MissTtravels

Not many photos today. We more or less stayed in Bhuj.

Our first stop was the town museum, the Museum of Kutch. A beautiful collection of artefacts from Palaeolithic through to last century. Stone carvings, amazing textiles, silver. Sadly, it does not appear that preserving the past is a priority here.

We then went back into the old town (most of Bhuj was destroyed by an earthquake in 2000) to visit the palace of the Maharajahs of Kutch. The palace is also in poor condition but contains some very interesting rooms and artefacts. Beautiful mirrors, chandeliers and tiles from the 17th century. Also no photography allowed.

Near the palace there are a few nice shops selling textiles. We did our usual raid. I bought several lengths of cotton. Really nice prints.

We then headed off in the bus for our lunch stop. We had a detour to a little shop that was selling an amazing array of heirloom-quality local embroideries and other textiles. Many people bought things, but I was overwhelmed by the variety. I did not buy anything.

Lunch was in quite a posh hotel. A beautiful Gujarati-style thali, beautifully served.

Later we headed to another village to visit an artisans collective. We saw hand-weaving and dyeing of raw cotton, as well as some pottery and other crafts.

Another great shop, where my purchasing paralysis left me, and I was able to pick up hand-woven dress fabric and an elephant for the collection.

Back to town for a rest and dinner.

We are off early tomorrow to travel to Ahmedabad, the capital of Gujarat.