Breakfast and then it was out to sightsee three attractions in Jodhpur with today’s guide, Nirendra.
The first was the Mehrangarh Fort a historic fort rising about 122 m above the surrounding plains and covering 1,200 acres. Built around 1459 by Rao Jodha, though most of the existing structure is from the 17th century built by his successors.
The fort is very well kept with over 600 employees keeping it clean and tidy.
Some very good views of the city and one aspect showed why Jodhpur is called the Blue City.
Like all forts we have visited there are some superb internal rooms full of colour and carvings and displays of clothing, weapons etc. of the time.
We then moved around 800m to visit the crematorium for the deceased Maharajas of Jodhpur where Nirendra explained to us the protocol that Hindus follow on the death of a family member – it is a three or four day process followed by 12 days of mourning before the ashes are taken to be disposed of in the Ganges.
With Ashok at the crematorium.
Finally we drove to the area around the Clock Tower known as the Sardar market. We didn’t spend too much time there as we intend to do so tomorrow but it was long enough to spend time in a spice shop learning a little about the use of spices in Indian cooking.
This particular spice shop is said to be the best in Jodhpur and it’s name is mimicked by others to try and get a better share of the trade. It was started by a gent who has passed and on his passing it was kept running by his widow and now by his 7 daughters who have been given the nickname The Spice Girls of Jodhpur. Currently there is a documentary being made about the girls which they hope will end up on Netflix but there is a trailer available on YouTube here
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Priya was the daughter who served us and she insisted on a photo and also sent us a 38 page recipe book which we are happy to forward to anyone who wants it.
In the afternoon we went for another walk in the area and took some interest in the local arborists. When we went out in the morning workers were pruning some trees in the centre “divider” of the street just 200m from our accommodation. When we walked past in the afternoon (7 hours later) there were some power lines dangling from an out of aligned pole and no sign of any workers. When we came back around an hour later there was some chaos – the pole was now down, lines dangling everywhere, the road now blocked on one side of the road and workers standing around holding onto the downed lines.
As Sherry said they needed a sparky and as luck would have it there was one advertising just across the street. We didn’t hang around to see how they were going to get things sorted as there didn’t seem to be anyone in charge!
This evening we went to a rooftop restaurant in the old town. It was quite an experience getting there, an elderly gent gave us “bad” directions but you can always rely on the kids on the street who knew exactly where we needed to go.
Entered the (not too impressive) building, climbed 3 flights of stairs and was greeted by a nice chap who showed us to a table another two flights up on the very roof top of the building almost directly below the fort.
At 6.37 the Muslim call to pray rang out loudly around the city, there being two mosques in relatively close proximity and not long after there was a significant display of fireworks which we later found out to be for a wedding ceremony- when I say significant think New Years Eve display on the Auckland Sky Tower so many rs went up in smoke tonight.
When the light started to fade the fort was lit and looked quite magical high above us as did some of the blue painted buildings.
The meal was very nice, though we might be getting spiced out, eating almost in the dark apart from the light of a very weak table lamp.
It was an enjoyable experience, made better by the restaurant staff, however finding our way back to the Clock Tower, the centre of the old town, was slightly nerve wracking but was successfully achieved from where we rang Ashok and he was there in 5 minutes to take us back to the comfort of Ratan Vilas.
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