Udaipur has seven man made lakes. Each one provides a beautiful vista & backdrop for various palaces. It’s also among the major international locations in the 1983 James Bond movie “Octopussy”.

Like Jaipur, Udaipur has a City Palace and a ruling king. The Maharanas of Udaipur have ruled for 76 generations since 556 CE making them the longest ruling dynasty. They have lived in this palace since 1559 & still do today. The beautiful palace has a hotel, museum, conference center, & the royal family’s residence. The royals rent spaces in their palace to use for weddings & conventions; but, mainly it is simply a beautiful place to visit for a few hours.

Just for sport, in the old days, the king would match two elephants in a tug-of-war contest. The elephants would wrap their trunks to pull against each other. The first elephant to touch the wall with its front foot lost. Those who wagered on the losing elephant lost some money along with some pride.

The Hindu Jagdish Temple is very impressive. This carved marble structure took over 25 years to build. The temple carvings are very impressive. You have to climb 32 steps from the earthly realm to reach the holy shrine which is considered sacred ground.

A cool & relaxing place to visit is the Saheliyon-ki-Bari known as the “Courtyard of the Maidens” because the queen would bring her female friends & entourage to this place to relax in private.

Udaipur’s old city is also a delight just to wander through. We saw tiny neighborhood temples, street vendors selling everything under the sun, & old traditional homes with nice wall paintings. We also met the locals.

We ended our day with a lovely boat ride around sunset on Lake Pichola. We motored by the lovely City Palace, the Taj Lake Palace, & spent a little while on Jagmandir Island. All these locales are in the James Bond movie.

Just a few more people shots to share.