Fantastic Rajasthan

story

As usual we prefer an individual trip.

We arrive in Delhi, a city we won't see but which will only serve as a point of arrival and departure; the first stop of our itinerary is Mandawa, a city in Shekhawati, an area famous for its Haveli, palaces of the old merchants frescoed with religious and secular motifs; the old silk road passed through here.

India immediately strikes us with its contrasts and the kindness of its people; guided by a local student we visit the most beautiful palaces of the city and begin to learn about Hinduism (the main Indian religion) which will accompany us throughout the trip. The havelis are beautiful even if a bit neglected; surely in the past the area was richer, now the money is needed for more essential things.

The next stop is Bikaner, the Indian roads are not good, in fact at times they are terrifying; to cover 300 km it takes even 6 hours!!

Along the way we make a few photographic stops; even though the landscape is rather monotonous and the heat suffocating, there's no shortage of things to photograph.

Bikaner is the desert city located on the borders of the Thar desert; here there is the largest camel breeding farm in India, but the city is above all famous for its fort and for the rat temple of Karni Mata. At this time there are few European tourists but many local tourists, so we are accompanied in our visits by the Indians themselves.

Apart from the fort, Bikaner disappointed us a bit, so our anticipation of arriving in Jaisalmer grows even more; before stopping at the golden city we make a few stops along the road, the first is at Kolayat where we visit its Ghats on the lake shore: people arrive in the morning and start washing on the banks; the atmosphere is beautiful, we meet stunning girls and regal men.

arrival in Jaisalmer

Along the long road we meet many pilgrims heading to the fair of Pokaran; we are curious to see where all those people crowded on all kinds of transport are going, so we stop too and see that it's all a swarming of people and stalls where you can buy everything.

We also leave Pokaran behind us and finally arrive in Jaisalmer; it's almost sunset, we go straight to visit the cenotaphs, tombs..............; from here we can see the golden city in the distance.

The next day we enter the city and its light dazzles us, the color of its stone shines in every corner; we begin to discover the life inside its little districts which flows slowly and without secrets, the people are always ready with a smile even if they are a bit intrusive like me!!

Slowly as the sun rises the heat increases, so it's preferable to spend the hottest hours in the shade eating a "good tandoori chiken".

As soon as the heat becomes bearable again we head toward the dunes of Sam, the first outpost of the Thar desert; we arrive as the sky begins to darken: call it what you will, if it weren't that it never rains here one would say a storm is coming,...indeed just in time to take shelter inside a camel driver's hut, the sky drops what it hasn't dropped in the previous months. We wait for the fury of the storm to subside and return to the car; along the way back we meet a group of people busy repairing the road, we stop and they are amused by my curiosity.

The surroundings of Jaisalmer are dotted with small villages with houses made of earth and dung where life still flows as it did centuries ago.

After a first mishap with a self-appointed village chief the day goes well and we manage to visit some villages; the girls are assigned the most varied tasks, the men enjoy the shade and get shaved by the traveling barber. The kindness of the inhabitants is surprising; they often gladly invite you to visit their homes inside.

heading to Jodhpur

We leave Jaisalmer to go to Jodhpur, the blue city; the road offers no particular attractions, so apart from the technical stops we reach our destination in the early afternoon.

We take a first tour of the city in a local taxi, an apecar adapted for transporting people. The following day we visit Mehrangarh Fort. The fort is truly magnificent and the view over the blue city is beautiful. The display of palanquins and royal cradles is certainly very interesting.

In the afternoon we set off in a local jeep to visit the Bishnoi villages. The visit to the various designated points is interesting, but the most interesting things are along the way: men and women working in the fields, nomads, animals.

The following day we set off for Udaipur with a stop and visit at the largest Jain temple, Ranakpur.

The landscape is changing, there's more greenery and in the distance you can see the Aravalli mountains.

We arrive at the temple — what magnificence.

The journey continues and we stop to visit the archaeological temples of Nagda.

And so we reach Udaipur: the city of lakes. Unfortunately the lakes are dried up because, as they will later explain to us, there have been bad monsoons that brought no rain. We're a bit disappointed because there's a beautiful palace inside the lake that is distinctive precisely because it should be surrounded by water.

The visit, however, takes us to the City Palace, which we would call the most beautiful in the whole region for its wealth of mosaics and miniatures.

The princess's garden, not far from the palace, must have been a spectacle with its many fountains, but with no water it's a bit anonymous.

We also fit in a stroll through the bazaar, famous because it spreads across the little square in front of the clock tower.

Pushkar is near

The journey continues to Pushkar.

Along the way we stopped at Nathdwara, a small town full of temples and very much lived in by the locals. We immediately realise we are intruders; it was the only time in the whole trip when we truly felt we were in India: the India of poverty.

After long hours of travel we reach Pushkar.

To ease the tension of the journey we took a walk all around the lake along which the town extends, between a priest-holy man and an improvised guide, between people who pray in earnest and others who just want money for a photograph, between those who offer you a camel ride and those who offer you a smoke. Tourism arrived here long ago and it shows.

Only the following morning, when most of the foreigners are still in bed, did we manage to wander around the bazaar undisturbed.

Jaipur

We then set off for Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan.

The city tour includes the astronomical observatory, the city palace and finally the palace of the winds. The latter is the symbol of the city and offers a fine spectacle from above.

The following morning we set off to visit Amber Fort. Of course, after visiting the others this isn't the most beautiful, but we appreciated the fact of being the first tourists of the day to enter!

You can take photos without anyone passing in front of the lens!!!

The special thing about the fort is that anyone who doesn't feel up to tackling the climb on foot can hire an elephant-taxi.

last days

We set off around mid-morning to leave Rajasthan and enter Uttar Pradesh, where we will visit the Taj Mahal.

However, since it's Friday, a day of prayer, the Taj can't be visited. So we stop to visit the ancient capital Fatehpur Sikri; here we visit the government palace: a city within a city.

6:00 a.m. on the last day of the trip, our vehicle arrives to take us to the Taj Mahal.

What can you say about this construction, built by a king for love of his wife. There are no words to describe it, only astonishment at the splendour.

The journey now takes us back to Delhi because we're going home: we carry with us the smile of these people,

the faces of these women, beautiful and elegant at every moment of their lives, the scents of spices and incense.... The colours of the clothes and............. so many images. visit the site

Gigi & Lucy.

gigidia@libero.it