Travel article: Jodhpur

After the pink city we head to the Blue city : Jodhpur. New Imperial city, new train, new early call (5am!), all went super smoothly. The French rail network can take notes, we’ve never been late in India ;)

We stayed in an Haveli which is a former palace of local merchants with frescoes on the walls and marble. Beautiful hotel! (with many power cut as in all Indian cities…)

The city has many blue walls -hence the nickname “blue city”. There are many versions explaining the blue colour on the walls. 1. To represent Shiva god (there are many brahmanes living in the city) 2. To protect from the heat 3. To protect from mosquitoes and termites.

Whatever the reason is it’s quite photogenic ! Besides the part of the city with the most blue houses is the old city where there are just a few tourists and mainly local shops, kids playing, older people playing cards, artisans working on jewels, spices, textiles. We really liked seeing the local life and it felt sooooo good to have no tuktuk, no horns ! Just cows (and dogs, we will come back on my long list of issues with dogs later...)

We also discovered the Sardar Bazaar. You can buy anything at this Bazaar especially spices. Beautiful smells (better than in the streets...!) due to the little spices stalls, the ladies selling saris, others buying the colourful bracelets. Beautiful colours and moments.

During our stay, we ate all our meals at Jankhar which quickly became our canteen! The Paneer Masala is the best we tasted, the lassi (yoghurt/milk with a fruit), the naans and also the owner speaking French: we loved it! The view from the rooftop on the fort is amazing.

Speaking of the Fort Mehrangarh, we went to visit it in early morning and that was our favorite fort in India!

Built in the 15th and 16th century, its walls can be seen from wherever in the city. Equipped with our audioguides, we scrolled through Maharadja stories, Indian castes explanation, Moghol invasion fighting the local Rajputs and so on. We got in and we’ve been in front of a big gate with some spiked to stop the elephants in case of an attack. Funnhy!
Besides we saw some hand prints next to the door which are from the wives of the Maharadja doing the Sati ritual : leaving an handprint and then going into the cremation fire with their husband dead. Interesting...

One of the most beautiful room is the « pleasure room » where the Maharadja received his concubines and wives to listen to music and chill. Bling bling but beautiful!

Many rooms, many atmospheres, a beautiful fort. Don’t miss it !

We went back to the city by foot (after taking a picture with a police man having a "No horn" sign!) through the Old city and went straight to our canteen and had dinner with new friends- digital nomads like us!

A good stay in Jodhpur, as with many Indian city it’s hard to just chill in the street and we always have to walk in Indian file (we might has discovered where this expression came from!) to avoid cows, tuktuk, cars, locals.

Some recommandations:

# we stayed at Juan Mahal Homestay and recommend it.

# go to Jankhar restaurant , the food is amazing and cheap. In a beautiful atmosphere !

# don’t miss the fort and take the audio guide, best visit in India! 600 IR

# the bazaar is cool to visit as well as the old city (blue city)