Jodhpur, Rajasthan (The Blue City)

We arrived in Jodphur in the late afternoon and immediately headed into the city to get the lay of the land. Jodphur is another Rajput town with impressive fortifications. Here, as opposed to Jaipur/Amber, the fort rises imposingly above the center of town and dominates the skyline. After wandering the streets and exploring the main square with its clock tower, we set about finding a nice rooftop cafe to sit and enjoy sunset over a cold beer.

The fort, Mehrangarh, is 550 years old and equally impressive close-up. Inside the heavily fortified walls is a twelve-story palace with room upon room of impressive exhibitions, exquisite decorations, great views of the city below, and a turban wrapping demonstration(!). It's easy to see why Jodphur is called "the Blue City" as scores of blue colored buildings stretch out below the fort. You can also see the Maharaja's current palace in the distance.

We also visited Jaswant Thada, a cenotaph that lies high above the city close to the fort. It is built entirely of intricately carved marble and offers some great views back to the fort.

Jodphur is also famous for it's markets, particularly the spice market. In the old part of the city, off the main square, run countless narrow alleys with colorful stalls selling herbs, spices, and vegetables. This is the India you see in photos. Our driver brought us to spice shop where we had some homemade chai and got to taste and smell all of the spices. It was a bit of a tourist trap, but naturally, being tourists, we walked away with a few packets of spices to bring home.

Our last stop in Jodphur was to visit the Maharaja's new palace, Umaid Bhawan, which we could see from Merangarh Fort. The palace was built between 1929 and 1945 and now houses a museum, a 5-star hotel, and the current royal residence - size was no object back then! Unfortunately the museum is rather small and you can't visit the rest without shelling out $600 per night for the hotel, but it was impressive nonetheless.

In Jodphur we got our first glimpse of the problems we would have with our driver in the coming days. The hotel he selected was well outside our budget and not where we wanted to be (though we're sure he got a nice commission). Unfortunately, we didn't put our foot down at this point. We would learn though. Next stop Jaisalmer, a remote city in the desert of Rajasthan by the Pakistani border.