When Chikmagaluru beckoned

It's been such a long while since I wrote on this space without the crutch of a prompt. And, what better way to write extempore than a travelogue!

Last month was a bonanza for me since we traveled twice in the same month. Quite an achievement for someone whose last vacation (if you discount the visits to the parents') was in April last year!

We decided to utilize the long weekend of 15th August and made our bookings for Chikmagalur. This was a place I'd been wanting to visit for a very long time but for some reason the plans got jinxed each time at the last moment. This time, the stars did align favourably :-)

We had a lovely drive to the place. The rainy season guarantees some great visual gratification on your getaways around Bangalore and this route particularly has some best ones in store. Views of pregnant grey clouds resting gracefully on dark green mountains, lush, verdant fields all along the 5 hour drive was such a soul-lifting experience. Intermittent, cool drizzles every now and then added to the whole holiday fervour. The beauty only just magnified on reaching Chikmagalur.

We were late in booking our stay (FYI, Twenty days prior is late when it comes to long weekends in Bangalore!), so the jaw-dropping home-stays that ranked top on my wish-list were out of my way and I had to compromise on my choice for the stay. And, unfortunately, despite good reviews on TripAdvisor (for the first time, I was let down!), I wasn't too pleased with our accommodation. They were clean, no doubt, but needed maintenance and we were to later discover that they did have better rooms (we did move into one of these by sheer coincidence) in their newer building. Somehow, I felt they could do much better overall.

Aside from this, we have a fabulous time. We even shopped around a bit on the last day of our stay; came back armed with Panduranga's coffee powder. The taste is top-notch, one of the best ones I've had.

A lot of places could not be covered as time was short. We have decided to do a part two sometime later.




Buttermilk falls



Galikere

Yagachi dam



Ayanankere



We made a quick stop at the Belur, Chennakesava temple on our way back. What an architectural beauty! A must visit, I'd say.












Where did you travel to lately? Any places you'd recommend or any travel anecdotes you'd care to share?

12 comments:

  1. Lovely pictures, Uma! What a beautiful trip. Wishing you a very happy birthday too :)

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  2. Ooohhhh What lovely lovely pictures....:):) Sent you an email :)

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    1. I got your email, RM..replied too..and thanks so much for remembering! <3

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  3. What a beautiful place, Uma. I have heard so many good things about the beauty there. Don't know when is the lucky day that I would be visiting these :( Umm....when was the last time I went on a trip?oh wait...in July...that was only 2 months back...bad me. We went to Niagara Falls to visit my SIL who lives in Canada. This was our second trip, still I thoroughly enjoyed it. :)

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    1. Wow..a trip to the Niagara...I so want to visit your part of the world..grass is always greener on the other side, no? :-)

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  4. Uma. .v nice...beautiful snaps too...hope u had a great day. ..

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  5. feel like visiting this place....

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  6. Wow, aboslutely lovely. Going over to nag hubby to plan a trip to this place :)

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