What a Fort!

We got up in the morning and headed to Meherangarh Fort. It is from the 15th century and was occupied until the 1940’s when then last new palace in India was built. Although called a Fort it is a castle and palace for the Maharaja. It is on top of a huge rocky hill and it is enormous. It is what you think of when you think of a desert fortress. It looks totally impregnable. We walked to the top. From the top you have vistas of the city and the city walls from all directions. No one snuck up on this place. Many of the homes in this city are painted blue (the color of Lord Krishna – the flute player). It is quite pleasing to the eye to see these blue houses.

One interesting sight at the castle was a series of handprints. Indian women at that time practiced Sati. When their husbands died they through themselves on the funeral pyre and burnt themselves to death. The practice is now illegal in India. These hand prints were of women who were going to practice a mass Sati when their solder / husbands were killed in battle.

From the Fort we drove a short distance to see the spot where the Maharajas are cremated. We then drove to the new palace where the Maharaja lives. Part of this new palace is a very plush Taj Hotel. We had lunch (it was very good) I like the richness of Rajasthan food.

We then shifted in to shopping mode. The Taj, of course, had a nice shopping area. There was also a shopping area near our hotel. From there some us tuk-tuked into the old quarter and walked around through the narrow alleys. The women here are extremely colorful in their choice of dress (except Muslim women who stick to basic black).

After spending time in the old quarter we returned to the hotel. We drank a lot of wine, by the pool, we ordered very good samosas as snacks. I then had the buffet; Cathy was full from the snacks.

We returned to our room to pack for our morning drive to Jaipur.