My first trip to Rajasthan was in 2005, for a friend’s wedding in Jaipur. This year, another friend got married – in Rajasthan. And although his wedding was taking place in Jaipur, this time I used the opportunity to see the Princely state’s other major cities, first being Jodhpur.
It was a chilly morning
It was suggested we get to Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur’s biggest attraction, at the earliest. Plus we needed to finish our sight-seeing by lunch time as we were going to drive to Udaipur later in the day.
We arrived at Mehrangarh Fort at around 10amI had to split this panorama into two
I could see a massive palace in the distanceWe went inIt was calm and very cool from where I was standing
The fort was built in the 1600s
We were now entering the main palace
This is the panoramic view from 400 feet above the city of JodhpurMehrangarh Fort offers quite a view of the famous "Blue City"
There were birds soaring high up in the blue skyVulturesJodhpur earned its nickname "Blue city" because of all the houses painted blue. It's either blue paint, or white paint made from crushed limestone. It's a local alternative which when painted appears white, but turns a bluish hue when exposed to sunlight.
Cannon from the olde daysProbably made of ironThis guy was awesomeHe was a Japanese artist just sketching what he was seeing
We went insideMehrangarh Fort houses a museumRoyal palanquinsOld battle artifacts
Imagine what the battlefields were like with these weapons
These stairs looked like a new additionThis was some lavish roomGlitzy - as though this was how they used to disco back in the olden days 🙂
Royal baby cribs
We left Mehrangarh Fort by 1pm
Our driver took us down to this spotJaswant Thada mausoleum, a white marble memorial built in memory of Maharaja Jaswant Singh IIWe didn't have the time (or the inclination) to go check it outOne parting shot of Mehrangarh fortBefore leaving Jodhpur, we quickly dropped by Umaid Bhavan Palace... which is also a hotelThe hotel is off limits to public, but there is a gallery open to public
They had a menu from 1936 on display. Amazing to know just how old some brands are.
There was some restoration work going on, which were off-limits as wellAfter that, we left Jodhpur to head to our next cityWe stopped at this dhaba to have sumptuous vegetarian lunch. I had all sorts of rotis!
avinash
04/08/2013gr8 job…..