Sapta Kshetra Darshan : Day 4

Bangalore - Kukke Subramanya - Dharmasthala - Horanadu - Sringeri - Kollur - Murudeshwar - Udupi – Kateel - Mangalore - Bangalore

Day 4

Krishna Mutt

Malpe Beach

After a wonderful darshan of lord Krishna in the Krishna mutt temple, we visited the Chandramouliswarar temple and Anantha Padmanabha swamy temples nearby.  We stopped over briefly at Malpe Beach in Udupi before proceeding to Kateel - Durga Parameshwari temple.  

Durga Parameshwari Temple

The temple is situated in the middle of river Nandhini. We could hear the roar of the river gushing all around us. After our darshan we went to have prasadam. We didn’t like the way the dining hall was maintained. We weren't in the first batch to be served. Instead of disposing the plantain leaves in which the meals was served for the first batch, they were heaped in a corner which was causing a bad smell and the dining area floor had small potholes on which the rasam and sambar served in the previous batch had collected. We left without eating in the temple and had lunch in a hotel near the bus stand called soundharya palace. It was decent.      

Kateel

River Nadhini Gushing around the temple

We proceeded to Mangalore and caught the train to Bangalore from there. While starting out on this trip we had a lot of apprehensions, considering that it’s the monsoon season and we were traveling with small children as well as elderly people. However, with god’s blessings we completed the trip without any mishaps and the memories are still warming my  heart whenever I think back on this trip.

Sapta Kshetra Darshan : Day 3

Bangalore - Kukke Subramanya - Dharmasthala - Horanadu - Sringeri - Kollur - Murudeshwar - Udupi – Kateel - Mangalore - Bangalore

Day 3

Sringeri Sharadhamabhal Temple

Tungabadhra River

                         

In the morning, after dipping our feet and prochanam with water from Tunga river, we visited the Sharadhambhal temple. The beauty of the temple has to be experienced in the light of the day. After finishing our prayers, we proceeded to kollur mookambika temple.  It was again a tough road trip through the ghat roads. We stopped at a small hotel in agumbe for breakfast. It was surprisingly good as considering the location and how it appeared on the outside. Can't anything about other items on the menu, but idly / coffee/ tea was good.

Kollur Mookambiga Temple

We reached kollur just before the closing time and managed to get a good darshan and we proceeded from kollur to murudeshwar.

Murudeshwara 

View from 18th Floor

We had lunch in kamat cafe. It was decent. We wanted to explore the beaches, but it was very dirty with the debris and waste from fishing boats. Also small fishing boats blocked one side of the beach and the other side was very dirty, so we skipped the frolicking in the beach from the itinerary and proceeded to the temple which opened again around 3.30 pm. After having darshan we went up the elevator on the temple tower. The view from the 18th floor was beautiful, with the majestic shiva idol on the back drop of beautiful beach.

We passed through Maravanthe and it is a sight to behold, with the sea on one side and a river on the other side of the road.

We proceeded to Annegudde vinayaka temple near udupi and there is also an ayyappa and durga temple nearby. It was a peaceful place and very simple and elegant. 

Maravanthe

We reached udupi and checked in to Admar mutt guest houses and again, the rooms were very nicely maintained and very reasonable. It was the best we had in this trip. We had dinner in the Woodlands hotel right opposite to the guest house.

Sapta Kshetra Darshan: Day 2

Bangalore - Kukke Subramanya - Dharmasthala - Horanadu - Sringeri - Kollur - Murudeshwar - Udupi – Kateel - Mangalore - Bangalore

Day 2

Shrirama Mandira

We started from Dharmastala and visited ShriRama Mandira which was nearby. It is a beautiful temple with marble statutes; apart from the main god Shriram, there were statues of all the gods in the horoscopes like guru, budhan, shani etc.

We had initially planned to skip this temple but we were drawn to it when passing by and we were happy that we had stopped else we would missed the unique ambiance and the beauty of this temple.

Kalasa

We proceed to kalasa - kalashwaran / kasi viswanathan temple. It is close to horanadu. It is a very old and well maintained temple. Again I was impressed with the priests in this temple, they were chanting Rudhram, when the abishegam was being performed on the lingam and it was an experience which gives a spiritual boost to our soul. It has a lot of paintings depicting scenes of lord Shiva’s many episodes of thiruvilayadal. 

Our next stop was Annapoorneshwari temple in Horanadu. One of my friends had advised us that we should have food first and then go to worship annapoorneshwari deity, as she would not like her devotees to worship her with hunger. Not sure if this is true anyways, as soon as went people in the temple directed us towards the place where they serve food.

Golden Annapoorneshwari Temple

There were a lot of items served, hot rice, sambar, rasam, payasam, sweet, puliogere, buttermilk. The only thing we missed was a vegetable side dish for sambar and rasam rice. The food was yummy and it was really a good feeling to have this prasadam when we go to the temple after travelling though the ghat roads and having no refreshments / snacks in between.

Afterwards we had a wonderful Darshan of golden annapoorneshwari. The whole temple was decorated with so many flowers and we were allowed to go very near to the deity and pray to our hearts content. You can also book any sevas available if pressed for time and cannot wait in long queues in general darshan, for sometimes the general queues are made to wait if there is a heavy rush or a lot of people are opting for sevas.

Enroute to Horanadu

Sringeri

   

We proceeded to Sringeri, where we again got accommodation in lodges maintained by the mutt and it was a newly constructed building right opposite to the mutt. Here also the rooms were well maintained. We got hot water for bathing in the morning by asking the room boys. 

We had a Darshan of Sharadhambal and had dinner in the mutt and by far it was the most well maintained dining hall we encountered. The service was good and again the only complaint was there was no vegetable dish to go with the food.

We can get ashirvadham from acharaya at the ashram, after he performs the chandramouliswarar pooja in the night after 8.30 pm. The ashram is accessible from the temple complex, though the bridge constructed across Tunga river.

Sapta Kshetra Darshan (3N - 4D) Day 1:

Bangalore - Kukke Subramanya - Dharmasthala - Horanadu - Sringeri - Kollur - Murudeshwar - Udupi – Kateel - Mangalore - Bangalore

We started from Bangalore on the Yeswanthpur-Kannur express, with our first point being Kukke Subramanya, we got down at the 'Subramanya Road' station. We had arranged for a vehicle with a tourist agent (gaya3travels) for our entire trip from Subramanya to Mangalore.  We checked into a private lodge to freshen up and visited the temple. Subramanya temple is very famous for getting rid of sarpa dosham. We were told even Sachin Tendulkar once visited this temple for doing pariharam.

Kukke Subramanya Temple

We visited during the monsoon season, and while going from subramanya temple to another - Adi subramanya temple nearby, the road leading to it was filled with stones and also had a lot of puddles, so you can’t see where you are putting your feet. So, it is advisable to put on your footwear after visiting subramanya temple and take the outside road to visit the Adi Subramanya temple than go from inside the kukke subramanya temple.

Abaya Ganapathi

After this we visited Abaya Ganapathi temple and Durga temple nearby.

Southadka Vinayaka Temple

We proceeded to Southadka vinayaka temple from there. It was raining when we reached there. Its an open temple with no walls or ceiling. The main priest was performing abishegam in pouring rain and didn’t mind the downpour at all and was carrying on without any protection from the rain. It was a wonderful experience, praying in pouring rain, getting to see an abishegam and aarthi with the sound of drums and bells ringing with the chanting of slokas and steady rhythm of rain beating against the umbrella.

Clouds pregnant with rain near Dharmastala

 We proceeded to Dharmasthala and stayed at the devasthanam run guest house Nertheravathi. Since it was off season we managed to get rooms without any problem. The rooms were well maintained and cost effective as well. There is also a small hotel opposite for coffee and Tiffin.

 We went to have lunch (Parasadam)  in the Temple. The Annadhanam is arranged here for thousands of devotees visiting the Manjunath temple. It was our fist experience with “anna dhana” and we were not well prepared mentally for the experience. The food was simple and served hot; however, we felt that the manner in which the food was served requires a little fine tuning. The food was literally thrown on our plates and regardless of whether we finished a course or not the next one was dumped on the plate. I understand that they  want to serve a large number of people in a limited time frame, but the effect of seeing rasam, mixed with sambar and vegetable kootu and buttermilk, all in one big messy puddle on your plate, makes you lose your appetite.

Dharmastala Devasthana

Bahubali statue

After Darshan at Manjunath temple, we went to see the Bahubali statue nearby.

We stayed overnight in Dharmasthala and after picking up some essentials for the next day trip at shops near the temple; we had our dinner in the hotel opposite to our accommodation. The place starts shutting down by 8 pm and is closed at 8.30 pm. Also, we learned that usually in places where food is served in the temples, there is no dinner served as such in hotels nearby, though you may get tiffin items.

Innovative Film City - Bangalore

Innovative Film City

Entrance

Bubble Teddy

Innovative Film city in Bidadi near Bangalore is a good  day trip option, especially if you have kids. There is something for everyone.We were a  group of 6 adults and 4 children and got the package option of rides with aqua kingdom for Rs.500 per head including kids. The Bubble teddy near the entrance caught the kids fancy and it took us some time to encourage them to move on to other stuff. There was a Teddy bear museum which will appeal to girls of all ages... 

There are exhibits of city center, Jail, Hospitals, Airplanes, a short tunnel which you can explore, Post office, scary houses, etc. 

                       

Teddy Bear Museum

The ones that we enjoyed the most were The Ripley's believe it or not museum, the Wax museum, the 4D movie experience,  The Skating ring... though we only managed to fall on our backs a couple of times before giving up :-).

The mirror maze was good and its a fun group activity, The Jurassic park also had some good exhibits, and pretty scary for the kids. The rides were OK, not too many of them. Many were closed due to maintenance. There was a big 2 tier carousel which the kids enjoyed and I went on the roller coaster a couple of times. The dashing cars was also something that the kids enjoyed.  

We moved on to the Aqua Kingdom at last, there was a wave pool , a couple of sliders and a smaller pool with huge water buckets at a height which will keep tipping over from time to time , and a few other rides. We had taken swimming costumes and a change of clothes. There are some shops where you can buy swimming costumes, if didn't bring one along.  Over all the aqua kingdom is good especially on a hot summer day.

Gandhi @ the Wax Museum

Titanic

Metal Cowboy

Jurassic Park 

Moulin Rouge

There were a few negatives, the Food court doesn't have too many options...the Mac Donald's was closed on the day we had been there, so we didn't have an choice but to take the buffet; It was below average. Also the changing rooms need more maintenance. Though there are many exhibits and attractions, the upkeep of them should be more stream lined. I will recommend it during the summer vacation for it has a lot of attractions and kids will definitely have fun. I hope the management will take steps to improve the maintenance of the place.

Goa - Fun in the Sun

We went to Goa in January when the season was in full swing. It was quite sunny  though the heat was manageable. We stayed in Holiday Inn in south Goa. Its was towards the end of south Goa so the beach near the hotel was mainly used by the guests of the hotel. Also the cleanliness of beach within the hotel limits was maintained by Holiday Inn and it was almost pristine. We had booked a 3N- 4D's package with Holiday Inn which included a sightseeing tour as well. We took the Vasco Express from Bangalore and reached much before the check in Time of 12 PM. However, we had asked for an early check in through our travel agent and the hotel had arranged for our pick up and gave us a temporary room to freshen up, until our rooms got ready. 

Basilica Church

Holiday Inn Goa

Relics of St. Francis Xavier

Cruise on Mondovi River

We decided to get on with sightseeing the same afternoon and we were taken to the main tourist attractions like Shri Mangesh Devasthana, the Basilica church which still has the relic's of St. Francis Xavier a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary, etc. There was a cruise on Mondovi River to round off the evening. There were some dance programs on the Cruise boat for entertainment. We proceeded to our hotel after this and were pretty much exhausted.

Next two days we split the time between the beach and the pool. We got a floater for our kid so she could also join us in the pool and we had a whale of a time. The sunsets were so amazing and just captivates all our attention.

Sun Set from Holiday Inn Beach

The rooms in Holiday Inn are well appointed and if you aim is to relax, then you need to look no further as they have all the amenities and its also a well  maintained property. The food was also sumptuous and they had buffets for all the meals but they handled some special request for some food items like dosa or phulkas for our kids at no extra cost. The staff were also attentive and helpful. They had arranged for a candle light dinner on one of the nights.

Parasailing

Colva Beach

We checked out after break fast on day 4 and booked a taxi for checking out some of the other beaches like Benaulim Beach and Colva Beach.We wanted to try out some adventure sports activity. We tried our hand at Parasailing and the adrenalin rush that comes after that has to be experienced to be believed. We appreciated the quite and clean beaches near Holiday Inn all the more after going to the crowded and not so clean beach at Colva. However, the spirit and energy of  Goa steals a special place in your heart and makes us long for a return trip.