A Fairy-Tale City….Udaipur
The City Palace dominates the Eastern shore of the lake. The architecture is a blending of Raiput military with Mughal style decoration. Today, the palace is a combination museum and luxurious hotel. There are many 5 * hotels including a floating one. All this was considered when including Udiapur in an elite list of world class cities for 2010, according to our guide. You don’t need to be in $1000+ a night hotel room to enjoy this magical city. We weren’t and we did!
The City Palace perched on the top of the hill is notable as the site for some of the filming of the Bond film ” Octopussy.” Note the pictures of the students in a roof-top café for dinner where the area and 
food were “sketchy”, the service slow but we saw ” Octopussy”, which we voted as the worst Bond film ever made! 
We crossed a lighted bridge, wandered through the narrow dark streets of the old town, gazed at the illuminated castle lit up as a beacon, while continuing to dominate the area even in the darkness. The students sketched and David and I strolled. 
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Udiapur is a city complete with marble palaces, a lake with romantic hotels and gardens, 
picturesque Ghats, (stairs from the top of a hill to the water),ancient temples, and a lively bazaar inside the walls of the old city. A must see for a journey through India . . .you can write your own fairy tale…….
Wow! I want to go.
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Hope you get to and write your own fairy tale !
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It is gorgeous, I remember it well!
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Nice to meet you Anne. Thanks for liking my feature over at Elaine’s foodbod. You have a delightful blog filled with lovely tales! 🙂
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So glad to meet you , too. Thanks for the follow! I hope you will continue to enjoy my tales. I will enjoy your blog as well! Smiles. . . .
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Hi there Annet! This is one of the best reviews of the Udaipur city!! Awesome pics to go with detailed information..totally loved your post to bits! We friends planning for an Udaipur trip this summer..But we’ll definitely look for budget hotel options as funds are limited 😛
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We didn’t stay in those super expensive hotels , either, for sure! Husband booked the whole trip through a travel agent in Ahmedabad by telling him the places we wanted to go and the price range. I do remember we stayed in * * * (3 star hotels) all over India and they were fine. Breakfast was included, there was a bathroom for each separate room and they were clean. There was not always electricity( it came on and off, or WiFi. The professor who had brought a group a couple of years before stayed in * * ( two star hotels). Some of the girls complained of rats or mice in the rooms and that was not acceptable so we paid more for the * * * rooms. A guide for each city was also included and we didn’t pay for them outright. I guess it was in the fee to the hotel . Professor tipped them. A guide is a good thing for getting around and in the long run seeing more because no time is wasted. Professor would tell the guide the things he wanted to visit in each city….most of them are totally well known and seen by most tourists but since this was an architecture tour, there were some extra buildings. We found the guides all had family members selling things and they would want us to go and of course buy. in Udiapur, it was paintings. They actually were very nice work. You can just say, “We don’t want to go to the shop or we would rather go to. . . . . ” They are there to do what you want so don’t be talked into something you don’t want to do!) Generally the guides were very knowledgeable and kind and wanted to please us. Husband thinks “Eye Witness Guide to India” is the bust guide books. Pretty expensive $30.00 but accurate and great pictures and very through with maps and isometric shots of places. Have a wonderful time and I hope you will share it all on your blog! Big smiles. . . .Anne
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