Photos That Take You To The Heart Of Jodhpur, India’s Blue City

By Erin Kelly on August 29, 2016

baxiabhishek/FlickrMehrangarh Fort is one of the oldest forts in India. It was built around 1460, and looms over 400 feet above the city of Jodhpur.

Located in the Thar Desert, the dynamic city of Jodhpur, India breaks the starkness of its surroundings with intense punches of color.

The metropolis is cloaked in blue not just for aesthetic purposes; the hue historically demarcated the residence of the Brahmin, a caste of priests and protectors, and thus was meant to deter looters should the city ever come under siege.

REBECCA CONWAY/AFP/Getty ImagesA royal bedroom inside the massive and intricately designed Mehrangarh Fort, where part of The Dark Knight Rises was filmed.

tomm/FlickrAn alleyway between closely set blue buildings.

garrettziegler/Flickr Monkeys roam the streets, sometimes stealing the hanging laundry.

magtravels/Flickr An automatic rickshaw — or tuk-tuk — used for city travel.

Others outside the Brahmin apparently enjoyed the blue aesthetic, because almost all homes in the old city have the shade splashed onto their walls. Behind and before the city’s azure walls, Jodhpur residents live life in full color – and at full speed. Marketplaces abound in the city, and someone is always ready to sell you hand-crafted goods.

Lonely Planet describes the Blue City as “a tangle of winding, glittering, medieval streets, which never seem to lead where you expect them to, scented by incense, roses and sewers, with shops and bazaars selling everything from trumpets and temple decorations to snuff and saris.”

If you can’t make it out to experience the Blue City for yourself, the photos above will give you a taste of its unmatched vibrance.