Jodhpur Photos

Mehrangarh Fort looming over Jodhpur's old city

So, as mentioned below, the India posts are flashbacks to an earlier phase of the trip. We arrived in Jodhpur in late February, making it a stopover before beginning the final leg of our travels through Rajasthan.

The city is astounding. Like the other cities we visited in Rajasthan, it was once the capital of a small kingdom - in this case Marwar, which is in fact the place whose name means "land of death" (below, I incorrectly attributed that meaning to Mewar, the area around Udaipur - sorry, it's been a couple of months...).

The dramatic name is derived from the fact that Jodhpur stands at the edge of the Great Thar Desert, which stretches out death-ishly to the west. The old city comprises a vast jumble of square blue houses, painted in the color traditionally associated with the homes of Brahmins (though these days, as the palace museum's audio guide disdainfully notes, "anyone can paint his house blue"). Lording over it all is Mehrangarh Fort, a massive citadel that must have brought stomach-churning despair to any potential attackers who laid eyes on it.

Jodhpur was typical of Rajasthan for us in that it was an extraordinary place to see - and it looks great in pictures - but also full of hassle and kind of an annoying place to actually be. At any rate, here are some pictures, presented hassle-free.

Another view of the fort

Jodhpur old city

The three pictures below are by Rachel.

Central market

Blue house, old city

The Omlette Shop near the Central market: best omlette I've ever had.

More Jodhpur photos here.