Trip to Cultural Capital of Karnataka - Mysore - Day 3

Good Day Reader :)

This day would be the last day of our trip. We had planned for Talakad as we had missed it from our previous trip to Somanathapura, because of time constraints.

We started from Mysore around 09:30 am in teh morning. Talakad is a desert-like town on the left bank of the Kaveri River 45 km  from Mysore and 133 km from Bangalore. It once had over 30 temples, most of which now lay buried in sand. Now it is a scenic and spiritual pilgrimage centre. Here the eastward flowing Cauvery river changes course and seems magnificently vast as here the sand on its banks spreads over a wide area. (source Wikipedia).

Except for the Vaideeswara temple built by Raja Raja I, all the other temples were buried under sand dunes. Out of these, the temples of Pataleeswara, Maraleswara, Anandeswara, Arkeswara, Gauri Shankar, Kirti Narayana and Chowdeswari have been excavated by the Central Archaeological Department. These 5 temples together been called as Panchalingas and are believed to represent the five faces of Siva. The Panchalinga darshana is a popular festival held once in 12 years. There are only 3 Siva temples in Talakd, other two are in nearby villages which we did not get a chance to visit.

Now interesting part. Once you finish visiting the temple you will be welcomed by a river side where the eastward flowing Kaveri river changes course as the sand on its banks spreads over a wide area. It is a very good picnicn spot. You can take a coracle ride and play in a calm water. It is just a beach with no salty water.

There are few street food vendors on the bank of river, apart from that there is no place for a food till you reach Kanakpura town. Please plan ahead for food, better would be carrying your lunch packed from Bangalore/Mysore.

Please make sure you were good chappal as the place is fully covered by sand and makes it difficult for walking. Beware of monkey's. Follow Google maps for direction and take help frol localites.

We spent some time here and set off to Bangalore via Kanakpura Road. Had a stop over for lunch in between which was pathetic. Apart from this the trip was memorable. We reached Bangalore in the evening with a sweet memories of Mysore.

Hope the itinerary helps you in planning your trip.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Tripping :)

Iternery for Day1 is here
Iternery for Day 2 is here

Trip to Cultural Capital of Karnataka - Mysore - Day 2

Good Day Reader :)

After a sound sleep in Mango Suites we woke up with a fresh mood and energy to set our experience memorable for day 2. We were ready by 6 am in the morning. Breakfast was not ready yet. Our agenda for the day was Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta, Nanjangud, KRS and back to hotel.

Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta is 75 km from Mysore on the Mysore Ooty road -10 km away from Gundlupete which is 60 km away from Mysore. This is the nearest town to the place. The road gets worst from here and after almost 15 min drive in this road you need to take right for the hill.  There is a motor able road all the way to the top of the hill. Entry fee is collected at the forest department check post at foot of the hill. Its a 7 km ghat section with awesome scenic view points. The check post does not open until 7am and closes after 5pm. So, make it a point to reach at the foot of the hill at exactly 7am for the best experience. Google maps has very good direction. 

Most of the travellers(including my travel mates) doesn't include this in their Mysore trip, so this was a first visit for all of us. Believe me.. this is a must go place in Karnataka. From the top of hill you can have a beautiful view of Bandipur Forest.

There is a temple of Venugopala Swamy on top of hill where  water/Ice always keeps dropping on the head of the Lord 24×7, 365 days. The idol is very beautifully craved. There are many ponds around the temple and beautiful view where you can sit and relax.Dense fog predominates and covers the hills round the year. Play with the clouds and enjoy your moments at the place.

To have all these experience you make sure you reach foot of the hill at sharp 7 am and watch out for any elephants or other animals on your way up to the hill.

Just after the check post



View from temple around 12pm




temple


We spent time there till 12 pm and made our way down the hill. There we got a thought of visiting Bandipur Forest , just a casual drive which we enjoyed. We could spot only Bison, Deer and Monkeys.

It was already 2pm when we decided to drive back from Bandipur. We couldn't find many food option on our way back. We had dosa in one of the small food joint near the village on foot of hill.

Then we made our way to Nanjangud. It is famous for Lord Shiva temple as has been called as "Dakshina Kashi". We spent around half an hour in the temple and drove back to Mysore.

Generally people miss to visit KRS dam  and visit only Brindavan Garden. This was also a first visit for my travel mates. This is on the backside of garden and can be easily reached through Google Maps. It was a beautiful evening with back water and a small garden to spend time with pals.

You won't be allowed to walk on the bridge, you can enjoy the view from one end.

After spending time here we headed back to hotel and got ready for our Dinner destination. It was Jungle Resturant from Pai Vista. It is a Jungle theme restaurant and food was awesome.

With this the day 2 had come to an end. Not to forget, none of us had battery left in our phone and did not know the way back to our Hotel. Mysore people are very generous and guided us when ever we wanted.

Wait for the day 3 in my next blog.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy tripping :)

p.s. : again I don;t have much pictures to show, hope the itinerary helps you in planning your trip.

Itinerary for Day1 is here
Itinerary for day 3 is here

Trip to Cultural Capital of Karnataka - Mysore - Day 1

Good Day Reader :)

After a long time we decided to go for some trip and it happened to be Mysore and it gave me a chance to put some things in my Travel blog. The place was decided after I insist so many times as I had not been there though I am staying in Bangalore from past 8.5 years.

In this trip our itinerary was below - Friday to Sunday

Bangalore -Sriranga Pattana- Mysore (Edmuri and Balmuri - Mysore Palace - Brindavan Gardens) - Himavad Gopalswami Betta - Nanjangud -Talakad - Bangalore.

As usual we were late as comp red to our decided time on Friday morning due to various reasons, we started around 09:30 am. As we had covered most part of Sriranga Pattana in our last trip to Coorg, we did not miss much things by starting late. You can start early in the morning and cover Sriranga Pattana on your first day morning.

We had a stop over for quick bite after crossing Maddur. Then made our way to Balmuri and Edmuri falls. It is a nice place to relax your self (though it was a hot sunny afternoon when we reached there). There is a temple nearby the water body which you can visit.

We spent around two hours of time here and Google maps were of great help reaching the destination.

We headed towards our Hotel - Mango Suites(Jayalakshmipuram), which we had booked previous night of our stay. It is a quite good option for economy hotel. I would recommend this for travellers. They have well maintained room with all basic amenities, very good options for breakfast and less options for lunch/dinner.

We did check in and got ourselves fresh, in the mean time had ordered our lunch for room service. When we finished our food at was 03:30 pm and then we decided to go to world famous Mysore Palace.

As all of us knew Mysore History we opted to go without guide and explore everything by ourselves so that we can finish early. It took only two hours for us to finish interiors of the Palace :-P (All of my travel mates had been to palace many times before and were not interested in spending much time. As I told initially this was only planned because of me). We came outside and clicked few pictures of ours as memory and saw few camels and elephants outside palace. It was 06:30 pm by the time we came to parking lot.

Then we went to Brindavan Gardens and took entry tickets for the park. It was close to sunset time and lights were getting switched on slowly. We took few pictures before it gets completely dark. Then we went to the musical fountain there. Show was already started by the time we reach the place. We saw a bit of it for 10 mins and then decided to go back to hotel as all of us were tired. It was about to rain and a very nice whether, we enjoyed the hot hot Bajjies served by vendors in the garden.

We returned back to Hotel and had our dinner and we were done for for the day one.

I hope the itinerary from day 1  of my trip helped you in planning yours. I will post my next days activity in future post.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Tripping :)

p.s. : I don't have blog kind of pictures from this trip. Sorry about that. If you are visiting balmuri temple please make sure you wear Indian Dress and tie your hair, put bindi and bangles. Priest over here is strict about this. I saw he was scolding a girl over there when I visited the temple.

Itinerary for Day 2 is here
Itinerary for Day 3 is here