The impregnable Meherangarh, ‘Citadel of the Sun’, built by Roa Jodha in 1459, sits perched on huge rocky cliff casting its protective presence over this low-rise blue city. The sheer walls trace the contours of the craggy rock in what must have been a formidable feat of construction. The fort now houses a splendid museum run by the Maharaja of Jodhpur. Fatehpol Gate the lower entrance to the fort is only a few minutes’ walk from the Haveli, but the climb up to the main gate, Lohapol, with its towering iron doors complete with spikes designed to prevent ramming by elephants, is steep and arduous. There is a very good audio guide included in the entrance fee which takes us on a tour of the interconnecting courtyards and palace buildings and provides historical context and information on the main buildings and exhibits. There are some fabulous collections of howdahs, palanquins, cradles and an armoury with exquisitely decorated and preserved daggers, swords and guns including Akbar’s sword. The buildings are beautiful examples of Rajput architecture with finely carved jalis (screens from behind which the women of the court could view proceedings without being seen), wonderfully carved detailing and over-hanging windows. In the Coronation Courtyard is a lovely, carved marble throne on a long dais, used for the inauguration of the Marajahs of Jodhpur. The Phul Mahal and the Moti Mohal are both fabulously ornate rooms, the latter plastered with crushed sea shells giving a mother of pearl sheen to the finish.
On our way out of the fort we pay a visit to the recently restored gardens with the intention of grabbing a spot of lunch at the restaurant there. Both the garden and the restaurant are much publicised around the fort and it sounds like it could be rather nice. There is an entry fee of 60 rupees for the garden and the restaurant is promoted on the reverse of the ticket. We wander round the garden which is quite lovely, but we can’t find the restaurant. When we enquire, it turns out there is no restaurant and the man on the gate gives no sign that there might be something ever so faintly ludicrous about advertising a restaurant that doesn’t exist.
Instead we have lunch at a rooftop restaurant in the old town which is owned by a Ajit Singh who has spent the last 20 years living in various parts of < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /?>
London, including Southall and Golders Green. Ajit very keen to get our feedback on the restaurant which he opened 18 months ago and to tell us his plans for improving it. It’s certainly got lots of potential, but needs some finishing touches, such as cushions for the bottom-numbing iron chairs, some more awnings and perhaps some murals to make it less spartan. He also has an arts and crafts shop on the ground floor at prices which appear to be considerably less than the emporium we patronised yesterday. He’s seems genuinely concerned about tourists being over-charged and advises to us complain backed by threats to go to the police in an attempt to get our money back, which strikes us a bit extreme since they have not done anything illegal and we did after all agree a price we thought fair at the time. Creeping cynicism makes us wonder whether his concern is motivated by a desire to see them go out of business. Unfortunately you come across so many people who just want to fleece the tourist that you begin to question everyone’s motives.