Our hotel was located inside the fort and had an amazing view of the Fort Palace. The sun was just about to come up and we knew we would never wake up this early on our own, so we decided to stay up and enjoy it. We enjoyed morning chai and the sunrise from one of the hotel's many terraces.
After a brief nap, we woke recharged and ready to explore the city. First we tackled the Fort Palace, and then made our way to Gadi Sagar (a small lake and once the main water source) and a several havelis located in town. For dinner, we went to Trio restaurant, and once again enjoyed a great view of the Fort, now lit up.
Day 2 called for my tourist attractions, but at a slower pace. We walked around a bit, stopping by the Jain Temples and also making finalizing plans for our trip outside of the city to see a few more sights and ride camels. Around 4pm, we met our driver and went to the Royal Centaphs, the cremation site of the Jaisalmer royal family, and another beautiful Jain temple. Finally, we arrived at a small village where we were met by our guide and two camels and set off for our sunset tour. But, we were a bit late and we (well, the camels) had to go quite quickly so we could arrive at the dunes by sunset. We made it just in time and literally ran to the top of the dunes for a great view from the top. And there are so prepared for tourists here. One of the guides met us with (semi)-cold beer to enjoy while watching the sunset.
Back in town, we cleaned up and headed out for dinner in a nearby restaurant. Dinner was fine, but the highlight were more drinks on the hotel's terrace afterward. We were in such a prime location and had a great stop to view the happenings in the town below.
On our final day, we did a bit of shopping and picked up an assortment of things including: spices, a wooden box, and a bunch of cute ceramic door knobs to be used one day. Our shopping trip was almost foiled because we were low on cash and none of the ATM machines in town seemed to be working. We ran around in 40+ degree heat to 3 different ones, only to find they were all out of order. Happily, we were able to use a card in one of the stores and the owner let us charge more and returned the balance in cash. Shopping crisis averted.
After all of this excitement, we grabbed a quick lunch (and another quick shower) and made our way to the train station for our 19 hour trip back to Delhi! I was dreading the trip from the beginning, but it wasn't that bad at all. We shared our berth with a mother and daughter, who had also spent the holiday weekend in Jaisalmer. We talked about all sorts of things along the way, which really helped to pass the time.
We took well over 300 photos in Jaisalmer (and another 200+in Jodhpur), so it's impossible to post them all here. I've uploaded a few highlights below, but you'll have to check out the albums on the right for more. And don't worry. Those are only about 100 photos each. Enjoy!
The Fort Palace from our hotel....
...and our hotel from the Fort Palace
3 comments:
The Palace Fort is awesome - how old is it?
Also, the door pics look v. similar to Morocco. Isn't it funny how you see similar themes (architecture / art) in seemingly disparate places when you travel?
The fort was built in the 12th century and it is supposedly the only "living fort" in the world.
And yes, the doors do remind me of Morocco and other places, but those places don't have cows roaming nearby. :)
Chanda - you got spammed too by Jorge. My friend Lui and I did too! Anyway, back to roaming cows...do roaming goats count? :-)
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