Diwali in the White City – Udaipur

Diwali in the White City – Udaipur

Wish you all a Happy New Year….

For this Diwali vacation we wanted to go to northern India yet close to Bombay so zeroed on Udaipur and places around it.
Naman and Rivaan are always excited to travel by train. So, we took a train ride to Mt Abu which was perfect for them. It’s a night train from Bombay and we reached by 10 am next day.

Day 1 – We reached Abu Station at 10am. Self driven cars are not available here. Did the conventional car and driver; our driver had good info about touristy places and restaurants. We visited the temples Dantani, Jirawala Parswanath (we did puja here), Varman, Bherutarak. We decided to stay at Pavapuri Tirth Dham instead of going up to Abu. It’s a Jain dharamshala but actullay a luxury resort and, I am not joking. It has luxurious rooms and spread over acres of land. There is a “Gowshala” where kids can feed them and enjoy sometime at the cow shed. There are horse and camel rides, an art gallery and 2 temples in the dharamsala. Since it’s a dharamsala dinner is served during choviar time. So, we ate at a dhaba close by 5 mins walk from there.

Caution- Food served in most dhabas in Rajathan is very spicy. Inspite of telling them no spicy or very little spicy the food served was spicy for us.

Day 2- We went to the famous Delwada temple. We did puja. Its surrounded by the beautiful green mountains. The carvings are super fantastic. Vastupal and Tejpal who built this temple motivated the artisans to do intricate carving buy giving them gold weighing equivalent to the dust they collected while carving. What motivation!!!! Kids thoroughly enjoyed boating at Nakki Lake. We spent half a day here. We did not do Achalgadh and Mata ka mandir as it required climbing steep steps. With kids we were not keen on doing it. Rasgullas and Rabdi are popular delicacy of Abu. On our way back we went to temple in Sirodi.

Day 3- Left Abu and started for Ranakpur. On our way we saw the most beautiful temple in Mirpur. The parswanath idol in the temple is 1300 years old and the temple is situated right at the foot of Aravalis with a beautiful green backdrop. We also went to Sirohi, Falna, Sadadi. Lunch at Bhramanvada- the place where Mahavir’s ear were pierced; there is rock which cracked when Mahavir screamed and that rock is preserved here. Kids knew this story so, were fascinated seeing it in real. We reached Ranakpur by late afternoon. Checked in the palace hotel- Fateh Garh Palace. Kids enjoyed a good dip in the swimming pool. What happened at dinner was one of the highlight of our trip. We ate dinner at La Pizzeria restaurant outside our hotel. We ate fresh baked Pita and Hummus, Alfredo Pasta and Margerita thin crust Pizza and Mint Mojito. Getting this type of food in Ranakpur was surprising and it was awesome, perfect taste.

Day 4- We did pooja at Ranakpur. It took 50 years to build it and each pillar is so unique and breathtaking. Then we went on a single windy road and a rickety ride to Kumbhalgarh. It was a 1.5 hour ride from Ranakpur. The landscape on the way is of small villages with farmers using bullocks to plough the field, quite green; surprisingly this part of Rajasthan has a lot of green landscape. Some of it reminded us our drive on I-280 from San Jose to Pleasanton.

Kumbhalgarh Fort is a World Heritage Site. It’s a long walk around the fort but with the guide narrating the history kids and us did not realize we walked more than a kilometer. Fort is well maintained. The fort has the second largest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China. Must visit. Kumbhalgarh wildlife sanctuary can be skipped. We stayed for 2 nights in Ranakpur and had to drive back. Instead, one can stay one night in Ranakpur and next in Kumbhalgarh as you can go to Chittorgarh from here and save time.

Day 5- Ranakpur to Chittorgarh- long drive of almost 4 hours. We left early morning 6am and reached by 10am. Its one of the biggest forts of India. Has an interesting history about beautiful Rani Padmini. Cars are driven all around the fort so it saved us from the long walk around the fort. Lots of monkeys around who snatch food packets from the visitors hand. The fort is mostly covered with custard apple tree. The fort is in ruins; only walls of most building left. Kumbhalgarh is better than this one. This can be skipped. The long travel was not worth it.

Day 6,7,8- Finally we reach the beautiful and clean city of Udaipur and the last stop of our trip.
Udaipur was founded by Maharana Udai Singh II. It’s a beautiful clean city surrounded by lakes and know for its lavish royal residences.
We stayed at Mewar Haveli right in the heart of the old city; 5 mins walk from the City Palace. Our room had the view of the Lake Pichhola and the Lake Palace. The night view of the beautifully lit palace for Diwali was amazing.

Things we did
1. City Palace.
2. Jagdish Temple
3. Nehru Park+ Fateh Sagar- boating.
4. Sukhadiya Circle peddle boating for kids
5. Dudh Tali- Ropeway to a temple+sunset. Boating again as kids wanted to do it all the time.
6. 7 Jain temples there are more which we did not end up doing.

Things we skipped but can be done
1. Puppet show for kids near Picholla Lake or the same is done at Bhartiya Lok Kala Mandal. Mandal is far from city. Must be done. The time was 7-8 clashed with dinner time or kids were tired so we skipped it.
2. Gulab Baugh
3. Pratap Smarak right across Fateh Sagar Lake
4. Saheliyon is Bari is close to Sukhadiya and 3 kms Fateh Sagar. 3 & 4 places should be clubbed together.

Tips for Udaipur
1. Rickshaw is the only form of transport for tourist so the drivers rip us. So, before boarding a rick check the price reduce it and then sit.
2. You can do a rick for for Rs. 600/day and visit point 3,4,5 and 2,3,4 mentioned above.
3. Shopping is good at Hathi Pol and check the bylanes for fancy dresses; these shops usually cater foreign tourists and are good.

We ate at our hotel mostly. Bavarchee and Natraj Dinning Hall are good restaurants here. We took a overnight train from Udaipur to Bombay.

It might seem that we were in Jatra mode visiting so many temples but it was fun knowing their history and see idols which are from the time of Mahavir. We enjoyed our evenings exploring the city. So, it was a good mix of both.