The most expensive hotel in the world

I am in the most beautiful city in India. At least it is that the people and the guide say: Udaipur, the most romantic city in India. Maybe some years ago it was right but in my opinion is not true anymore basically for two reasons. The first one is because the old part of the city is absolutely full of touristic services such as hotels, guest houses, restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, travel agencies and Internet cafes. The second one is because the Pichola Lake, which is the heart and the main charm of the city, now is a dirty and almost dry lake. People in India have a contradictory feeling about lakes and rivers. In one hand they consider them holy places but on the other hand they use them as dumps: they wash the clothes and they throw out the rubbish there. Some people realize of this ecologic disaster and you can see in the walls some phrases telling “Save the lake”, but there isn’t any steps to solve it yet.

Well, in the middle of the Lake there is a small island and there is the Lake Palace Hotel. This old palace was built in the XVIII century and nowadays is considered one of the most luxurious and most expensive hotels in the whole world. What does it mean “most expensive in the world”? It means 500 dollars per night for the cheapest room and 5000 for the most luxurious one. What a surprising contrast! India, a country where a lot of people sleep every day in the street and a normal worker earn about 4000 rupees or 60 euros monthly also have hotels of 5000 dollars per night.

By the way, maybe some of you already know the Hotel without having being here before. How is it possible? Because a movie of James Bond called Octopussy was filmed here. In many restaurants and cafes in the city they show the film every day at 7 pm. My nicest moment today was going to the highest restaurant with terrace, eating a pizza and drinking a beer and enjoying the film, the moonlight and the view over the lake. It was a really magic moment and I could know the hotel without spending the 5000 dollars for the room.