Leaving Jalsaimer, we drove to Johdpur, which turned out to be one of our favorite cities on the tour. Driving in, we saw substantial walls and fortifications along the skyline. We arrived in the afternoon and checked into the nicest hotel of the entire trip, including luxurious rooms, low noise, and both good hot water and wifi. We were in fact suspicious that something must be horribly wrong with it based on initial impressions of how good it was. We ate a late lunch of non-Indian food, and I appreciated a club sandwich more than I typically would have just for not being Indian food. With lunch in us, it was time to go explore some of the places we'd seen from the road. More images available on Flickr.
Shout out to Ratan Villas - recommended hotel for Johdpur
We drove up above the city towards the walls surrounding the old city towards the rulers' thedas or cremation ground. The bigger your pavilion, the more important you are. Being this close to the main rulers' pavilion, these folks were pretty important.
Using the telephoto lens, the more modern palace of the local nobility (still actively used - and therefore most of it not open for tours) could be seen on the horizon.
The fort also loomed over the cremation grounds.
And a lovely lake and bird sanctuary sat alongside it.
The rulers' pavilion is slightly larger, set well above the city and quite pretty.
The whole fort, cremation ground, and old city is surrounded by a wall on the high ground.
After touring the cremation ground, we proceeded to the fort, truly massing and perched on a rather sheer hill. The guide says construction took 400 years and it seems quite plausible. Some portions were pockmarked by cannon shot.
Looking up from inside the first courtyard.
Johdpur is famous for having blue-painted houses, many of which can be seen from the fort.
The ruler's quarters are an elaborate fort perched high in and elaborate fort perched high on a mountain, but unlike the outside, the ruler's quarters are lacy stonework for promoting airflow.
Throne room in gold leaf and colored glass.
The tour of the fort was a touch rushed as we'd started a bit late in the day, but the scale and perch above the city made the whole thing pretty scenic. There were also paintings on display in a different style than we'd seen before. This would have been a good fort to spend a little more time in and maybe use an audio guide instead of a personal guide.
After touring the fort, our friends wanted to go shopping and we wanted to go back the hotel, so we got dropped off and they headed out, but they returned pretty quickly after not seeing much that was of interest. We enjoyed the nice hotel room and hot water.
A restaurant was recommended to us that was definitely for tourists and rich folks but was still a good time.
The restaurant was tables outside with lights in trees, with small fires in braziers between tables.
Dinner wasn't amazing, but it was pretty good and the atmosphere counted for a lot.
This dinner came out to cost a truly exorbitant amount for India, but definitely still less than what it would have cost in the US. We'd been looking to try Indian wine after seeing it on menus before, and finally did that this evening. It was expensive and pretty bad, but we did successfully try it, which was really the point and met our goals, capping a very nice day of tourism and dining.
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