Udaipur, the Venice of India, was made famous thanks to one of the James Bond films, Octopussy, which was filmed, in part, at several local sites, including the famous palace on the water. Many hotels show Octopussy every night – gratis! A few scenes from ‘Best Exotic . . . ‘ were also filmed here. It’s no wonder – the views over Lake Perchola are stunning and the whole city is very tourist-friendly.
Tempting as it is to just laze about and take in the 360
degree view from the rooftop, we make an excursion to the Royal Palace
Museum. Very impressive! Very human-scale – very worth
seeing. Each raj is called
the ‘custodian’ not the ruler, not the raj, not the king – the custodian. My favorite story from the palace tour
– the daughter of an 18th c raj was, (thanks to a bureaucratic error)
promised to both the raj of Jaipur and the raj of Jodhpur. Her father, faced with an impossible
dilemma, decides that the only solution is to eliminate the bride – to wit, kill
her! Her attendants are told to
poison her; the first dose doesn’t work, the second dose doesn’t work, the
third dose (probably enough to kill an elephant!) works. The audio guide reports how heartbroken
her father was – oh duh!! I want
to know what happened to the bureaucrat . . .
Photos from the Royal Palace Musuem . . .
Entrance . . .
Start of the audio guide tour.
Cool interior courtyard.
The quarters of the ill-fated princess.
The maharaja's east-facing breakfast room. This raj is a sun-worshipper (a type of Jainism?) and is required to salute the sun every morning before taking any food or drink. Easy this time of the year but when the monsoons come, the sun can go days without making an appearance. Solution - make a sun! This is directly opposite the breakfast room.
One of the many inlay installations all over the palace.
Heading back to the hotel.
Hey Tim, wait for me!!
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