This was our first trip to Morocco, and since we only had a week, we decided to focus our time around the Marrakesh region. The places we saw were truly beautiful and the culture is so fascinating - we definitely want to return to see more of the country. We were there at the end of Ramadan, which is their month for fasting. It did not hinder our schedule as most things were open but we did feel guilty eating in front of the locals!
Our flight took us from Raleigh to Madrid, where we had a long layover before catching a direct flight to Marrakesh. On the return fight, we flew back through Madrid, this time spending one night before we returned to the States.
Accommodation:
Marrakesh - Riad Saba. A Riad is a traditional Moroccan house or palace with an interior garden. The word riad comes from the Arabian term for garden. The owners of this place are a Swedish/Moroccan couple who renovated the place themselves. It is inside the Medina, located a few streets over from the main square - only a 5 minute walk to the center of things but far enough away there is no noise. It is nicely appointed and comfortable. The owners are very helpful and they serve a filling breakfast on the rooftop terrace.
Kasbah du Toubkal
Imlil - Kasbah du Toubkal - it is listed as one of the top eco-lodges in the world. The location is spectacular, perched on a cliff over looking the town of Imil, with views of the surrounding mountains.
Asni - Kasbah Tamadot - This was the highlight accommodation of the trip - a Richard Branson/Virgin resort in the Atlas Mountains. Stunning. The architecture and decorations are really cool, the service is top notch, the pool is quite nice and the food is superb. Every evening, they changed the location of where dinner was served - either in the restaurant, outside by the pool or outside on the roof terrace.
Kasbah Tamadot
Madrid - Petit Palace San Bernardo - this was a functional hotel - nothing fancy. The only drawback is that it was really hard to find - we walked in circles for 20 minutes before we figured out where it was.
Activities:
We used our day in Madrid to get to know the city. Shawna navigated us through a couple of walking tours of the city where we saw several churches (you can imagine that there are many in Madrid), palaces, courtyards and government buildings. After several hours of walking, we then headed back to the airport for the flight to Marrakesh.
Spices in the Medina
Our time in Marrakesh was mostly spent walking around the city, checking out the Djamaa El-Fna (town square) and the medina (a maze of small alleyways with shops packed one after another selling everything imaginable). With no map in hand we tried to navigate our way through the thousands of stalls of the medina. With so many tourists walking through, we never really got hounded. We avoided buying trinkets, and instead just bought some dried fruit and some spices.
Bahia Palace
A few of the other places we visited were The Koutoubia Mosque, Bahia Palace (beautiful carvings and paintings), the Saadian Tombs, the Badi Palace and the Jardin Majorelle (a lush and colorful garden on the outskirts of town). One of the more fascinating experiences was walking around Djamaa El-Fna at night - there is a cloud of smoke that arises from the food stalls that are set up throughout the square, each making their specialty local dish - the smells were amazing. There are also more vendors selling their wares, along with street performers such as snake charmers and belly dancers.
Hike - Imlil Valley
The next objective was to hike in the Atlas Mountains where we did two hikes both of which were arranged by the Kasbah du Toubkal staff: 1) a two-day trek in the Imlil Valley and 2) a two-day climb up Mount Toubkal (the highest mountain in northern Africa at 13,600 feet). We did the two-day valley trek first, which took us from the Toubkal to their remote lodge for an overnight stay. It worked out well because we had the lodge all to ourselves. The lodge is fairly rustic but has great views from the deck where we relaxed and read our Kindles after the long hike. The second day, we completed the circuit hike and ended up back at Kasbah du Toubkal. On this hike, we were accompanied with a guide and a porter (who rode/walked a donkey carrying our overnight bag). We saw beautiful views of several of the valleys as we summited one saddle back that brought us from one valley to the next - we had lunch here where the guide set out a picnic with a smorgasbord of salads, couscous and fruit. We also walked through a few orchards where we saw fig trees among other fruit trees.
View from Mount Toubkal
Our hike up Toubkal was also escorted by a guide and a porter with a donkey to carry all our stuff. The walk the first day was great - we had to walk slowly as it was quite hot but we made it no problem. We arrived at the Refugio (it sounds fancy but it's not - it's a large building with a bunch of dorm rooms with bunk beds) where we had dinner and stayed the night. We were initially told that we could have one of the rooms just the two of us. We were then joined by 9 of our new best friends from Italy and Germany who spent the ENTIRE night farting and laughing at themselves. Perhaps funny the first 23 times, it did prevent us from sleeping a wink which irritated Shawna to no end. We got up at about 4am the next day to trek to the top of the mountain, which took about 4 hours. We took in the gorgeous views for about 45 minutes then started the hike all the way back to the bottom. One the way down, we took a bit of an alternate route higher up the valley through a different town. We thought it was just a cute side trip until the guide walked us into a tea house to show us our room for the night (we were supposed to return to the Kasbah Tamadot resort). Shawna would have none of this - there was no question we were returning to the luxury of Kasbah Tamadot - to a proper shower, bed and pampered service! After a couple of frantic cell phone calls from the guide, all was sorted out and an hour or so later, we were tucked into paradise.
At the Summit of Mount Toubkal
Pool at Kasbah Tamadot
The last day in Morocco we spent sitting on our butt at Kasbah Tamadot - a full day doing nothing but reading at the pool, getting a massage, and relaxing. It was a great place to wrap up the trip.
Our flight home took us through Madrid overnight. We arrived in time to grab dinner - we originally had a reservation elsewhere, but changed it to Botin, famous for being the oldest restaurant in the world.
Restaurants:
Food was definitely a highlight of Morocco. Meals seemed to always be some combination of couscous, with lamb, chicken, or vegetable - but we never got bored.
Marrakesh - Villa Flore
This was the capstone of our Marrakesh time. The restaurant is located in the lobby of a more modern-style riad, complete with black and white tile floor. The food was quite good and the atmosphere was romantic.
Madrid - Botin
We were nervous that the "oldest restaurant in the world" would be a little kitschy for us, but we must say that this was stunningly tasty. We showed up without a reservation and walked straight in - likely because we arrived so early. We sat in the basement where there was only one table left. Immediately next to us was a roasted suckling pig, complete with the head on, partially carved. Shawna was not wild about looking at the pig, but I thought it looked amazing! We kicked off the meal with a pitcher of sangria to get the juices flowing. For starters, we split the Salad Botin and for our entrees we had the Roast Suckling Pig, Roast Baby Lamb, and a side of green beans with Iberian ham. There was WAY too much food - so we left some of the green beans! Both of the roasts were succulent, though we agreed that the lamb was some of the best we have ever tasted.
Keith's parents rented a house in Dillon for a week and so the whole family (including kids) made a holiday of it. Keith and Shawna joined them for a long weekend at the end of the week. The house was a really nice house overlooking the lake. We went for hikes and went on a boat ride on Lake Dillon. And, each night we made dinner at the house.
Graham and Marissa
Jean, Lily and Josie
On Saturday, we had to check out of the house, so Keith and Shawna spent two nights in Vail with Keith's parents. We went on a couple of hikes (Margaret's friend Kelly joined us on one of the hikes) and had yummy meals at Sweet Basil (our favorite restaurant in Vail) and Kelly Liken.
Kelly, Jean and Dick on Hike in Vail
Following this weekend, Shawna worked from Denver during the week and then Keith and Shawna spent the following weekend in Boulder. He went for a long and beautiful hike on the Saturday and had dinner in town at Centro Latin Kitchen (yummy tex-mex food) and Flagstaff House (which has beautiful views).
We decided to take advantage of the long July 4th weekend and celebrate our anniversary in Chicago.
Accommodation Park Hyatt - Using Keith's points, we treated ourselves to this awesome hotel located on Michigan Avenue. The rooms are very nice with remote controls to open and close the curtains! They do a nice breakfast on the 8th floor overlooking the Water Tower and they also have a nice outside bar on the 8th floor.
Activities
We had our fair share of water activities. We took a 3 hour kayaking tour along the Chicago river, learning about the architecture of the buildings. It was really cool to see the buildings from that angle. We also took a 2 hour architecture boat tour along the river.
Kayaking on Chicago River
We tasted all kinds of yummy food at the Taste of Chicago, located in Grant Park and also walked off some of the calories in the park. And, we had to experience a true Chicago tradition by attending a Cubs game. We could not get tickets at the stadium so opted to try out one of the rooftop places that borders the stadium -- it was a ton of fun. We went to the Skybox on Sheffield, which we would definitely recommend. The tickets include all food and drink so we decided to get our money's worth! Unfortunately, we got too enticed by the food and beer that by the time we made it outside to the seats, there were none left so we had to stand for most of the game!
Cubs Game
Restaurants Tru - A bit too modern for us but food was good.
For this birthday weekend, we decided to treat ourselves to 2 nights at the Blackberry Farm, a luxury hotel in Walland, TN.
Accommodation Blackberry Farm - Located in a tiny town in the rolling hills of Tennessee, this hotel is absolutely beautiful. We had our own cabin for the two nights. The hotel has several fabulous restaurants, a spa and plenty of activities. We highly recommend it as a place to go to celebrate a special occasion.
Our Room
Activities
We walked around the grounds of the hotel and went for a 8 mile hike that borders the perimeter of the grounds and Smoky Mountain National Park. We also went on a 4-hour guided kayaking trip on one of the lakes nearby the hotel. It was quite peaceful. Of course, we had to try out the spa where we got massages and relaxed, taking advantage of the amenities of the hotel.
Keith and Shawna Kayaking
The Grounds
Restaurants
We had breakfast, lunch and dinner at the Main House and one dinner (tasting menu) at the Barn. The food was amazing and fresh as they used many of their own locally grown produce and livestock. The atmosphere at the Barn was awesome -- very nice and rustic with candles lit throughout.
In the past few years, we had traveled to NYC with the Raleigh gang for Memorial Day weekend. However, this year, not many of the Raleigh gang could travel. Thus, John, JoAnna, Keith and Shawna decided to try something different and visit Miami. Unbeknownst to us, it was Hip Hop weekend!
We arrived late on Friday evening and hopped into a cab. Our cab driver asked what brought us to Miami. When we told him that we were there to relax for the weekend, he broke the news to us that it was Hip Hop weekend and that we would not get much 'relaxation'!
We stayed at the Shelbourne, which is located on Collins Ave on the beach. The hotel is basic and clean but nothing special. It was the cheapest we could find when we booked the place as many of the hotels were either sold out or super expensive -- that should have been our sign that something was going on that weekend!
It was very interesting walking around -- there were thousands of hippity hoppers hanging out in the streets. The women had skimpy clothes and the men mostly were shirtless with 'pants falling to the ground'. When women walked by, the men puffed their chests as if it was a mating ritual!
We mostly relaxed on the beach and walked around. We also did a boat tour of the bay which was really nice, passing by Star Island (where many famous people have houses) and Stiltsville (where there are a few remaining houses on stilts in the ocean - built during prohibition to provide gambling at a time when it was only legal off shore).
JoAnna, John and Keith on Boat Tour
We ate lots of yummy cuban food and went to a few bars, including drinks on the rooftop of the Tiffany hotel and drinks around the pool at the Delano hotel.
Keith and Shawna at Dinner
John and Shawna at Tiffany Rooftop Bar
We had a good time but decided that Miami was a bit too much of a 'scene' for us and definitely not fun to visit during Hip Hop weekend.
We were in the midst of lots of 40th birthdays, which seemed to be a good excuse for trips with friends. This trip was to celebrate our friends Keith and JoAnna's 40th birthdays (which were only a few months apart) - they had settled on a week trip to Hawaii - Big Island. The trip included Keith/Shawna, John/JoAnna, Keith/Kate, Phil/Joyce, Julie, Steve, and Keith's friend Heidi.
Accommodation:
Rental House
We decided to share one huge house together. John found a house in Kona that slept all of us - along with a huge kitchen/dining room and a massive recreation room (pool table, ping pong table). It was incredibly convenient and clean, and enabled a lot of group camaraderie. There was only one drawback to this place: RATS!!! So, one day we had been shopping in the local market and we found some delicious looking tomatoes and avocados. We bought them to make some guacamole and had put them out in a wooden bowl that presented well. After a night out in Kona, we came home, walked upstairs, and saw the biggest, nastiest, ugliest rat you could imagine going to town on the fruit. The rat took one look at us, back at the fruit, back at us, and then scurried over the counter and into a hole in the wall. The next couple of days saw us putting out all types of traps, eventually catching a momma and daddy rat (no more details here). The good news is that the owners compensated us with one night free accommodation; the bad news is that we decided not to eat any more dinners at the house - it was restaurants for us the rest of the trip.
Activities: Snorkeling - We headed out on the Fair Wind II for a half-day snorkeling trip in the Marine Sanctuary of Kealakekua Bay. This is the place where the Captain Cook Monument stands, where the native Hawaiians finally tired of him and stabbed him to death. Despite the morbid history of the place, the snorkeling was great with lots of bright colorful fish.
Gang at Luau
Luau - You have not really been to Hawaii unless you have been to a luau, and you have not been to a luau unless you have been to a super-cheesy one. Well, I don't know if this one was really cheesy or we just made it that way. It was located on the large lawn at the Sheraton hotel - the theme was "Firenesia", teaching the history of the islands. They served a large buffet for dinner with very tasty pork among other traditional Hawaiian dishes. Before the main entertainment started, there were dancers teaching how to hula dance and with peer pressure, we got the two people celebrating their birthday (Keith A and JoAnna, along with John for moral support) on stage to perform their best! Once the main entertainment started, we decided to make it a drinking game - every time an actor said Firenesia, we had to take a drink of our mai-tai. Well, it seemed that Firenesia was said every other sentence, so this became a bit of a fun night for us (but not so fun for the people sitting nearby).
Kilauea Iki Hike
Volcano National Park - The park is on the Hilo side of the island, so we made a whole day of it. Leaving the house early, we piled into 3 of the cars and headed around the south of the island about three hours to get to Volcano National Park. While in the park, we drove around and saw one of the active craters (from a distance) with steam pouring out. We also did a few hikes: Pu'u Loa Petroglyphys, Kilauea Iki (a 4-mile hike across a frozen lava lake that is still steaming) and Thurston Lava Tube (where we walked through a lush rain forest and a 550-year old lava tube). As we left the park, we drove back to Kona via the north side of the island, through Hilo.
Gang in Volcano National Park
Beaches - We spent a couple of days just sitting on the beach doing nothing. One of the days was spent at Waikoloa Beach while Keith stayed at the house and worked. The other day we went to Anaehoomalu Beach where we saw large turtles suntanning on the sand.
Swimming with Manta Rays - This was one of the highlights of the trip for Keith. Right off the coast from the Marriott, it was a quick boat ride from the shore over to where the manta rays gathered. After donning our wet suits, the girls were handed noodles to prop up their feet while in the water - and the boys were handed power-floats (yup, the same thing, just manlier). We all jumped in the water, grabbed on to a boom, and put the noodles/power floats under our ankles. A few minutes later, like on queue, a massive manta ray showed up and started doing loop-the-loops right under us - coming only inches from our masks. It was just magical! We saw a total of three rays during our ~45 minutes in the water.
Cultural Park - Keith, Kate, Keith, and Shawna decided to get a little bit of culture while on the island so we headed over to to Pu'uhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park, near our house. It's a really nice park right on the water with interesting wooden statues and buildings on display.
Pu'uhonua o Honaunau Park
Helicopter Ride - Phil and Joyce did this at the beginning of the trip and absolutely raved about it. So, John/JoAnna and Keith/Shawna signed up for the "Big Island Spectacular" at the end of the trip. The ride took us from Kona, directly over the island via Kilauea to Volcano National Park to see some lava and the town destroyed by lava in the 80s. We then headed north up the coast where we saw whales, cliffs, and the gorgeous rain forests on the Hamakua Coast at the north of the island before landing back to Hilo an hour after taking off. It was spectacular and well worth the money!
View of Crater from Helicopter
Restaurants: Jameson's by the Sea - A nice restaurant with great views of the ocean.
Island Lava Java - Great cafe, lunch spot with outdoor seating and views of the water. Fish tacos were great and awesome sticky buns!
Thai Rin Restaurant - Small, casual, Thai restaurant located in one of the plazas right off the main street.
Pancho and Lefty's - Mexican restaurant overlooking the main street. Food was OK.
Lulu's - Casual, surf-themed restaurant, serving burgers, steaks, etc.
For our first trip to India (yes, we plan to go back as we barely scratched the surface of this country), we visited the state of Rajasthan, touring the cities of Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Udaipur, and Jodhpur -- otherwise known as the Golden Triangle. And, golden it is! The magnificent palaces and forts are full of history and beautiful colors, the food was surprisingly good (people told us that we wouldn't like it since it is not the same as Indian food in the US) and the culture was fascinating.
Accommodations:
Chateau Singh - Delhi - While in Delhi, we stayed at Simran's (a friend of ours from business school) parent's house where we got the royal treatment - they were such gracious hosts! They live in a high rise apartment building in the suburbs of Delhi. Simran and Rakesh were also there visiting for the holidays with their daughter Ria so it was nice to see them and to tour with them a bit.
Sheraton - Agra - What you would expect from a Sheraton - it was clean, nice and convenient to the Taj Mahal.
Oberoi Rajvillas
Oberoi Rajvillas - Jaipur - The treat of our trip! We chose this place since we would be there for New Year's Eve. It is a beautiful hotel that looks like a palace, with terracotta domes, lush grounds and individual villas for rooms. The service there was exceptional - even the people caring for the grounds would stop what they were doing to greet you as you walked by.
Hotel Udai Kothi - Udaipur - The room was fairly basic but the hotel was very clean, the staff were nice and there is a nice rooftop pool (which we did not use) where meals are served.
Pal Haveli - Jodhpur - This was our least favorite place. The hotel is a heritage site with a museum of local artifacts; however, the building was rustic and run down. The staff were not as nice and welcoming as the other places and the internet in the lobby never worked. It is convenient to most of the attractions and the rooftop restaurant offers great views of the city. The website says it was recently renovated so they may have spruced it up since we were there.
Activities:
Due to weather, our flight to Chicago was significantly delayed and thus we missed our connecting flight to Delhi. We had to say overnight in Chicago (by the airport) and caught the flight to Delhi the following day - the one saving grace is that we were upgraded to business class which made the very long flight to Delhi quite comfortable.
Delhi:
We arrived late in the evening and were greeted at the airport by Rakesh who picked us up to drive us to Simran's parent's apartment. We were so thankful to have someone pick us up as it was a zoo and given our jet lag, it would have taken us forever to figure out how to get out of the airport. Once at the Singh's house, Simran's mother welcomed us with a big smile and then kindly pointed us to the bathroom so that we could shower and freshen up - she has an aversion to filth which I find interesting since she lives in India! She had prepared a wonderful Indian dinner for us - at this point, it was probably breakfast time for us in the States but we didn't care - the food was very tasty. After dinner and catching up with them, we tried to get some sleep.
Bahai Temple
In the morning, after eating a yummy breakfast prepared by Simran's mother, we ventured out into the city with Rakesh and Simran. They had hired a driver to take us around the city and to drive us to two of the cities on our itinerary. Driving in Delhi is quite a treat to the nerves and senses! Dodging other cars whose drivers do not have a sense of lanes and probably have never heard of a blinker, we weaved our way along wide roads, seeing the occasional cow standing in the middle of the road or camel pulling a cart of people and/or harvested food/hay. Our sites for the day included Qutb Minar, the Bahai Temple (otherwise known as the Lotus Temple) and Humayun's Tomb. In the late afternoon, we returned to the Singh's home to freshen up and say our goodbyes as we drove that evening to Agra with the hired driver.
Red Fort
At the end of our trip, we returned to Delhi and stayed another night at Simran's parents house. We spent our last day in Delhi packing in all of the main sights: the Red Fort, Jama Masjid (the largest and best-known mosque in India), Raj Ghat (the beautiful memorial to Mahatma Gandhi), India Gate (the national monument to India), the President's House and the Parliament buildings, the National Museum (not many of the displays were in English), Indira Ghandi Museum (a must-see, truly fascinating) and the Lakshmi Narayan Temple (a beautiful, colorful temple). Once again, the Singhs were gracious hosts - they took us out to dinner, offered great accommodations and made sure we got back to the airport safely and on time to catch our flight home.
Agra:
We arrived late in the evening and so we checked into our hotel (Sheraton) and went straight to bed - the jet lag had finally caught up with us.
We woke up early, grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and checked out. We then drove to the magical Taj Mahal where we spent a few hours gazing upon it's beauty and walking around the grounds. When you first walk through the main gate and see it for the first time, it truly does take your breath away. Neither of us are religious but this place certainly had a spiritual effect. It was quite overcast that day so our photos did not come out crisp; however, it did add to the mystique. We later learned that Salman Rushdie had visited the site later that same day.
Taj Mahal
Our next step was Fatehpur Sikri, a fortified city with a red sand-stone palace and mosque about 40km outside of Agra. As we entered the main gate, Keith was provided with a 'skirt' to cover his legs and we had to remove our shoes (as is the case with most sites in India). After walking around the grounds, our driver then took us to Jaipur. What should have taken about 3 hours ended up taking 7 hours - the road to Jaipur was blocked by protesters so we had to take small village roads most of the way. The driver certainly earned his pay that day, winding through local villages trying to figure out which way to go!
Jaipur:
We arrived at the Oberoi in the evening and after the long drive from Agra, we were excited to get out of the car and check into this luxurious hotel. We were welcomed with a champagne drink while we completed the paperwork. We were then whisked to our private villa which had a tented ceiling decorated with colorful stitching, really nice furniture and a huge bathroom. We chose the Indian buffet for dinner at one of the restaurants at the hotel (which was quite yummy) and then retreated to the comfortable king sized bed in our room.
Amber Palace
After eating a continental breakfast in the hotel, the driver picked us up for a day of touring where we saw the Amber Palace (the ancient capital of Jaipur state) and the Jaigarh Fort, both of which are about 12km outside of town. The palace is quite beautiful - it is well preserved with colorful painted ceilings and walls and offers great views of the valley. There is an option to ride on an elephant up the hill into the palace which we did not do. The fort is rather large and in tact; however, there is not much to see here so we walked around part of the grounds and saw an old cannon. Being 'exhausted' from the sight seeing, we returned to the hotel for a relaxing massage. Later that evening was the New Year's Eve gala at the hotel - the dinner was very tasty and they had a live band with a dance floor. Right after midnight, they escorted the guests to the small temple on the grounds where we were 'blessed' by a Hindhu priest by placing a bindi (red mark) on our foreheads and a string bracelet around our wrists.
City Palace
The following day we toured the major sites of the city, including Hawa Mahal (a beautiful, pink-sandstone facade to one of the buildings in the City Palace), the City Palace, Jantar Mantar (a quirky and interesting observatory built in 1728 with various instruments meant to measure the sun, time and zodiac cycles) and the Johari Bazaar (the local market). Similar to the day before, we returned to the hotel in the afternoon for another relaxing massage. I was feeling a bit under the weather (not sure if it was Delhi belly as they call it or the wine from the night before) so we decided to be lazy for dinner and ordered room service.
Udaipur:
We got an early morning flight to Udaipur and a brush with fame. While sitting at the airport in Jodhpur waiting to board, I noticed a tall, skinny rocker looking dude sitting with a short female with brown hair. I told Keith that I thought it was Russell Brand and Katy Perry. So, I did the ever stealth, casual walk-by to check them out closer and sure enough it was them! And, to our surprise, they also flew on our plane. Later, we found out that they got engaged a couple of days prior - had we known, we could have sold our photos of them to the tabloid mags.
After we landed, we were greeted by a driver from our hotel who promptly whisked us away so that we could check in. In the afternoon, we toured around the city, seeing the City Palace (which has great views of the Lake Palace Hotel, a famous, lush hotel in the middle of lake) and the Jagdish Temple (where we saw a really old, guru who looked like he was either meditating or stoned). We also took a boat ride on Lake Pichola which stops at Jagmandir Island (a palace which can be rented for events) - along the ride we saw women washing their clothes in the lake. Later that evening, we had dinner at the rooftop of our hotel with a nice view of the city.
Udaipur City Palace
Ranakpur Temple
Following breakfast at the hotel, we headed outside of the city (about 90km north) to see the Kumbalgarh Fort and the Ranakpur Temple. The fort was built in the 15th century and is a massive complex of palaces and temples perched on top of an 1100 meter mountain. It is quite impressive and one could easily spend hours here. Equally amazing is the temple which is one of India's largest and most important Jain temples. Built in a remote valley, the temple is all marble with 1444 unique pillars and intricate carvings throughout. It is easy to see why people find a temple like this to be a spiritual place to visit. For dinner, we ate at another rooftop hotel in town.
Chittorgarh Fort
The following day, we drove about 100km outside of the city to see the Chittorgarh Fort, known to be one of the greatest in Rajasthan. This fort is quite massive with many of the sights requiring a car to drive between. Within the walls are palaces and temples, so of which are in ruins. When we returned to Udaipur, we walked to the City Palace to have a drink at sunset at the aptly named Sunset Terrace. For dinner, we ate at the rooftop restaurant at our hotel once again.
Jodhpur:
We flew to Jodhpur from Udaipur. Upon our arrival, we checked into our hotel (Pal Haveli) and then walked around the main square where we bought some spices in the market. This was quite an interesting experience -- we were invited to sit on a bench in this tiny store that proclaimed to be the 'best' or 'leading' or 'world acclaimed' spice store - later, we found out a few other stores that had the same self-proclamation. While drinking tea, we smelled and tasted so many spices that I began to think they were all the same. We settled upon some traditional spices - cumin, coriander, garam masala and the bonus purchase of saffron (it was so much cheaper than the States). Much to our dismay, we had to later throw away one of the spices at the airport when we flew back to Delhi because apparently, that type of spice is often used to smuggle in other items. Being in a foreign country, we did not argue! That evening, we had dinner at the rooftop restaurant at our hotel which had great views of the main square and of the fort that is perched on the hilltop behind our hotel.
Meherangarh Fort
The following day, we visited the Meherangarh Fort. The fort has a great audio tour that you can take and from the top, there is a great view of the valley below and the houses of Jodhpur that are all painted blue (we were told that they do this to repel insects but traditionally it signified the home of a Brahman) - thus why they call it the Blue City. Later that day, we had dinner on the Mehran Terrace at the fort. It was a very romantic setting but the food was nothing special.
Our last day in Jodhpur was spent seeing the Jaswant Thada, a white marble memorial to Maharajah Jaswant Singh II, which is perched a top a hill about a mile from the Fort. We also visited the immense Umaid Bhawan Palace which serves as part private residence to the current Maharajah and part hotel. For dinner, we ate at the Palace.
Restaurants: Jaipur:
Oberoi Rajvillas - All of our meals here were excellent and you can't beat the decor/ambiance.
Udaipur:
Udai Kothi - Rooftop restaurant at our hotel with great views; food was tasty.
Jagat Niwas Palace Hotel - Rooftop restaurant; food was also good.
Jodhpur:
Pal Haveli - Rooftop restaurant at our hotel with good views; food was also good.
Mehran Terrace at the Meherangarh Fort - Romantic setting; food was nothing special.
Umaid Bhawan Palace - Ornate restaurant; food was very good.
