Jaisalmer, is known on the traveler circuit for 3 things – camel safaris, the fort, and Havelis. Havelis are private mansions, generally with open courtyards and very intricate stonework and carvings. Elaborate homes of Jaisalmer’s rich merchants, the Havelis here have very impressive sandstone frescoes depicting gods, goddesses, animals, and other Hindu symbolism.
The interiors are also impressively decorated, bursting with color and bling.
If we had to pick one thing that consistently blew us away in Rajasthan, it would be the architecture. Forts, city palaces, and Havelis are some of the world’s most impressive structures, and the history surrounding the empires that constructed and destroyed them is fascinating.