Chittaurgarh and Onwards

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From Udaipur we went on to Chittaurgarh, which used to be the capital of the state until it was moved to Udaipur in the mid 16th Century. It’s an incredibly huge fort with temples, lakes etc inside, built across the top of the mountains, overlooking the countryside below. It certainly looks as if it would be impregnable, but apparently the fort was overrun 3 times during the 1300s and 1500s, so the centre was moved to Udaipur, which although in a valley only had 3 entrances which could be more effectively defended. After Udaipur, which was filled with Western tourists (our first real encounter with more than a handful) it was nice to be back to a much less touristy area. (And where we were actually the ones being photographed by the locals)
After Chittaugarh on to Bundi, which had another fort/palace and was quite a charming small town with narrow streets and buildings with murals on the walls. Interestingly, although it was also off the beaten track, there were a lot of backpackers in the streets. (the first time we had really seen that)
From Bundi we went to Kota..quite a large city, set out much more like a western city with wide avenues. Stayed in the most magnificent and huge heritage hotel Umed Bhawan Palace ( see pix, which only show a very small part of it). Again, as with almost every stop there was a wedding at the hotel, but this was clearly an extremely wealthy family. The wedding venue set up in front of the hotel ( see pix, which again only show about 1/3 of the space) and also in the main inner courtyard of the hotel.

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Photos

Red dot on forehead woman-required for entry
Women require for entry

Umed Bhawan Palace
Our hotel in Kota