The fort is impressive; it definitely has more of a museumesque vibe than Jaisalmer.
Where Jaisalmer was hectic and alive, this fort is tidy and organised, which in India means a hefty entrance fee. Although you get real value for your money here as an audio tour is included in the charge and it’s actually great! It sounds more like a bedtime story than a tour with a perfectly chosen narrator. From entering to exiting I was enthralled, totally lost in a by gone era.
It took over two hours to complete the tour, with the Anthony Hopkins-like voice in my head but it flew by, integrating plenty of little asides and extra information if you wished to press a few different buttons.
The walls of the town are painted blue I learned as it’s a royal colour, it also keeps the buildings cool and apparently repels insects. I guess in that case there wouldn’t be a lot of demand for blue houses in Ireland!
We also visited the famous omelette-man stand.
Reportedly he cooks through 1,000 eggs a day! He is recommended in the Lonely Planet, which he naturally has maximised upon with laminated enlarged typed copies of the recommendation pasted either side of the stall, along with dozens of notebooks filled with travellers comments and photos - which are handed out for you to read while you wait for your food. As the wait is short, the reading material is more of a suggestion for your inevitable entry into the books. We were prompted into ordering one masala, and one masala cheese omelette, apparently these are the best. I have to say I was a little disappointed by the famous omelettes, but this was probably due to expectations and circumstances. The thick omelette is divided between four slices of white loaf bread and lots of sauce, creating two, slightly messy, slightly greasy sandwiches – and this is just for one person! As we weren’t particularly hungry the four sandwiches were far too much for us, making us a little queasy. The setting may have had an impact on the noxious feeling, you are after all eating your food sitting on the road beside flea ridden roaming cows and the smell of open sewers wafting in the air. Our chef didn’t look like he’d even heard of, no mind passed any hygiene standard. Although that being said, we were not actually sick after eating the food, so score for the omelette man! I doubt I’ve ever written or even talked this much about an omelette before, they’re not big in Ireland.
Our day ended in a lovely relaxed roof top cushions and curtains restaurant (although the tuk tuk ride was far from relaxed as we were held up for ages behind a lively procession worshipping a Hindu idol). The curry was delicious and the atmosphere tranquil as we unwound from our busy day walking the city.
We turned in for the night ready and revived for our early bus to romantic Udaipur.
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