Saturday 23 October Jaisalmer

We were up early on Saturday morning enjoying the noises coming from the surrounding streets including musicians in the nearby artists colony. After breakfast on the roof we went by rickshaw to the fort which hasn't yet ceased to amaze at the way it just rises up into those fantastic sandcastles.


It was built from sandstone in 1156 and looks like no other fort we have seen, I was told that it is one of the largest forts in the world, and that it is endangered due to the amount of building and population, the foundations are sinking because among other things the lack of a sewage system, yet hotels are still being opened and of course they cater to the tourists need for thousands of gallons of water a day, although concerned organisations are now trying to save it. The city inside is still inhabited by many of the people who work there in the maze of narrow streets and alleyways lined with shops and cafes.












We walked through an imposing gateway up a wide walk and under another gateway all the while being mobbed by hawkers, some quite agressive. When inside and dodging cows, scooters and hawkers we just wandered around admiring the fabulous architecture of the havelis, palaces, Jain temples, Hindu temples and ramparts, there are also wells which still provide water and many houses tucked away, it is all so colourful especially some of the old men playing musical instruments in wonderful turbans. The temples are only open to the public at certain times and unfortunately we missed this.



We visited the former maharajas palace quite beautiful on the outside with carved windows and balconies, the entry fee included an excellent audio guide to a really interesting tour, unlike the previous palaces it was much simpler inside relying mainly on lovely carving. There were fantastic views from the rooftop down into the maze of streets and into the surrounding town, where you can see the beautiful havelis with their fantasticly carved facades of wonderful lace like carving in golden sandstone, and the strangness of gazing into the nothingness of the Thar Desert.

Really enjoyed our visit and afterwards we wandered out into the streets and eventually had a good meal at Natraj, unfortunately their rooftop restaurant was closed for renovation but there were good views of the next door Salim Singh-ki-Haveli, eight stories high and with 38 balconies, stone elephants welcome you at at the entrance doorway, the top storey is lovely with much carving and blue cupolas.


Next stop was the Gadi Sagar a beautiful lake, we got dropped in the approach road and walked through the lovely sandstone entrance with a Krishna temple on top. There are gardens all around the lake which has many small temples, shrines, chattris and ghats surrounding it, flocks of ducks floating and some dodgy looking boats for hire, there were few people there except for a large excited crowd at the edge of the lake in front of the entrance, we wondered what was happening so John, armed with camera went to see and I retreated to a high point next to the temple, in the water was an enormous shoal of catfish all trying to get to the large amounts of bread being thrown in, they were all one on top of another even coming out of the water onto the steps, some of them were very big - I found it a bit creepy they looked like enormous cockroaches, but the men, women and chilren were having a wonderful time, and of course John took some great photos and a video.

Back to the hotel for a much needed shower, later we walked to Ghandi Chowk and decided to eat at Saffron rooftop restaurant above the Nanchana Haveli hotel, had very nice food accompanied by music and watched the world go by down in the streets, and overlooked by the lit up fort. Afterwards we had a nose around the haveli courtyard, lots of photos and old furniture it was very interesting.