The beautiful blue city of Jodhpur really is blue. The jumble of the blue-coloured Brahmin homes stretch along the ten kilometre 16th century city wall.
In the old city a tangle of winding, medieval streets never seem to lead where you expect. The streets are crammed with shops and bazaars that sell everything including shimmering temple decorations, heaped spices, jewellery, new and recycled colourful saris and the sweetest sweets I’ve ever tasted. The busy scene is overlaid by the scent of roses, incense and sewers!
The magnificent Mehrangarh Fort dominates four hundred feet above Jodhpur on a perpendicular cliff. Built from red sandstone, this imposing and incredibly beautiful fort is one of the largest and best preserved in India. The mighty fort is a magnificent spectacle and an architectural masterpiece with charmingly latticed windows, elaborately carved panels and porches. It was built by Rao Jodha, who Jodhpur is named after. Chock full of history and legend the fort is still run by the royal family.
Within the fort a fantastic museum houses an exquisite collection of palanquins, howdahs, royal cradles, miniatures paintings, costumes and furniture that displays the regal history and all its splendour of the past. Close by the fort is Jaswant Thada, a cluster of Royal cenotaphs built in 1899 from white marble in memory of the Mararaja Jaswant Singh II. The intricate stone sculpturing is so thin that it’s outside surface emits a warm glow as the sun plays across it.
Jodhpur was a major trading centre on the ancient silk route. Over the centuries Jodhpurs beauty evolved by the addition of temples, monuments, mansions and grand gardens producing a captivating contrast to the harsh desert surroundings. Today it still serves a similar function for trade in cattle, camels and crops.
The Raas Hotel which was originally a 19th century mansion is a fabulous hotel to I enjoyed a cool drink with the magnificent of view of the sunset over Mehrangarh Fort.
