We had been told of the beauty of Udaipur long before visiting, and our guide book calls it the most romantic city in India. Even with these high standards, Udaipur still overwhelmed us with its beauty. The city is set on Lake Pichola and surrounded by hills. The city was also featured in the James Bond film Octapussy; many of the hotels around here play the movie every night in their restaurants. We plan on catching a screening tonight.
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| Our hotel's rooftop restaurant with views of the lake and the city palace. |
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| One of the bridges spanning part of the lake |
The old city has small winding streets, lots of hotels and tourist shops. We succumbed to one such shop and bought a painting of an elephant, horse and camel painted on silk, which we hope to frame when we return to the States.
We visited the city palace yesterday and awed at its beauty and extravagance. There is another palace that was converted to a luxury hotel called Lake Palace Hotel, which is it's own island. My parents were able to visit here in the 1970s and enjoy it's beauty, but now only guests of the hotel are allowed.
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| The city palace from the outside |
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| Lake Palace Hotel |
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| The palace at sunset |
Rajasthan has continued to impress us with its beauty and it is an odd contradiction that it is one of the poorer states in India. We will be in Udaipur a total of four nights, then off to Jaisalmer – a fort in the desert with sand dunes like the Sahara Desert. Only three more weeks in India!
how went the octopussy screening? i enjoyed the video elements, but was terrified to the point of getting that antsy feeling i might start sweating when i heard flip flops used to climb the stairs.
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