[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by P1tBull

Nice photos. My family comes from Melkote, but I've not been there since I was a little child.

My wife keeps badgering me to take here there, so with some inspiration from this thread, I'll make it a point to visit soon,

Thanks. Good, atleast I inspired you for planning a trip there.

[HappyWheels]

Good one, Snaronikar!

Seems like you are on a war footing on trying out your photography skills! :-)

So, how many KM's has your Ikon covered so far?

[snaronikar]

Resting place for visitors near Kalyani


Temple Chariot (Thearu). This will be used to carry the utsava murthy of Lord during festival and special occasions (Jaathare)


Iyenger's mess




Delicious puligore+ curd rice+sweet Pongal


Horse for carrying the God


Garuda


People put the hands in this manner and if the hands shakes then whatever they think will happen. This is the belief the local people have.


Temple entrance of Chaluvanarayana


Few of our ancestors marching one after another.


To be cont...signing off for today. Tomorrow the concluding part of the trip and some statistics of the trip.

[snaronikar]

Started from this place around 4.15 pm and when I climbed down the hill, there are 3 roads joining. One will take you to Mandya directly (you need to take left turn). The 2nd is if we go straight we will go to Pandavapura. Decided to take the left turn and go to Mandya instead of going into Pandavapura and coming to Mandya. The road condition of this route was also good. We touched Mandya by 5.00 pm and then took the left turn towards Bangalore (the right was going to Mysore). Stopped at Maddur Tiffiny's at 5.30 pm for eating maddur vada and tea. Spent there almost around 45 mins and then again started towards Bangalore. Saw one accident on Mysore road while coming back to Bangalore. The india taxi had climbed on to the divider on Mysore road and an Innova was to the left side of that road. I did not stop there. Reached my brother's place by 7.50 pm and ultimately to my home by 8.10 pm.

Map at Maddur Tiffany's guiding the tourists/travellers.





My car on way back to Bangalore. Traffic on Mysore road after Mandya on saturday @ 6.20 pm

[snaronikar]

Date visited: 12.04.2009 (Saturday)
What to see: 2 temples - Lord Cheluvanarayana & Lord Yoganarsimha (one on top of the hill) and some places around Melkote.
Who all visited: My family and my elder brother's family.
Distance travelled: 291 kms (house to house)
Route and time taken: While going to Melkote: Bangalore-Maddur-Mandya-Pandavapura-Melukote - 3 1/2 hours (including break for b/fast)-146 kms.
While coming back: Melkote-Shivalli-Mandya-Mandya-Maddur-Bangalore - 3 hours (including stoppng in between for tea)-138 kms.
The balance of 7 kms we roamed in and around Melukote.
Road contition: Good roads on both the routes.
FE: Normal Fuel - HP. Used somewhere around 18 ltrs of petrol for 291 kms. The FE was around 16 kmpl (approx).

Thanks for reading guys.

[kannan666]

Nice travelogue mate with a lot of good pics ! Felt almost as if I made the trip myself !

[Raps]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Date visited: 12.04.2009 (Saturday)
What to see: 2 temples - Lord Cheluvanarayana & Lord Yoganarsimha (one on top of the hill) and some places around Melkote.
Who all visited: My family and my elder brother's family.
Distance travelled: 291 kms (house to house)
Route and time taken: While going to Melkote: Bangalore-Maddur-Mandya-Pandavapura-Melukote - 3 1/2 hours (including break for b/fast)-146 kms.
While coming back: Melkote-Shivalli-Mandya-Mandya-Maddur-Bangalore - 3 hours (including stoppng in between for tea)-138 kms.
The balance of 7 kms we roamed in and around Melukote.
Road contition: Good roads on both the routes.
FE: Normal Fuel - HP. Used somewhere around 18 ltrs of petrol for 291 kms. The FE was around 16 kmpl (approx).

Thanks for reading guys.

Hey Srini,

Noce pics....

If you had gone till Pandavapura, you could have visit a place called "Kere Thonnur" where RamanujaCharya visited this place and wonderful lake. People beleive that this lake at KereThonnur has never dried up till now.

Curious to know that why did you take Pandavapura route, instead you could have taken deviation near Mandya Bus Stand or right after Mandya town.
This is just an info, next time you can take this route, you can save some 30kms.

Cheers,
Raps

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by kannan666

Nice travelogue mate with a lot of good pics ! Felt almost as if I made the trip myself !

Thanks Kannan.

Originally Posted by Raps

Hey Srini,

Noce pics....

If you had gone till Pandavapura, you could have visit a place called "Kere Thonnur" where RamanujaCharya visited this place and wonderful lake. People beleive that this lake at KereThonnur has never dried up till now.

Curious to know that why did you take Pandavapura route, instead you could have taken deviation near Mandya Bus Stand or right after Mandya town.
This is just an info, next time you can take this route, you can save some 30kms.

Cheers,
Raps

Thanks Raps. I went through Pandavpura as I read hotstuff's travelogue and he advised to avoid the route you have mentioned. However, while coming backl from Melkote, I did used the same route yo have mentioned. It has good roads now. The roads are repaired.

Regardng visiting Ramanujacharya's place, there was no time.

[srinath34]

Had been to Melkote on 1st November. Nice calm place for a one day outing. Nice darshan at both temples and included Saravanabelagola as well.

Left Bangalore around 9 AM and reached Melkote around 11.15AM. Took the Mysore road and right deviation after Mandya. Melkote is around 29 KMs after the right turn. Good condition roads with a small hairpin bend at the end of the stretch.

Finished darshan at Cheluvu Narayana temple down and begin our journey to climb up to Yoga Narasimha temple on the rock. Around 120-130 steps. Mom struggled a bit but weather was great so less stops during the climb. Finished the darshan around 2 PM. There was a special pooja going on hence they closed only at 2.30PM (thankfully).

Coming down was quick and we had cucumber and buttermilk that were sold on the way down.

Next was a hunt for a good mess and when asked a few shop owners they diverted us to Subbanna mess. This place was packed even at around 2.45PM. Parceled some puliyogare and sweet pongal and had them near our car park. But it is advisable to carry food if going in a big group. There are lot of spots where one can gather around and have food.

After a quick meal, decided to proceed towards Saravanabelagola, a famous Jain temple. Its 30KM from Melkote. Great winding roads and feels like travelling through a forest reserve. If one is able to read Kannada then routes are clearly mentioned. As myself and my parents are not very quick in deciphering the Kannada script we had to ask locals for directions. Reached around 4PM. The huge monolith status of Gomateshwara(Bahubali) is situated around 660 steps above and my mom sweetly declined to climb. I decided to take the climb and managed to reach on top in 45 mins after a couple of breath stops. The view from the top is mesmerizing. When I just began my descend, it started pouring and was stuck up for close to 30 mins. Once it reduced, descended and had a good cup of tea to beat the all-of-a-sudden chill.

It was around 6 when we begin out journey back to Bangalore. Came to the main road and saw a route via Kunnigal on NH48 which was 143KM. Decided to take it and avoid Mysore road. The first 15-20 KM was bit patchy due to road work. Once the NH48 toll road started it was a dream run. This road is a splendid 6-lane expressway. It can be fully exploited at day time. At night reflectors provide a nice lit-up feel to the drive even though there are no street lights. End of the road there is fee collection of Rs.15 for the Nelamangala-Yesvantpur flyover. Another marvel to drive on. Was surprised to see the low traffic on this usually packed stretch plus Metro work. Had a nice dinner in Malleshwaram and reached home around 1030PM.

All in all a day well spent.

P.S: Sorry snaronikar for hijacking your thead. I did not want repeat posts on the same topic hence thought of using yours. Mods if needed you can move this to another one if found not suitable. Pics of the journey to follow. Kindly excuse the quality of my 2MP mobile cam. This was a sudden trip and cam batteries weren't charged