By boat along Lake Pichola where the palaces are lined up

Udaipur, with its convenient format, is a great city to stroll around in. After being completely dependent on Ubers and rickshaws in Mumbai and Jaipur, it felt incredibly good to be using the apostle horses again. During the four days we had in the City of Lakes, we managed to do a lot. In this post I will tell you about some palaces and an exciting dance performance. Between laps, we also had some good dining experiences and a bit of shopping, which you can read about here. Don't miss our posts about Mumbai and Jaipur.

In the middle of town on a hill overlooking Lake Pichola is the mammoth City Palace. You could probably spend a whole day here but we tried to be a bit efficient and hired our own guide who showed us all the interesting parts of the palace and told us its history. The oldest parts of the palace were built during the middle of the 16th century, while new constructions and reconstructions were made right into the 20th century, the palace is therefore really a mix of styles. However, the common denominator must be color and decorations, regardless of the era. Just like other palaces we visited in Jaipur, here too it is an ingenious mix of beautiful architecture and smart solutions to regulate the temperature on both cold and hot days. There are also mirror salons whose purpose was to reflect as much light as possible during dark evenings. The fact that some ceiling and wall paintings were then painted so that they only shimmered from the king's side, while they looked significantly more classy from the people's side, you can have opinions about. But it's still cool that it works.

While you are still up at the palace, don't miss the Crystal Palace and its fantastic crystal exhibition. For those interested in cars, there is also a car museum with the old cars of the maharajas.

Udaipur is famous for its miniature paintings and on every street corner you will find local artists sitting and painting with their faces close, close to the canvas. These artworks are incredibly detailed. Below you see, for example, a motif with a man on a horse. The painting is roughly the size of an A4, but when you zoom in as much as possible with your mobile phone, you can see every hair in the horse's mane and also in the man's beard. These details are painted with a brush that only has a single bristle. Really impressive to see.

Just below the City Palace is the jetty where the boat to Jag Mandir departs. It's a beautiful ride along the water where you pass the Lake Palace, a palace made entirely of white marble that seems to float on the water. The palace now houses a hotel Taj Lake Palace which was unfortunately fully booked when we were looking for a hotel. But what did it do when we found the amazing Bloom Boutique instead. Read more about Bloom here.

The destination for the boat trip was Jag Mandir, also a palace in the middle of Lake Pichola but open to the public. There is a small park, a restaurant and a large open area where weddings are arranged from time to time. By the way, weddings are something Indians are really big fans of. We saw (and heard) lots of weddings during our days in Udaipur. The bride comes adorned and dressed in beautiful fabrics, and the groom comes riding on a horse. All accompanied by a huge entourage that sings and plays. Our driver who took us on one excursion outside the city told that there were 2000 guests at his daughter's wedding. Then we still got the feeling that it wasn't a very big wedding. Jeez, I don't even think I could make 2000 acquaintances if I tried.

The evening's event was a display of traditional Indian folk dance. Here it was really as far from hambos and kneecaps as you can get.

There were women in beautiful dresses with cauldrons on their heads, there were warrior scenes where the dancers picked glowing coals with their mouths. The evening ended with a woman who not only danced with 12 pots balanced on her head. She also danced barefoot on broken glass. A whole evening, then.

We can state that there is a lot to see and do in this cozy but lively little town. During four days, we managed to see a lot of what the city had to offer. With the help of incredibly nice and helpful people who gave us tips and showed us what not to miss, Udaipur was definitely the highlight of the trip.