Day 5- train journey to Baden Baden

When we checked in to our hotel in Black Forest, we were surprised to be given a guest card which enabled us to take the regional transport free of charge and gives discounts at lot of places.

Today we thought instead of driving in our car, we should take the opportunity of travelling from Gengenbach to Baden Baden via the Schwarzwaldbahn. The trains run every half an hour and it takes about 35 mins to reach Baden Baden.

The first thing that you notice here is that the station is quite far away from the city centre. We tried to search in a huge map outside the station as to where we were and how to reach the city centre, however the fun part is that there is no 'you are here' on the map, so after searching for quite some time, we decided to take a bus to Leopoldstrasse/Stadtmitte. It was quite a guess that the bus stop that we picked was actually where the tourist information centre was located.

The tourist information centre building was quite beautiful and the staff friendly. We were planning to do a hike of the Panoramaweg, the best and most scenic hike acknowledged in Germany. We bought the map from the tourist centre and started walking towards the general direction shown in the map.

Now, staying in England for 5+ years, you quite get used to the way of how detailed the maps are and the markings on the streets are, and here this was like searching for a needle in the haystack.

We finally started walking towards Neue Schloss 

which seemed to be in the way and our starting point of the hike.

After climbing a lot of steps we finally reached schlossstrassen, from where we went past the new castle and finally came to a vast meadow where we finally thought our walk could begin.

As soon as entered the meadow, the first thing that we saw was cherry trees, and my wish finally came true. We picked some cherries and finally started walking up.

There we saw our first marker of Panoramaweg. The hike took us quite uphill, with a small top in between to fill our bottle with cold water and continuing up to the Old castle. 

We took in the panaromic view here and then started on our roundweg, towards Battertfelsen. This is quite a paradise for rock climbers but the hike from bottom of these rocks is also worth it. We continued past the rocks toward Engelskanzel via dense black forests. Our hike uphill thankfully was over and we now had to make our way downhill.

We took a stop at a restaurant in Wolfsschlucht and ate the nicest strawberry cake at this restaurant. After taking a food n drink break, we were now energised to continue on our final way.

The hike again led us through forests and we reached down near Merkurbergbahn.

From here on the Panormaweg was more of a road trip and hence instead of continuing our way via foot, we decided to call it a day and took a bus 205 to the city centre again.

We walked a bit around the centre, but since it was already 6 pm, the shops were starting to close. 

We took the 201 bus back from Augustusplatz to station (15 min ride)and took a 6.39 train back to Gengenbach.

If anyone is not interested in doing the hike, the Panoramaweg is 45 km in length surrounding Baden Baden and can be driven through as well.

Day 3 - Munich to Black Forest drive

Monday morning started with a terrible rain. We were hoping that our drive from Munich would be memorable and it was, just not in any way that we had imagined.

We checked out from our hotel near Munich Hauptbahnhof, and due to the rain, took a taxi to the Enterprise car rental agency. We were hoping that we could leave by about 10.30 from Munich giving us ample time to complete my planned tour before reaching Black Forest. Unfortunately by the time the agency guy arrived who could take us to the car, it was already 11 am. 

Either way we started out, and it seemed like the rain was slowing down a bit. I was quite happy since I wanted to go to Schloss Neuschwanstein. 

As soon as we came out of the garage, I realised that this was going to be a stressful drive for me. I am backseat driver and imagine what will happen to me when I realise I can't give instructions as we are driving on the opposite of the road and everything that I might instinctively say would be wrong.

The roads were amazing, and we were quickly able to reach the autobahn. 

This has been Supratim's dream for so long, and he finally got the enjoy the freedom of driving without speed limit in Germany. I was very scared at a lot of places though especially since quite a few places had construction going on and they still announced 100 km limit. There are places where it says do not overtake, and people still do. The roads which do have a limit of them including 100 or 120 is still not followed by most. On average the speed of each car is 140km/hr. This was too much for me, though after some time when I settled down, I became relaxed with Supratim's driving (still not the speed though, especially when for the initial 100 or so kms, every time he had to change a gear, he forgot which side the gear was located. He did not think I noticed for the first few times.)

There was some traffic and some really bad rain, but we reached Fussen at about 2 pm. This town is at one end of the Romantic road drive and has two castles - Schloss Hohenschwangau and Scholss Neuschwanstein. 

Ludwig spent his former years at the Scholss Hohenschwangau.

Scholss Neuschwanstein seems like a Disney fairy tale castle. While driving down the road from Fussen, the castle that you see having a yellow facade is the Hohenschwangau and these markers are all in the road. The Neuschwanstein however is the one that is seen amidst the dense trees, atop a hill and sometimes nestled in the clouds.

King Ludwig II built this castle using a stage decorator, as he wanted to bring a romantic medieval feel to his creation. He spent a lot of money in building this castle, but could spend only 170 days in its residence. The castle was never completed. 

There is a nice walk up from the foot that people can try or shuttles and horse drawn carriages that can be used, with fare prices.

Unfortunately for me, because it was quite late and with so much rain, all I could do was enjoy the view of the castle from the foothills.

We started from the Fussen hoping to reach Gengenbach, our Black Forest hotel by 8 pm or so. And instead of taking the same road back, we thought of taking a detour via Lake Constance.

If road to Fussen was the romantic road, then road from Fussen to Lake Constance was definitely a wine road. Rows and rows of vineyards scattered as far as you can see. We also passed many apple orchards and cherry orchards. Every time I saw those red cherries from the trees, I wanted to get out of the car and get some of those. Even with the pitter patter of the rain, the scenery was still worth the drive.

 Luck was not on my side though, with just an hour on the road we came to a major standstill. There had been an accident on the road and we were stuck here for 1.5 hours. Even after this our onwards road was not much easier with multiple diversions on the road. 

However we finally made it to our hotel at 10 pm, almost 2 hrs later than what we had hoped for.

Thankfully a MacDonalds on the highway saved us from hunger, and by the time we checked in, we were very tired. 

Plan for Black Forest drive would need to be made next day itself.

Munich day tour - Day 1

This time our trip led us to the wonderful city of Munich, Salzburg and roads of Black Forest. And since I am now influenced by the British mannerisms, I have to say it was a wonderful weather today.

We took an early morning flight from Gatwick to Munich reaching Munich at about 10 am.

Munich airport is connected to the Hauptbahnhof by S8 and takes approx 40 minutes to reach. So we were ready to explore the city by 11 am.

Most of the Munich city can be covered by foot. Starting from the Munich Hauptbahnhof towards Marienplatz, it is approx 15 min walk. Marienplatz or Mary's square is a popular gathering spot for performing artists and packs a lot of interesting personality in a small spot. This is anchored by Mariensaule - Mary's column.

The neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus with its coal blackened facade dominates the square. With gargoyles, statues and a dragon trying to scale the wall, your eyes will still be drawn to the Glockenspiel. This is one of most visited tourist attraction in Munich. It consists of 43 bells and 32 figures that perform with a musical accompaniment at 11 am, noon and 5 pm daily. 

The top half tells the story of a Knights tournament held in 1568 to celebrate the marriage of Duke Wilhelmina V to Renata of Lothringen. This was the marriage between a local with an Austrian princess, and the story depicts the jousting match where Munich champion defeats Austrian Knight.

The bottom half portrays the Schafflertanz. In olden days when plague had set upon the city, all the healthy people used to quarantine themselves in their houses. The economy used to suffer and the coopers were the most impacted. Coopers used to go out in the city to check if plague had left the city but they had no way of telling the people about it. They thought of putting letters in everyone's home, but not all could read or write in those days, and hence came about the coopers dance, which shows the celebration that plague had left the city in 1517. 

From Marienplatz, you can walk towards the Altes Rathaus, this is the old town hall, though the original townhouse  was destroyed in the WWII bombings and this is a reconstruction completed in 1970s. This now houses the Spielzeugmuseum (toy museum) and contains the largest collection of teddy bears and Barbies'.

Overlooking Marienplatz is also the Munich's oldest church - St. Peter also known as Alter Peter or Peterskirche. Don't forget to climb the tower (with its 299 steps) to get a magnificent view of the Munich city. On a clear day, you will be able to see all the way to the Alps. Munich boasts of the tower at Neues Rathaus, Olympia park and Peters church, and you will get the best views from here.

If you are tired after this walk, walk over to the beer garden crossing the street from Alter Peter. This is the Viktualienmarkt. This is Farmers market and you will get fresh fruits and veggies here. In summer this place is filled with beer gardens. Now beer garden is named only if the garden is filled with chestnut trees. It's leaves are thick and   provide shade. 

This beer garden also contains a maypole which is draped with Austrian flag colours. 

There is a tradition in Bavaria and people are always competing with each other to steal the others maypoles. if your maypole ever gets stolen then the loser(you) would need to treat the winner party with all the beer that they can drink along with all the food that they can eat. And of course this winner party includes the people who stole the maypole, their family and friends. So all of a sudden everyone wants to become friends with the winners.

Another road from Marienplatz also leads down to Frauenkirchen. The church was built in an impressive 20 years time between 1468 -1488. It towers over Munich and no other building in central city may stand taller than its onion-domed twin towers. One of the tower is 99m while the other is slightly shorter than first.

During WWII when all of Munich was being bombed, these towers survived. The only guess that people make about why these survived was the fact that these towers were used as a focal point by the ally forces to bomb the city.

There are loads of other places to see in Munich - English gardens, Residenz, museums, etc. However I could only cover these on my first day. Will try to see the others on my last day back in Munich.

How to get a case of beer or the girl that you love - Bavarian tradition

I have learned so many traditions during my visit to Munich and each one is worth telling about and intriguingly a lot of these traditions involve the golden liquid.

This is for all the men who want to win over their girlfriends or wives.

In the early days there was a tried and tested way to show a lady that you loved her. All the man had to do was cut a large tree, take it back home, clean out the branches and polish the bark. Then he would carve out beautiful designs on it,including little clues to his identity on the bark.

Now after working so hard on this, he would again need to drag the tree back in front of his beloved's house at night, ensuring that no one sees him.

The next day when his beloved gets up in the morning and comes out of the house, she would see this beautiful maypole in her courtyard. Looking at the design she is supposed to guess at the identity of her lover. At this point, the man who is hidden nearby would be waiting to hear the decision of his beloved.

If the lady loves his back, she would dance around the maypole signalling that she loves him and both are happy.

If the lady does not love him back, well tough luck, but in order not to disappoint the man, she would go inside her home and come back with a case of beer and put it at the base of the maypole. The man may not get the girl, but he still gets the beer to drown his sorrows in.

You can give this a try... 

Frauenkirchen and the devil's footprint

Frauenkirchen, a magnificent church was built by in only 20 years (1468-1488) and have a lot of stories about why that is so. One such story goes thus -

It is said that this church was built by the devil himself. 

One day while the church was being built, the devil had come to Munich to meet his friends and have a beer or two (of course the story that I was told by the local however factious had to have beer in it.) When the devil passed by the church, it was not yet complete and the devil being the devil decided to raze the church to the ground. When he went inside one of the entrances, he realised that there were not many windows. The place when fully built would be dark and damp. He thought that when the worshipers would come to this place, due to less light and dampness would fall sick and eventually die early. The devil thought that such a place would surely be a tribute to himself. He went to the architect and offered him a deal. The devil asked that if the architect did not add any more windows to the church then in return he would offer riches and fame to the architect. The devil would also help the architect to build the church in the span of just 20 years. The architect took the deal and built the church.

20 years later when the devil returned and entered the church, he saw that there was plenty of light and the church contained a lot of tall windows. He was angry and went to the architect. The devil now wanted to take the architect's soul as he had broken the deal.

The architect though stopped the devil and said 'I did not break the deal. Your condition was that I should not add any more windows to the church and I did not'. 

You see 20 years prior the devil had entered the church from the entrance where the architect's ingenuity had placed the columns in such a way that it hid all the windows except the one above the altar. Now when the church was built, the devil entered the church from another entrance and did not see the same columns hiding the windows. 

The devil was himself duped by a mere human. He was so angry that he stomped his foot in the church and till today you can see his footprint in the church.

The other story is that the footprint inside the church is that of the architect. Instead of signing his work at a corner, he put his footprint as a signature. But you decide which story you find more interesting.

Hofbräuhaus - the famous tavern in Munich

This is the world's most celebrated beer hall, and has a very interesting history and yet again stories surrounding it.

During the early periods after the house opened, men (women were not allowed in) used to drink inside the house and had to go out to relieve themselves, a natural after effect of consuming large quantities of the golden liquid. One can still see a narrow gutter running outside the house which was perhaps being used. There were however a few problems with this solution of urinating outside, you could lose your seat inside the house and may as well your beer. To counter this problem they engineered a better solution, a gutter inside the house running right beneath the tables. All one had to do was to relieve oneself freely as and when pressure was felt, wearing the lederhosen was ideal (or perhaps invented) just for this reason. 

This solution however had a bigger disadvantage- one of splash-back which means all your mates and other people sitting around you would be soon feeling wet around their legs, which presumably was not ideal. Someone invented an idea to circumvent the splash-back problem- a stick that you use to wave around under the table just before letting yourself go so that your mates have enough warning to lift their legs up when they feel the knock of the stick on their sheens. Not the best German engineering, and it was not before someone, an old man a regular himself found another idea which could solve both the problems of splash back and getting hit on your legs the whole day. It was a novel idea indeed which he announced excitedly one day out of the blue by standing on one of the tables. The idea was that of a twirling stick that you could use to pee which would help the liquid down its way to the gutter in a more controlled manner avoiding any splash back whatsoever. 

There is another tradition which perhaps started here more out of necessity. It is that of the last bell also known as the wash. The first bell meant more as a soft warning to get your final drinks and prep to leave. The second bell was a warning because that meant you had only a minute to leave before they flood the floor to wash down all the waste out of gutters. It was meant to cleanse the place before it started all again the next day. 

Mariensaule- how it came to be...

I was told of this very nice story by one of the tour guides that I would love to share about  Mariensaule or Mary's column in Marienplatz, Munich.

The 30 years war lasted from 1608 to 1638, where the Swedish forces raped and pillaged various towns and cities. 

The locals were afraid for their lives and decided to build a wall around the city to defend themselves. However, before the wall was completed, the Swedish forces had already arrived at their doorstep. When they reached Munich, the forces, like several other people, fell in love with the city and did not want to destroy it. In exchange of not destroying the city, they asked the locals to give them 300,000 coins. Now the locals gave up a lot of their treasures but still could come up with only about 100000 coins. They went to the Swedish forces and requested that with this amount that they had collected, they would like to offer the forces their liquid gold - beer. The Swedes took their offer and left Munich without spilling a single drop of blood.

The locals decided to celebrate the victory by having a celebration at Marienplatz. Now the elector Maxmilian 1 had left Munich city when the Swedes had arrived. After hearing of their return, the elector rode back to the city with all his forces. The locals, though we're very angry that he had left the city in its hour of need and refused to let him celebrate with them. Max, though, was a clever man - he said to the locals 'I had gone with my forces to the highest of the mountain in the Bavarian Alps, so that I could be close to the heavens. And here I prayed to the God to save the city'. The locals, gullible that they were, believed him and in order to honour him, asked that his golden statue be placed at the Marienplatz. However there was no money left anymore to make the statue. Again came Max to the rescue, and he said that 'we should thank the one person who saved us all, and that is not me but Mary. Instead of erecting my statue, we should have a golden statue of Mary'. This statue of Mary was already with Max and he erected  column in Marienplatz and placed the statue in top of it.

Munich Oktoberfest - stories that I heard in my travels..

Writing my first blog about Munich, I thought of starting with what every local loves to talk about - beer.

Munich is almost synonymous with Oktoberfest and during my visit to Munich City, I learned a lot of interesting stuff regarding this festival.

In 1810, when King Ludwig married princess Therese, as a gift for the bride the king bought a meadow for his bride. But women, as is the case, will never be impressed by a piece of land and the king had to improvise mentioning that this land would be named after the queen. When this too failed to impress the would be queen, the king declared that as part of the wedding celebrations he would throw a huge party for everyone. And it was a glorious celebration with drinking and dancing.
The next year, when it was time after the harvest, the people of Munich remembered this celebration and instead of having a smaller celebration went to the King requesting that he throw the same party as last year and thus the tradition of Oktoberfest began.

People from all around the world visit Munich during this time to enjoy the beer. But Americans and Aussies beware - 1 litre of Augustiner beer is equivalent to 9 bottled beers. So when the Aussies come to Oktoberfest, the Munich locals joke about the fact that they can't hold their beer. 

There are some quite interesting statistics about the Aussies that I was told about in my visit to the city. It is rumoured that when an Aussie comes to the Octoberfest, he is told to always keep track of 2 things - their passports and their children. Some of the statistics say that among the so many people of different nationalities that lose their passports during the fest, Aussies always make it to the top of the leaderboard. And 2 years back, out of 38 children in the lost and found booth, 27 of them were Aussies.

There is a funny story around why Aussies lose their passports, and it goes this way - it is believed that every year there is a competition among the the Bavarian towns. Each town appoint a woman leader, and during this fest whoever collects the maximum number of Aussie passports wins a big barrel of beer. Last year someone collected over 280 Aussie passports. How they managed to achieve this is a very good question 😉

Now in Germany, it is illegal to travel anywhere without an identification document. Unfortunately the closest Australian embassy that can provide replacement passports is a 7 hr train ride to Berlin. But Aussies, God bless them, are always the cheerful lot, and during the festival, they have a temporary embassy opened up within the UK embassy in Munich.
 That is quite awesome.

Outing @ London Eye - tips

London eye - on a bright sunny day providing a spectacular view of the whole of London. We talk about London and this is the iconic landmark that comes to our mind - located on the banks of Thames, overlooking the Big Ben and Houses of Parliament.
I have been twice on London eye and still everytime I look at it I marvel at the amazing design and its  architectural ingenuity. London eye, initially known as Millennium eye, was inaugurated in 2000 and is the most visited tourist attractions in UK.Go on the weekends, and you have a long queue to ride the wheel. London eye takes half an hour to complete one full rotation. So before you plan the trip to this attraction, ensure that you have accommodated sufficient time for the queue and actual ride.
London eye timings differ during the summer(till 9.30 pm) and winter seasons(till 8.30 pm), however the views are spectacular whichever season you pick. During the winter season, try going on London eye, closer to the christmas and you would be spell bound by the lights shining on the banks of the Thames.
London eye also offers something called as a Cupid's capsule - which is a perfect romantic place if you want to pop the question or just want to enjoy a romantic drink atop London.

London eye ticket offers a 4D experience of the views, this is located near to the ticket counter -If you have time, you should view this short film.
There are different kinds of tickets available -

1. Standard ticket - If you are already at London eye and based on the queue you can decide to take this ticket. This is for immediate boarding (obviously you would still have to wait in the queue)
2. Flexi standard ticket - If you planned a complete day out in London and are not sure when you would visit London eye, then this is the ticket for you.
3. Flexi fast track - This would give you priority boarding. There is a seperate queue for this and is much faster.

There are also various offers available online.

1. London Eye's official site provides around 10% discount on the tickets if purchased online.
2. Combination tickets are also available that would allow you to combine two or three attractions in one ticket and pay a cheaper price for the same. Please remember that the combination tickets would need to be converted to London eye tickets before boarding the London Eye. 
3. Sometimes, a 2 for 1 offer is also available from Days out Guide

I believe for anyone visiting London, this would be an amazing experience.

A day trip to Seven Sisters Country Park

After long months of cold, sun was finally shining down upon London. Me and my hubby decided to take advantage of this beautiful weather to go out of London. After searching for a nice place to visit, we finalised on Seven Sisters Country Park. I hope that this abstract can help you if you wish to visit the place.

Seven Sisters Country Park is part of South Downs National park, situated at Exceat in East Sussex. It comprises of chalk cliffs, vast Greenland and meandering river valley.  Seven sisters were created when ancient rivers cut the valleys into chalk, creating seven peaks. The highest of the peak stands at 253 feet and is named Haven Brow, This peak is followed by Short Brow, Rough Brow, Brass Point, Flagstaff Point, Baily’s Brow and Went Hill Brow.

Seven sisters country park is the best place to be if you are looking for natural beauty unhindered by tourists. The chalky cliffs overlooking the ocean, the shining sun, the vast greenery, away from all the hustle bustle – it feels like heaven,  a reprieve from the daily routine.

Visitor centre is situated in a 18-century barn and you can get map and routes for walking, cycling from here. Cross the road from the visitor centre to enter the park. There are two walking trails at the Park – Park trail, marked with purple arrowed posts is 5 km long. Habitat trail, marked with green arrowed posts is 7 km long circular trail around the perimeter of the park.  Be-aware that this is not a sandy beach but has lots of small rocks and pebbles.

You can start your walk from the park entrance towards the beach. On the return trip, you can climb up the cliffs and walk down over the hills back to the park entrance. The seaside and the cliffs look amazing from the cliff tops. If you are interested, you can walk over the hills towards the South Downs enjoying the beauty.

How to get here: Catch the southern train from London Victoria / London Bridge to Brighton. Once you get out of Brighton, catch bus 12, 12x or 13 towards Eastbourne via Seaford. On weekdays, you can get the bus from stop D outside the station. However on weekends, the buses start from Churchill Square. In order to reach Churchill Square, walk from the station towards the ocean (straight road), when you reach the clock tower, take a right uphill road to reach the bus stop. The bus journey is roughly 60 minutes and reach just outside the Seven sisters country park.

Cycling: You can hire a bike and cycle on the valley floor. Or if you are interested, you can use the more adventurous trails and routes from the Cuckmere cycle hire shop.  

Time for visit: 3-4 hours

Pick your own crop and fruits - Garsons, UK

This weekend I shifted to my cousin’s place at Farnborough, Hampshire. They had made a plan to go for Strawberry picking and I tagged along with them. This was my first time at such a place and I had no idea what to expect.

We drove from Farnborough to Esher to a place named as ‘Garsons’. They have a huge farm where a lot of crops and fruits are grown. They have an excellent range of vegetables variety from cauliflower and beans to green peas and potatoes. They also grow fruits– Strawberries, Gooseberries, Blackcurrant, Raspberries, Blackberries, Cherries and a lot more. The farm grows 5 types of flowers. Here, you can handpick the fruits and vegetables that you want, and take them home (obviously at a price), though its still fun to pick what you want.

We started from the Raspberry farm, started picking some. Some of the berries were a little too ripe. So when you are picking them, make sure they are just the right amount of red. From the Raspberries, we went to the Gooseberries. I had the delight of tasting Gooseberries for the first time. They are a little sour, a little sweet and definitely a once taste. Be very careful while picking these up – the bush is thorny. The blackcurrants are one fruit I have no intention of tasting every again.  We saw Cauliflowers, though had no intention to pick those up this time.  We did go to the crops section though. We checked out the Garden peas section. The same place had 3 different varieties – Garden peas, Mange Tout and Sugar snaps.

We then made our way to the top attraction – Strawberry farm. This is really fun. You would have to search for the strawberries amidst all the bushes. Pick up the red ones, but not too red. The dark red ones do not taste good. The normal red ones however are delicious. I had been buying strawberries from the Borough market for the past week and I had thought these were good, but the ones from the Garsons are very yummy. You would always remember their taste.

Garsons has a nice picnic spot where you can go and eat the lunch or snacks you have brought with you. Its very sunny these days, so if you have an umbrella, please bring it along. The picnic spot has benches, though on weekends there is a lot of crowd, and its better to bring your own mats that you can use. In case you are planning on eating the picked fruits, please remember to pay for the same. The picnic spot can be found if you drive through the Ring Road across the farm, there are sign posts which would guide you. Or you can always give a shout and ask.

People who would like to visit please note the timings – Mon – Sat : 9 am to 6 pm and Sundays : 11 am to 5 pm.

Hope you have a nice time there.

Garsons  has two branches – Esher and Titchfield.

Address for Esher: Winterdown Road, Esher, Surrey, KT10 8LS

For the complete list of crops grown please visit - http://www.garsons.co.uk/Esher/PickYourOwn/CropAtoZ/documents/CropCalendar.pdf

For the map of the Garsons farm to know where you can pick the crops - http://www.garsons.co.uk/Esher/PickYourOwn/CropAtoZ/documents/CropMap2010.pdf

Visit http://www.garsons.co.uk for more details on how to reach via public transport and other details

Note: Tomorrow they are opening for cherry picking. If you want to get the best, please be there at 9 am. Last year, they mentioned, all the cherries were gone in just 4 days. So please don’t wait for the weekend. You might miss the fun. I know I will.

First look on London, UK

One of my friend’s father once told me that when you go to Switzerland as your first onsite location, you would never find anything else satisfying again. I was not so sure about it then, for me Switzerland was my first onsite assignment and I thought that the ease with which I could be there would be the same everywhere. But not every country or city is the same anywhere, except in sleepy Swiss.

 

I arrived in London on 20 June in the evening. I had to go to Ilford where I was put up in the company guesthouse. Normally, if it is a first trip for anyone to an onshore location, the things that they would notice would be the greenery, people and all. As I travelled in a taxi from airport, the first thing that I noticed was the litter on the highways. I even saw a couple of cars break the lane rule. Well, what do you think of that! In India it is not so much a big deal since every other Tom, Dick and Harry is breaking the lane rules and all. But, it was a surprise over here for sure. The sun was shining brightly in the sky, and the time was 8 pm (yes, it was evening) London is divided into 9 concentric zones and I had to travel a long way across from the Heathrow airport to Ilford – one end of 9^th zone to other end 4^th zone. By the time I reached the guesthouse, I was dead tired. It was almost 20 hours since I had slept (you cant really count the small naps during the flight) Just got myself a burger and some fries in case I got hungry in the night, dumped my luggage and went to sleep. The sunset happened at around 10 pm, though there was light for a long time after also.

 

The next day dawned again at around 5 am (I think before that). When I suddenly got up, I saw the sun shining again brightly. Doesn’t the sun go to sleep like it does everywhere else !!! I got up, got ready and off to office. London had a lot of rail networks, its been 4 days since I came here and I still haven’t got to know all of them. Theres the national rail, then the tube, these are what I use to move around. There are others like DLR. The tube or London underground itself has a lot of networks – Jubliee line, Metropolitian, Northern, Central, Hamilton & City and so on and so forth. When you want to travel you can use an Oyster pass, which are available as either pay as you go, where in you would have to top up the card everytime, or you can take a weekly pass in Oyster card. There are also day travel cards available which you can add on to your Oyster card. Every zone has different charges, and depending on where you get in and get down, this Oyster network calculates your fare for the journey. Also, if you have a day travel card, it also checks whether to use the money from the card or to use the day travel card. When you use tube as well as national rail (like I do) it calculates how much money should be given to the tube and how much to the rail. Pretty cool, right!!

The transport here is expensive and zone 1 is the most expensive. People do a lot of workarounds so that they pay less for travelling within zone 1. I have to still get hang of all the transport and moving around, but thought of just penning down a few of the things that I do know.

 

I have not seen anything of London yet, except some stations while moving around for work. So, would drop in a few lines more maybe next week once I have seen something here.

Visiting Gokarna

Gokarna is also known as Kashi of the south. This place, though located at an offside, not easily accessible by road (by which I obvisouly mean tar road) still sees throngs of tourists. The place is named thus based on the story that Lord shiva had emerged from cow’s ear. A walk through the main streets of the town would give you the opportunity to shop at the various local shops varying from clothing to pooja items.
After two days of car driving, we had decided to take it easy today. So, we got up in a lateback manner at about 9 am.We are staying at a place called Nimmu’s house – rent of the good rooms here is 1200 per day, checkout timing being 10 am, irrespective of your check in timings. The rooms are good, with amenities like TV provided. Hot water is available only between 8 to 10 am. The house is owned by a family so it does not give the restaurant feeling, but you can see the family going about their activities. There is a restaurant nearby to the house – called Mahalakshmi roof top restaurant. This is so far the best place to eat in Gokarna, with good food at a cheaper price. The only drawback is that it takes a little longer to get your food, so don’t come to this place when you are at the peak of your hunger. Come a little early, and enjoy the roof top view of the Gokarna beach, while muching your food or drinking your drink. A note to all – this restaurant is purely veg and does not serve any alcohol. If you fancy a beer or anything else, you would need to go to Hotel Gokarna International, which has a downtown restaurant & bar. If you have a family with you, it is better that you forsake that beer since the place looked a little shady to me to take your family along.
We started our morning by visiting the Gokarna beach, which was like 2 min walk from our guesthouse. The sun was scorhing hot and the sand hotter. The beach is good, and people interested can go for a swim. I, suddenly, remembered my childhood days and started collecting the shells washed ashore by the tide. Supratim watched me collect these and dump into his pocket, wondering where would these shells end up in our house. We walked for sometime on the shore and when we could not bear the heat any longer, went into a nearby hut café to have a cool drink and soothe our throat.
By the time, we had finished with our drinks and had come out, the sand had grown hot, and was burning our feet, so we had to run towards the water where we could have the cool water laping at our feet. We came back to the guesthouse for a afternoon nap.
At 2.30 pm, we again went out for our next expedition – Om beach. This beach is around 6 kms from Gokarna police checkpost, if you wish to go by the road. There are also boats which leave from Gokarna beach towards Om beach, Kudle, Paradise and half moon beach. If you are going by road, take care that where you want to park your vehicle. As soon as you start seeing the 3 km sign, look out for the start of the parked vehicles. It is better if you keep your vehicle here and have a trek till the beach. If you make the mistake like us to park the car as close as possible to the beach, you would have a hard time coming back. The road is very narrow that 2 cars can pass each other barely. Now imagine one side of the road with parked vehicles – Yes, that is the only place from where you can come and go. So, it is possible that you reach close to the beach when you come, but while going back you would have a hard time to take a u-turn. Thanks to the Auto drivers here, who help out a lot by solving the traffic jam problem. I wish we had these people in Bangalore – it would make life so much easier. But alas, the same auto-drivers in Bangalore are the reason of most of the traffic jams.
Om beach is named so, due to its shape. If you can click a photo of the beach from above, you can see the shape of the beach which is like the “Om”. The beach is strewn across with rocks, mangroves providing a little of shade, and café serving food and drinks.
You can spend your evening here watching the sunset and the tides lapping at the shores.
Overall, it was a very relaxing day for us. Tommorrow, we would be off to Yana and Jog falls.

Mangalore to Gokarna – NH17

Today our plan was to go along the west coast from Mangalore and reach as far as possible. We had breakfast at our hotel Poonja International, and left for Ullal beach. Someshwar beach, Ullal is around 13 km to south of Mangalore. – You can take a turn from Mahaveer circle of Mangalore - We had gone in the morning before 10 am, and there were not many people around. We could not find the main entrance to the beach, however we did find a parking place for our car and an offside entrance to the beach. The road is very small and fishermen’s houses surround the road towards the beach. The backside of their houses overlook the beach. We could see the locals cleaning their net in preparation for the day.
Empty bottles, plastic was thrown across the beach. And this place was not even where the tourists would usually come, so I can imagine how the main entrance beach would look like. The tide was really high, and my feeling is that the water was deep even towards the shore. The vast ocean, length of white sandy beach and palms at the end of the beach - overall it made a nice picture. Far away we could see some boats, maybe locals on their way to catch some fish.
From Ullal, we took the NH17 road and started our way towards Udupi. Our plan was to visit Surathkal beach on our way – this is supposed to be the most cleanest in Karavali, however Mangalore’s “best kept secret” remained a secret. We had assumed that since Surathkal hosts the regional college of engineering, it would be easy enough to find. However, I was amazed, when we went on the highway and realized that the place which should have at around 17 kms from Mangalore, never came. I do not think we missed out any sign which mentioned Surathkal, but guess better luck for you guys out there having out heart set out for that beach.
Our next halt was Kaup beach, around 35 kms from Mangalore. The beach is considered very notorious for its huge waves and statistics for claiming lives of the people who venture out to dare the sea. The way to the beach is very properly marked with Karnataka state tourism boards, but beware of the 1km sign of Kaup, which is located exactly at the place where you need to take the left turn. The turn itself is very small, so keep looking out for the signs. Kaup beach,like Ullal, is badly strewn with chips packets, soda bottles and whatnots. The only soothing thing you get to see is the ocean, which never ceases to amaze me. I can go to every beach and still not get bored looking at the ocean, looking at the small sand cards running helter-skelter, though I admit I am scared of them. The sandy beach is obstructed by a 130 ft high lighthouse, emitting light for 26 nautical miles.
We walked along the beach for some time, and when it started getting too hot for us, started for our onwards journey.
Udupi is around 15 kms from Kaup. It is impossible to miss the grand entrance of the town. A set of celestial divine figures adron the threshold of the town. And you feel as if the temples are beckoning you on. The name Udupi means Lord shiva who wears the moon and it also means a place situated on the edge of rice fields. We went in search of the Krishna temple, and after a long set of directions and roundabouts, we finally reached the temple. There are three temples on the Car street – Chandramoulishwar, Anantheshwar and Krishna temple. The Krishna temple has the most biggest queue of all. A shade has been created in the form of a queue to provide protection from sun for the devotees. We were not even able to see the end of the queue and decided not to go inside the temple. After all, god is omnipresent. Based on the recommendation of the outlook traveller book, we ate Outlook Masala dosa in Mitra samaj restaurant near the temple. Let me warn you, the dosa is almost 3 feet long so beware before ordering it. Our plans of eating gadbad went for a toss, since we were full after eating and wasting the dosa.
After having our lunch at a right time of 1 pm, we decided to move forth in our journey.
Next to Udupi is Malpe beach, you can go to St Mary’s Island from a ferry here. We skipped this part of the tour, and went towards Murudeshwar.
Driving on the NH17 highway watching the ocean waves is a delight in itself. Best of this is in Maravanthe. You cannot miss this stretch of the road on the highway. Jagged rocks and rushing waves of the Arabian sea to your left and Sowparnika river’s calm waters to your right complement each other in a beautiful way. We stopped here for awhile and the picture has been etched in my memory like a photo.
Going towards Murudeshwar, around 35 kms from Maravanthe, the ocean was not visible but instead the view was replaced by lush green fields and hills.The 500 ft Shiva statue is visible from the road and you know that you have reached your destination. Parking is available freely and easily at the base of the statue, once you can cross the thongs of people below waiting to go to the beach. RN Shettyland has built a theme park of mythological statues at this place. The park depicts Arjuna sitting in his chariot and Krishna explaining him about why war is required. On one side, is Ganaptu sitting with a acharya (unfortunately I do not know which). At the front is Ravana and behind it is the towering statue of Lord Shiva and Nandi in front of it. The status of Lord Shiva is mentioned to be the tallest idol of Lord shiva in the world. The details of the statue have been carved amazingly. At such a point, I marvel at the work of the artists who made this statue, rather than the person who asked to build the statue. There is a temple at the top and also a small cave created which depicts some statues and the story of how Ravana, after obtaining the atmalinga, giving invincibility, was tricked by Ganesh disguised as a young boy, and the atmalinga was entrenched in the ground at Gokarna – Mahabaleshwara.
After taking a last look at the towering statue, we decided to get on with our journey and reach Gokarna.
The access road to Gokarna from NH17 is not marked by the karnataka tourism boards. So, once you have reached around 62 kms, start asking for directions from the locals. Thankfully, almost all the highway from Murudeshwar goes via small towns and villages and the locals are ready to help out.
Today being 25th Dec, a holiday, we were not able to find place to stay in any hotels. Ultimately, we found a place called Nimmu house, near Gokarna Main beach. We got a room at 1200/- for the night. The place is good to stay, but does not serve food. However there is a restaurant nearby to have dinner, lunch or snacks.
Supratim, after a long journey is tired and I have thankfully completed my second day travelogue successfully.
Visting Gokarna ….

On way to Mangalore – NH48

We celebrated our last christmas and new years on north india tour – visiting places like Delhi, Dehradun. Binsar, Naintial, Mussoruie and Lucknow

This year, I could not get the week off to go very far, but instead I took 2 days off and combined it with the christmas holidays to go on a west Karanataka tour. Our plan was to start visiting places from Mangalore towards Karwar – whatever is possible and then come back to Bangalore.

Mangalore is around 350 kms from Bangalore on the NH48 highway. We have to drive via Neelmangla, CR Patna, Hassan, Sakhleshpur to reach Mangalore.

In order to avoid traffic at Tumkur junction on NH4, we left from our house by 7.30 –which was actually late, as per our normal standards. However, by our luck, we did not get too much traffic. Reaching Neelmangla was a achievement in itself. The road from Bangalore to Neelmangla is very bad, the metro, overbridge counstructions has taken up all the space leaving only one lane for the outwards traffic. We took almost an hour to go 20 kms from bangalore. However, once you cross Neelmangla, the road becomes smooth – not wider, but smoother. The traffic is also less if you leave early and you can cover around 50 kms in an hour. We had last gone via this same road while travelling to Chikmangalur, and the road was being consructed at that time. There was only one lane that was functional, and all vehicles were in that lane itself. We had assumed that since it is more than 6 months, the road would have been constructed by now. But whola!! We were amazed that our government/ corporation/ national highway commission is still constructing the road, and there is no improvement whatsoever. We were talking about how bad the road was – smooth but very narrow. And we had no idea what was in store for us ahead.

You can see Café coffee day on the highway and can stop over to refresh yourself and have a cup of coffee and breakfast. After all,”a lot can happen over a coffee”. J

Once you cross CRPatna, the road becomes wider and is really good till Hassan. From Hassan there is a turn to Chikmangalur and another goes on towards Mangalore. There are boards which mention the information about the turns at various intervals.

We travelled non stop from Hassan to Sakleshpur.  From Sakleshpur to Mangalore, the national highway authority has decided to test everybody’s driving skills by giving the best test that they can give to the drivers – how humans would need to drive if they go and live in a colony on the moon. The NH48 highway has huge “craters” on the “road”!!

My in-laws live in a remote village on the outskirts of Jharkhand border, and I still remember my first visit on the NH7 highway from Kharagpur to Zharkhand. There was a 10 km patch on the highway, which almost did not have any road at all. The village had better roads than that road patch.  The speed limit of the car had to be in between 0 and 20 in order to cross that highway patch. I was amazed at how a national highway can be in such a condition, however small km patch it may be,. This time, when I had the chance to go on the NH7 again, the entire road from Kharagpur to our village was in a very good condition. Today, when I saw the NH48 road to Mangalore, I remembered that visit to Jharkhand. Whenever, I mention Jharkhand, people think it is so very remote and inaccessible – today I felt like telling all those people – Jharkhand is better accessible than Karnataka’s “city” Mangalore. On this NH48 highway, not 2, nor 10 – entire road from Sakhaleshpur to Mangalore is in a bad state – which is about 100 or so kms. The ghats are the best among these – the best patch of road in the ghat is one where the car’s tires can rest on tar road and the body is suspended over the road pit. Almost everywhere else, the pits are so huge that they can goble up a Maruti Alto. We could see the Volvo busses, passing by us, with an amazing suspension but the bus wobbling like a child on the road.  We took around 2 hours to cover almost 30 kms in the ghats. In ghats, we did get some concrete roads, but it was like giving a toffee to a kid and then taking it away as soon as he tries to eat it. We travel on concrete road for 100 meters when it suddenly dips down to a normal “tar” road. Somehow, after a long drive we finally reached Mangalore at about 4.30 pm.

If you have plans to come to Mangalore by car, do have lunch at or before Sakhleshpur, since once you cross Sakhlespur, you would not see any proper restaurants and would have to wait till Mangalore to eat something like we had to do.

We searched for CCD again in Mangalore and had burgers and coffee here. Since, we did not have any reservations, we called up some hotels and checked if they had any rooms available. Once we had confirmed this, we checked with the locals about which beach we can go to watch the sunset. They mentioned Panambur beach and gave very lousy directions, making us go in a circle after which we came to know that we had to go in the opposite direction from where we had started. After a lot more directions from different people, we finally reached the beach. Though we had missed the sunset, there was still light and the beach was worth a visit.  

Panambur beach is around 8 – 10 kms from the main city towards Uddpi. The beach is very clean and has a proper coast guard who whistles on seeing people going deeper in the waters. It was a high tide and the waves were looking really good. I was too tired to get wet in the water, and we just wet our feet in the waves.

We left the beach at about 7 and came back to Mangalore city to check in into our hotel – Poonja International. The hospitality of the hotel is not that good, making customers (not just us, we saw people before us also) wait while they take their own sweet time to check in and fill good knows how many forms and all. Once we were checked in, we had a quick bath and some snacks. Supratim started watching his match (IN – SL ODI) and I sat down to complete my first day travelogue, of a long weekend.

Trip to South-West Karnataka: Belur, Chikmangalur, Halebid, Shravanbelagola

Chikmangalur: around 250 kms from Bangalore, NH4 till Tumkur, NH 48 via Channarayanpatna, Hassan. Via Belur to Chikmangalur.


The thought of a long weekend always brings about this question in my mind - "Where would be our destination this time?" Since IPL season is on, Supratim was not much interested to go out of the house, leave alone a 3- day tour to any vacation spot. Finally, to keep me from cribbing about, we had decided to go to Ranganathittu bird sanctuary for a day trip on Saturday - 2 May 09.
On Wednesday, I heard from a friend that they were going to go a place called as Mullayangiri peak in Chikmangalur district and were going to stay at a homestay. Last year also, we had planned this trip to Chikmangalur but it had not materialized. So once again, I tried convincing Supratim to check if we can get a homestay in Chikmangalur and visit that place. We tried at some homestay but being a long weekend, all of them were booked up. Finally after a lot of search, we came across a name "Eco Tours" - after calling them up, they mentioned they had a room free and could accommodate us on the weekend.

Day 1
We left Bangalore at 6 am to avoid all the traffic en route and were off on the NH4. The road till Tumkur was under construction and very congested with all the trucks and Lorries on the highway. We had to follow the NH4 till Neelmangala – which is about 27 km from Bangalore. From the highway, we took a turn to the left for the NH48 – it is a very big turn and hence impossible to miss (at least till now when there is no construction on that road). And followed NH48 till Channarayanpatna. The road condition was pretty good so we did not face any problems. We had our breakfast at “Kamat Upchar” a few kms on NH48 just after crossing CRPatna. The restaurant is pretty good and one can enjoy their hot dosa/idli/vada with a nice cup of tea/coffee. The restaurant was packed with all Bangalore public making their getaway to vacation destinations.
After crossing CRPatna, there would a major left turn just after an Indian Oil petrol pump and Govt Polytechnic board, which one would need to take, and since there is no signboard mentioned it is confusing. In case of confusion, you can ask around. We followed the highway till Hassan, from which we need to take a detour to Chikmangalur via Belur.
Belur temple is definitely worth a visit while going to Chikmangalur. It is only 2 kms away from the main road and thanks to Karnataka Tourism has proper signboards guiding the travelers.

Belur – Chenna Keshava temple

This magnificent shrine built of stone is a creation of Hoysala Dynasty and is dedicated to Lord Vijanarayan. The temple construction had commenced in 1116 AD by King Vishuvardhana and later his son and grandson. It took about 103 years to complete the masterpiece of Hoysala architecture. The temple is carved out of soap stone (steatite) quarried from Tumkur, about 200 kms away. This stone is extremely easy to chisel but attains iron-like firmness when exposed to atmosphere. To maintain the shine of the temple, the stone is treated with a chemical wash and then wax polished once in ten years. The main temple enshrines an image of Chenna Keshava. This is the only functional Hoysala temple with pujas being performed. The main shrine is surrounded by smaller shrines – Veer Narayana temple to the west and Saumyanaki temple to south west. in the surrounding. The temple is beautiful and definitely worth a visit.
From Belur, it is around 1/2 hour drive to Chikmangalur.
We were staying at a place called as “Avathi”. The rent of this place is 1600 per night per person. The place is pretty new and around 35 kms from Chikmangalur. The road leading to the place is not very good – do not expect a proper tar road in some places, but it was manageable. It was a 40 minutes drive to the homestay.
We had lunch here, and in the evening a short walk in the coffee estates.

Day 2
We left for Mulliayangiri at about 9 the next morning from the homestay. In order to reach Mulliayangiri peak – about 18 kms from Chikmangalur, one is required to travel towards Kaimala for about 8 km, and then from Kaimala take a left turn and after about 6 kms, there is a U turn to reach towards the peak. Karnataka tourism boards guide the tourists all the way. The road for some distance is very good, but gets bad as we progress upwards. The last 2-3 kms road, I would rather not call it a road. I would not recommend a novice driver to travel there. At some places, when you have to give way to oncoming vehicles, I was very scared since we were on the edge on the cliff. The last stretch is pure mud where the road is very uneven. Finally after the scary ride to the top, we found a proper parking place for the vehicles at the bottom of the peak.

Mullaiyanagiri

This is the highest peak in Karnataka.Its 6000+ feet height is mostly used to watch sunsets. We had to climb up a lot many stairs to reach the top of the peak. The scene from the peak was amazing. We could see the whole mountain range from atop. There is a small temple also located here.
The climb down is equally challenging for the drivers.

Bababudangiri
From Mulliayangiri, we proceeded forward towards Bababudangiri peak. Look out for Dattatreya peeth on the tourism boards to proceed to Bababudangiri. The road to this peak is comparatively better. Atop there is shrine dedicated to
Bababudan and one can enjoy the scenic beauty. 3 kms ahead is Manikdhara falls. The road to this is distance wise less, but very winding and takes forever to reach. The view looks similar, only difference being a fall located. We saw a lot of people taking bath there, but did not have the patience to climb down stairs to reach the fall. People who had visited it and were walking back up were very discouraging. In my opinion, once if you have seen Mullayangiri peak and the scenery from there, Bababudangiri can be avoided.

Kemanagundi
From Bababudangiri, we started off towards Kemanagundi. The road towards Kemanagundi from Mullayangiri is very bad and I would recommend no one use this road. In Kemanagundi, one can visit Hebbe falls, which is 13 km away from the main road, Z point and Raj bhavan. By the time we reached Kemanagundi through that winding so-called road, it was already sunset, and we wanted to reach a flat land before dark, so we could not visit these places.
After visiting these places and travelling via these roads, I would recommend everyone to split their tour into two parts – Mullayangiri & Bababudangiri, and Kemanagundi. If you wish to leave out Bababudangiri, then leave early in the morning, visit Mullayangiri, climb down to flat land and then take a proper road to Kemanagundi. If you can split your visits into two days, then there is an another road which leads to Kemanagundi via highway. Proceed towards Lingadahalli from Chikmangalur which would be around 42 km away. Near Lingadahalli, there is a petrol pump, turn left towards Kemanagundi (or ask the road at the pump). This road is in a very good condition, and you would get only a 3-4 km bad stretch once you start reaching Kemanagundi. Hebbe falls road is complete mud road; there is not even a slight trace of tar on this road. Supratim had visited Hebbe falls sometime before, and he mentions it is worth a visit.
By the time we reached our home stay it was 9 pm and it was our good luck that we could reach the house properly. All the home stays are in remote locations, situated amidst coffee estates, which al look the same. So whenever you visit, keep a note of all the turns that you need to take – maybe note down the km readings and you can use these to get back anytime. It definitely worked for us.

Day 3
We wanted to avoid the Bangalore Neelmanagala traffic and so decided to leave early from the home stay. So after having a hearty breakfast, we left for Habelid, Shravanbelagola.

Halebid



Halebid is 37 km from Chikmangalur. We went along the Chikmangalur highway towards the Capital of Hoysala empire. While travelling towards Bangalore, you might be likely to miss the Halebid turn. There are Karanatak tourism boards at a lot of places before, but just when you have to take the turn, the signboard is actually in the opposite direction – so that people coming from Bangalore can see it, but not the ones from Chikmangalur. We had seen this while going to Chikmangalur and were on the lookout for the turn. But for others, I would like to mention that make a note of the signboard which mentions Halebid 37 kms. The left turn comes at around 22 kms from the signboard. From the turn, Halebid is 15 kms on the inside and the view towards the place is magnificent. The road has gulmohar trees on both sides. This time of the year they were all flowering with the petals falling on the road giving it a divine look. The temple is still incomplete but you would not notice this in front of the beautiful carvings.
This shrine is dedicated to Lord Shiva and is the largest of Hoysala temples. The construction of this temple was during the 1121 – 1207 AD period, and is very similar to the Belur temple. The temple complex consists of two identical temples with shivalinga and nandi mandaps facing the lord. The nandi mandaps have huge nandis carved equally beautifully. Outside the shrine are intricately carved figures from mythological epics – Ramayan, Mahabharata and puranic legends of beasts. The carvings on the outside consist of – elephants, Hoysala royal emblem of a man killing a tiger,lions, charging horsemen, epics sculptures and mythical beasts (from bottom up).
Outside the shrine, locals sell stone sculptures and panchdhatu handiwork. They try to con you by selling the crafts work at huge prices. Beaware of these, even though you would agree that the people are doing so much work for these sitting in the sun and polishing the stone to give them the required shape, shelling out your hard earned money and being conned is still not agreeable. Hence for these people – small Ganapati stone idol – 20 Rs, medium Buddha head piece – 50 Rs, Sitting lamps medium size – 10 Rs. Panchadhatu murtis – 40 Rs each. If you can bargain and get for less, well good luck.

Shravanbelagola
From Halebid, take the road further on to reach the highway again, it is not required to go back the same away again to reach the highway. Ask the locals for the road to Hassan and they would guide you. As you progress towards the highway, far off into the left you would be able to see the windmills of Hassan. Keep going on the highway till you see the signboard which mentions Shravanbelagola 18 km to the left. From the left turn it is a straight road, till you reach the town. You would be able to see the temple from far off to guide you to the base. This visit is not for the weak of the hearts. When you reach, you would realize the magnitude of what is required by you to visit the place.
Shravanbelagola is located between Indragiri and Chandragiri hills and is one of the oldest and important Jain pilgrimages. Shravanbelagola means “monk of the white pond” and is named after a belagola – white pond – which was created in the heart of the town by the milk used for the first mahamastakhabbhiseka of the giant statue of Gomateshwara or Lord Bahubali. The mahamastakhabhiseka ceremony is held once in 12 years. . The sacred shrine atop the hill is accessible via a flight of 641 stone steps. The climb is very steep and you have to climb without your shoes, though socks are allowed. Make sure that you do not sit down while climbing up, else it would be difficult to get up. Instead if you get breathless, stand for some time just breathing loudly, once your heart racing has slowed down proceed forward. Also make sure that you don’t drink water. However the climb is worth it when you view the tall statue.
The statue stands tall at 58 feet and 8 inches and is regarded the tallest monolith in Asia. The amazing part of the statue is that it has been carved out of a single block of granite. The figure has 26 feet wide shoulders and arms stretching down.
After visiting Shravanbelagola, we proceeded back to home sweet home, Bangalore. The road till Neelmangala is good, but later gets worse when you reach Neelmangala.


If you are planning to visit these places,
Day 1 – Drive from Bangalore early in the morning, visit Belur on the way, reach Chikmangalur, have lunch and visit Mullaiangiri
Day 2 – Visit Kemmanagundi and places around.
Day 3 – Leave from Chikmangalur, visit Halebid, Sharavanbelagola and back to Bangalore.
The total trip is around 800 km.
Have a safe trip ahead.