On our second day, we enjoyed more than a full day sightseeing in Jodhpur.

Our guide informed us that this ancient walled city has two nicknames. One is the “Sun City” because of the sunny weather it enjoys all year long, even during the rainy monsoon season.

We began our day at Jaswant Thada. This marble building that looks like a palace with intricate carvings is actually a beautiful cenotaph. It is the location for the Jodhpur’s royal family funeral pyres.

Inside the memorial temple you can view pictures showing all 30 of Jodhpur’s rulers along with a memorial to a peacock that flew into a funeral pyre.

Without a doubt the Meherangarh Fort is a very impressive site. This huge fort started in 1460 with its last construction being in 1920 towers 400 feet above the city.

The Rathore royal family operates the fort allowing visitors to view many opulent rooms. These rooms were once used by the former maharajas.

Like Udaipur, Jodhpur was the location for a Hollywood blockbuster movie. In the Batman movie “The Dark Knight Rises”, Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne climbs to freedom from a prison pit located outside this fort to save Gotham City,

However, Hollywood loves to trick us. There is no prison pit by the fort- there is only a circular area ringed with a low stone wall from which Bale emerged. 🤣😂

As we walked out a different gate, we entered Jodhpur’s “Blue City” district. The “Blue City” is Jodhpur’s other & more well known nickname.

There are many ideas on why these homes were painted blue. For me, it just provides a beautiful place to take pictures. Today home owners can continue to paint their homes blue or another color

Inside the fort we saw many intricate miniature art paintings on display.

In the old city, we met the “Lentil Man”. He not only paints using the ancient art method used to make the above paintings displayed in the fort; but also, he is so skilled & talented, he can paint an elephant on a single lentil using that technique. He also teaches students this ancient art form which requires using a single hair from a squirrel’s tail to paint. He gladly demonstrates his expertise to tourists.

We also saw this interesting shrine in the Blue City. Couples wishing to have children come here to make offers to the fertility god to help them become parents.

We are once again back in Rajasthan in the north. Thankfully it is much cooler than it was a few weeks ago; but still, extremely interesting & very chaotic.

On our first day our guide took us to the city center by the old clock tower where we were able to see how the locals shop.

On this trip we have found the Indian people to be the kindest & friendliest people we have ever met. I wonder if this is because of how kind they are to all animals. Every morning, the first piece of bread is offered to a dog or cow in the neighborhood. The same is done in the evening with the last piece of bread.

In walking through the market our guide showed us a no-kill mouse trap. It is not considered appropriate to kill a mouse because Ganesh who is the Hindu god of Wisdom, Luck, & New Beginnings uses a mouse as his vehicle & is considered as a symbol for him to overcome obstacles.

In the same location we also visited the Toorji Ka Jhalra Stepwell. It was built in 1740 & has now been restored.

For Westerners, it is hard to understand how traffic works here. The streets are overflowing with people, scooters, cars, trucks, tuk-tuks, carts, and cows & dogs. Nary a second passes without a horn sound blaring; yet, somehow it works & we always get to where we are going OK.

Thankfully, we had a peaceful quiet hotel in which to rest. It once belonged to a wealthy family & is now a beautiful hotel.