Apr-2019
This is our first journey to Rajasthan.
We decided to fly to this amazing royal city of Rajasthan. Very odd season to to to Rajasthan in the unbearable heat of summer. We landed at the small airport, this airport which has very few passenger flights probably 2 per day. This is mostly a defence airport also operating passenger flights.
Club Mahindra has a good hotel/resort here. A small one however, it gives the taste of the palaces or big haveli.
The place was unbearably hot in the day time. We could not sit out or be in the sun for more than 15 mins during the day. We had to find shaded places to reach the restaurant. We were the one of the few crazy guests in the hotel.
The restaurant had a very simple Rajasthani veg food only. We learned that the city is predominantly vegetarian and if someone wants to have meat, they have to order in advance. Also we did not find any non-veg hotels in the city, not that we were looking for it. We loved the character of the city.
One thing that stands out is that, most of the houses of the old city close to the fort are all painted in blue. Main occupation the people in the old city is dyeing, bandini to be specific.
The highlight if this city is the Mehrangarh fort. This is very well maintained (privately owned and operated by the royal family)
The famous food for this place is the spicy onion samsosa and the Ghewar rabadi. Ghewer Rabadi was awesome, this is a must try sweet from Rajhastan (Caution — try in small portions)
Other good attractions :
1. Bishnoi settlement — We saw lots of peacock families roaming around fearlessly among the local populace and literally in their homes
2. Drive on the Sand Dunes — Although Jodhpur is not part of the desert, however we got to see a small part of the desert and rode through the sand dunes on jeep and camel. It was worth the experience.
3. Umaid Bhavan palace — This is a Taj heritage hotel, was built to provide employment to people during the drought. Now the main part is run by Taj as a hotel and small part is converted to museum. There is also a display of vintage cars on the premises. This is a very imposing palace.
Jodhpur has lots of traditional handicrafts on offer, especially ethnic wear, camel wool blankets etc.
We were totally exhausted by the heat and decided next time in Rajasthan or North India we should select a more cooler time of the year.