Jodhpur: That Blue City

Jodhpur, the capital city of Kingdom of Marwar, is set in Thar desert and is second largest city in Rajasthan.

You can reach Jodhpur by flight, train or bus from Delhi but I booked my flights from Delhi and reached Jodhpur around 2 pm and hired an auto to reach my heritage haveli, Kankariya Heritage. This was when I got the first impression of city being a mix of urban and heritage set. Just opposite Gulab Sagar this place was well maintained and squeaky clean. And the best part was I could see Mehrangarh fort from my bed, desk and sofa!

Overjoyed me decided to soak in the surroundings and then start exploring, because the plan was to have no plan! In evening, I started walking towards Toorji ka Jhalra, which was like 500m from my place. This is a stepwell built in 1700 to manage the  water supply in the city.

Ofcourse, I could not just stop here so I started walking towards nowhere and reached the market around clock tower. This is called Sardar Market and is having businesses of all sorts.

I decided to catch the sunset from my hotel because of its beautiful view and then later had dinner at Hosteller.

This day unfolded itself in a very tiring yet beautiful day. Started the day with the most famous Pyaaz ki Kachori and samosa and then I visited this mammoth of a structure "Mehrangarh Fort" and was stumped by the architecture and vastness of this fort. Also, not to forget the well maintained position of the fort which is generally nowhere to be seen.

To enter the fort you cross 7 gates and will have to walk uphill but it's worth every pain. I hired a guide to know about the history of this huge marvel. It took me almost 3 hours to visit the fort and I was hungry by now. I came to know of a shorter way to reach the city by foot, which I took to have lunch.

Next stop was Jaswant Thada, which is a cenotaph built for the cremation of Royal Rajput family of Marwar. Jaswant Thada is set in marble with beautiful carvings, gazebos, lake and a garden. They are right for calling this "Taj Mahal of Marwar".

Someone suggested me to go to Mandore Gardens as well and I followed it. This place is known to be the birth place of Raavan's wife Mandodari. You cannot miss to notice the beaming fort it would have been in it glorious days. Now, it has multiple cenotaphs of Marwar royals and a temple with some preserved part of the fort as well.

It was already 4 pm and I was dead tired so decided to go to the hotel and rest. Later, I went to a nearby place to have my dinner.

I wanted to keep this day a little slow and at leisure. Got up at 5:30 to catch the sunrise and at 8, went to have my breakfast and then roamed around doing nothing.

At noon, I went to this place called flamingo to have lunch and since, I was all done with forts and palaces I decided to go to Kaylana Lake which is a good sunset/sunrise spot. Till the time I reached there I did not know it was an artificial lake and I still can't believe this. It was a little touristy and crowded but sunset was beautiful with water gleaming in its glory to the setting sun.

I had my dinner at Vijay restaurant which has scrumptious items like Kaju curry.

This was my final day in Jodhpur and I had a flight at 2 pm. Any tour of Jodhpur is incomplete without a walking tour. I had this incredible guide "Bantu" who took me to all the beautiful places of the city which I couldn't have discovered myself.

Till that time, I couldn't figure out why was it called Blue City but he showed it to me. Streets are narrow, houses are painted in beautiful different shades of blue with an old city charm. This was the highlight is my trip and this tour gave my trip a closure.

But, how could i miss umaid bhawan palace and i went there on my way to the airport. this is one beautiful palace where maharaja still resides and most of the palace has been converted to a world famous hotel. i spent almost 20 mins there and then went to "bhati dal baati" to have my lunch and then to airport.

Jodhpur is something you can't miss if you are travelling to rajasthan. i was in love with the simplicity of the city with that old world charm, super good food, vibrant shops and super helpful people living in those heritage places with so many generations under one roof.