Jaisalmer  

the golden city

On the well-developed and mostly dead straight roads with relatively little traffic for Indian conditions we went in nearly, 5 hours in desert city of Jaisalmer. Our accommodation for the next 3 days was a small charming hotel right, in the center of the old city walls with wonderful views from balcony and roof terrace to the lower town. Jaisalmer with its yellow sandstone old buildings, has fascinated us immediately you can feel like “in thousand and one night”.

There is a lot to see and watch in the small alleys of the fort. Shops, cafes, small restaurants, market stalls and between all, the holy cows. We liked the mixture of locals, travelers, Sadhus (holy men), musicians, hawker, all together it was a very good and relaxed great atmosphere.

The obligatory "sunset camel riding" in the nearby sand dunes, was of course a "must". We were looking forward to this tourist attraction with "dinner and dancing". Our adventure "camel riding" was also very exciting and especially uncomfortable. The animals are quite nice to look at, but 1 1/2 hours rocking (one way) on it was pretty exhausting. But the scenery was really great. Here in the small villages , the water does not come out of the tap, like in our civilization, but must be carried by women in great pots on their heads from the fountain to their homes. Almost biblical! The desert is a great experience, and the torture was it really worth. After it, there was the dinner and dance show in the camp. We didn’t like it, but the Indian tourists were totally enthusiastic.

Like often we were off the beaten tracks again. At the beautiful havelis with their fine sandstone architecture we met still tour groups, but in the lower town we were the only tourists in the narrow alleys. This variety of all kinds, strange and exotic goods, food stalls , shops, market stalls , traders, barbers , cows, goats, friendly and curious people, these smells and impressions were just unique and unforgettable!