Outside of Udaipur are several sights worth seeing, so we hired a car and driver for a day and departed for a rather hair raising ride to visit the Kumbhalgarh Fort and a magnificent Jain Temple.
We were prepared to see a fortress at Kumbhalgarh, but were not expecting to see anything on the grand scale as this once vibrant hilltop city totally enclosed within massive rock walls. I don't know if it is true, but it is said that the wall is the second longest in the world next to the great wall of China. It is easy to believe when you see the wall disappear from sight, winding it's way into the distant hills like some huge snake.
Now the only inhabitants living inside the wall live in a small village just inside the main gate. The palace at the top of the hill is no longer used, but is kept open for the many tourists who come to marvel at it's grandeur. When visiting sights like this, it is impossible not to visualize thousands of troops marching along the wall, or firing their arrows at the enemy through narrow arrow slots. It is also easy to see the hustle and bustle of the village people tending the crops, worshippers thronging the many temples, and above it all the nobility, living in extravagance, looking over this self contained community.
We were prepared to see a fortress at Kumbhalgarh, but were not expecting to see anything on the grand scale as this once vibrant hilltop city totally enclosed within massive rock walls. I don't know if it is true, but it is said that the wall is the second longest in the world next to the great wall of China. It is easy to believe when you see the wall disappear from sight, winding it's way into the distant hills like some huge snake.
Now the only inhabitants living inside the wall live in a small village just inside the main gate. The palace at the top of the hill is no longer used, but is kept open for the many tourists who come to marvel at it's grandeur. When visiting sights like this, it is impossible not to visualize thousands of troops marching along the wall, or firing their arrows at the enemy through narrow arrow slots. It is also easy to see the hustle and bustle of the village people tending the crops, worshippers thronging the many temples, and above it all the nobility, living in extravagance, looking over this self contained community.
