Jodphur: Another Fort and the Sardar Market

View from the homestay rooftop early in the morning

Despite my tiredness, I woke early and following Elisca’s lead scrambled my way onto the roof for a sunset view. In the distance I could see the Meherangarh Fort. It was just so peaceful...until the school kids started turning up next door. Breakfast was lovely but I am killing for some bacon! No to be in India.

After a rather sluggish start we headed off to the fort for a wander. We headed to a look-out first to catch a glimpse of what was to come. Big and imposing and built on a hill to offer the maximum in defence, this fort really stands out on the landscape.  

View from the look out

 The Fort is big and grand and it feels like a lot of people could have been housed here in its time. Today, it is more of a museum to times past. Pam managed to catch a handful of bird poop. I am not sure that this a sign of luck or not but it took a lot to clean up – poor thing. I too, managed to get blessed with a second dosing of bird poop on this trip but nothing compared with Pam. We walked around the Fort for a couple of hours and did a self-paced audio talk. I think I listened to about half of it and ditched it so that I could take photos. Walking, listening and taking photos was just too much. The view’s were amazing and you could see why this is called the blue city with all the lovely blue painted houses.

Pots at the entrance to the Fort

Massive in everyway

He was there, he was posing so I took a photo

The climb begins



The Fort extending into the city




I consider this an effective and efficient use of land





Jammed packed but the blue was beautiful




Ten photos joined together to form a panorama of Jodphur

 Next stop was the Sardar market which we saw from the top of the Fort. From the Fort it looked like a busy centre of town. Apparently, according to the Lonely Planet this market has the best lassi shop in all of India so as soon as we got into the market place a group split off in search of it. The rest of us were meant to stay together and despite Ranny’s best attempts it didn’t happen. Two of us ended up with Raj and the rest with Ranny. It was nice just to wonder around at a nice slow pace. Ranny had positioned himself at the main gate make sure we had everyone but the lassi (type of thick milkshake made with yoghurt) group was still MIA. After a phone call they returned disappointed about not getting an omelette (again, famous in the Lonely Planet) but with spare lassi’s for the afternoon journey. It would have been good to have more time there and even have lunch there (which would have been a much cheaper option than where we went!).

Egg plant, chilly, capsicum, cauliflower and it looked so much better than Woolworths or Coles

The Lassi Shop...recommended by book!

Ranny, making sure we all made it out

Strolling through the markets

A typical sight in India...cows inhaling fumes in the main street

The rest of the day was spent in a bus on our way to Udiapur. Described as a six hour trip, I think it ended up being about seven. We had the option of stopping along the way for dinner but as a group decided to go direct to the hotel and get to bed.  The other group stopped but ended up 1 ½ hours behind us and we were in bed by the time they had arrived – nice. The trip was not without drama. At times the passing was very close and the game of chicken was played a bit too close for my liking at times. There was also a close encounter with a cow and a road diversion with the later probably being the most interesting.