Bundi

02-03/01/08



If I ever require a honeymoon destination (I live in hope!) Bundi will be the place for me. It's straight out of a fairytale - a small ramshackle town, once a capital back in the day of the Rajputs (warrior clans that ruled the area for a thousand years). The town is an exquisite mixture of rainbow houses (bright yellows, pinks, blues and oranges), hills, lakes, glittering sarees and best of all an enormous, decaying, extravagant palace which stands magnificently on the hillside overlooking it all. I stayed in a two hundred year old haveli - a traditional stone house centred around a courtyard. They have beautifully painted doorways, heavy carved wooden doors and my room was complete with lake views, stain glass windows and shutters. It was very atmospheric.
The palace is derelict and except for a few others I had the place to myself. It's a maze of small passageways and spiral staircases that you can get lost in for hours. The monkeys live like kings beneath the beautiful gold and turquoise murals. From the top the views stretch for miles and lots of kites can be seen dancing over the rooftops far below.