Also, the known for the infamous James Bond movie, Octopussy, which is shown in every establishment that is a restaurant or hotel every evening. Yes, that's right, every evening.
Udaipur, the capital of the former princely state of Mewar, is a beautiful city in Rajasthan, India, famous for its lakes and palaces. A current tourist favorite, especially for up-market Westerners.
The splendid City Palace, posing over the fascinating Lake Pichola, is one of the most beautiful palatial structures in Rajasthan. The elegant palace, originally built by Maharana Uday Singh II, rises 30 meters above Lake Pichola and extends up to 244 meters. The palace complex has been built entirely in granite and marble. The interior with its balconies, towers and cupolas exhibits delicate mirror work, marble work, murals, wall paintings, silver work, inlay work and colored glass mosaics. The complex provides a fine view of the lake and the city from its upper terraces.1
When we were there, the palace was going through a refreshment of paint and decoration, preparing for a princely wedding. You will note the yellow drapes on the tent like structures.
On arriving to Udaipur via bus, I didn't first get the whole lake concept, as the bus station is a few kms away from the lake area. Once arriving, then I clued in. This is a wonderful place to spend 3 or 4 days. There are surrounding lake areas, palaces, and temples to wonder through.
We stayed mostly in and around the lake area, and what I would call the back lot, a few blocks in from the lake edge. A definite place to get a bite to eat in the evening and yes they do play our favorite move, is O'zen Restaurant serving Indian, Italian, Chinese and Continental food. Great guys, service and food, yum.
Another, shoot I should have done that, was purchasing a carved stone sculpture from the many artists on the street. We only found them here and in Pushkar. Very talented people and one fellow in particular who was creating abstract Genesh and elephants.
You will note that in my photos I went sunset crazy. I just liked them all. Well, almost all. Enjoy Udaipur.
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1 Excerpts from Wikipedia
