Day 42 Udaipur, the Venice of India

We did not realize just how stunning our hotel actually is until we saw it anew this morning.  The drive up is thru a stone paved road cut thru the mountain and the building is also carved into the rock. 

Gate and 2-way road up to the hotel:

Entrance way with mountain rock visible:

View from hotel lobby – infinity pool with lake and Udaipur in background:

There's even an article on Fateh Garh in Conde Naste, the pool outside our room was rated #2 in the ten sexiest hotel pools! 
 
We drove 20 minutes into Udaipur, the city of lakes.  It has over 40 manmade and natural interconnected lakes, all fed by monsoon rains.  They're at high levels right now but a few years ago, they were all dry lake beds with NO water - hard to imagine when looking at them today.  The water is processed and supplies the half million people in the city.  They also use the lakes to bath and wash clothes.

The many uses of the lake:

Our guide today was very good and showed us the great diversity of this lovely city.  We started at the Jagdish Mandir, a temple of carved white marble with a black marble god dating back to 1500s; the Mughals cut a lot of heads off the outside wall carvings but never got inside. 

Temple with carvings all over it:

It is a small working temple with prayers 4 to 6 times a day, nestled in the midst of a shopping market area.  We saw the different streets decorating for a street celebration; at the end, the best street wins a cash prize. 

Street festival preparations:

Today was also special because tourists got leis and red dots for National Tourism Day.  We also saw fireworks over the market area from the hotel tonight marking the beginning of the festival.
 
The City Palace Museum has the old fort, royal chambers, hotels and the lake boat launch. 

City Temple main gate:

Emperor’s viewing platform:

They loved peacocks, so does Chris:

City palace from the lake (with our leis and red dots):

The dynasty Mewar can trace its lineage without a break to 566 to today, making it the oldest continuous dynasty in the world.

Genealogy chart:

It has loads of ancient artifacts and also new things like an elevator that a paralyzed Maharana (title of high king in all of Rajasthan) used in 1970.
 
We took an hour boat trip on the lake.  It was a hot day, but not on the lake.  We could see many hotels and palaces on islands and we could even see our hotel on its mountain in the distance.  We stopped at one island with an expensive hotel and spent as much on cookies and drinks as lunch yesterday.

Hotel on island in lake, even Venice doesn’t have this!

Our hotel from the lake:

Summer palace island:

Our last stop was the garden of maidens, constructed by the emperor to give the Queen's attendants a place to relax outside of their palace quarters.  The multiple fountains makes this park a welcoming and lush place to visit and relax.  The Maharana donated it to the city government when India became independent of Britain in 1947.

Lotus petals on pond with school children visiting:

Main maiden garden fountain: 

Back up the hill to our hotel and a chance to regroup and get ready to go back to Delhi and then on to Dubai. 

And just because they are so cute, and they loved their own personal elephant ride, here's one more of the crabs: