East. It is home to numerous historical monuments, palaces and forts that stand as a remembrance to Maharana Udai Singh II who was the founder of the city. Check out best hotels in Udaipuralso.

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