Samode Haveli

The Samode royal family had and still has 3 palaces, all of which have now become hotels although the royal family still live in them, or at least the one in Jaipur, known as the Samode Haveli (the word Haveli means Mansion). Guess who gets to stay here?!?!?!!

Our room is up and steep and narrow stairway with a rope balustrade, around a corner, down a few steps, up a few steps and across its own little courtyard. The inside is almost as labyrinthine, with a bathroom at the end of one corridor, with the bedroom divided in two by columns, with a little antechamber for storing clothes and luggage.

our own rooftop patio

In another part of the hotel is the indoor lobby, covered with centuries-old paintings on every surface and photos of the royal family.

this depicts the village of Samode

the entrance to the hotel/haveli

There is an outdoor lobby too, opening to a courtyard with fountain.

wall detail 

outside lobby, with curtains opening into a courtyard

There is a swimming pool of course – all our hotels have swimming pools, but all are unheated and so quite impossible for this woman. Gardens, courtyards, and then a rooftop looking out over Jaipur, where one can here the honking traffic, the booming wedding drums, and the call to prayer at the various Mosques around. 

I think I might want to be an adopted daughter of the Samode family in my next life.