4000 km Karnataka and Maharashtra tour in a Skoda Superb

Since I’d already finished my university applications, it was decided that hitting the road in order to fill up a couple of weeks of it was called for.

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Prologue:

In the first week of March 2024, I finished my last ever board exam. A sense of finality seeped into every corner of the room as the invigilator collected our papers. That little moment marked my entrance into the void between school and university. Since I’d already finished my university applications, it was decided that hitting the road in order to fill up a couple of weeks of it was called for. 

To facilitate the same, we once again decided to consult our list of half-formed plans from the past and made them see the light of day. Twice. That’s right, we went on two road trips in a single month! In the first one, we headed south to Bangalore, stopping at Nandi Hills on the way, and then onward to Coorg. Meanwhile in the second one, we headed west to Pune, later visiting Mahabaleshwar and then making a last-minute plan to visit Shirdi.

Coorg is a place which we’ve thought about visiting many, many times, but a concrete plan for the same never really materialised. Hence on this opportunity, we planned this drive without even a second thought. Additionally, Bangalore still had places left unexplored during the last trip, which, in addition to visiting relatives as usual, gave us things to do there too. So, we spent a few leisurely days roaming Bangalore before departing for Coorg.

Total distance covered: ~4,000 kilometres.

The car: A 2021 Škoda Superb L&K.

Photography equipment: My Redmi 9 Prime (and on occasion, a Redmi Note 11 Pro).

Route 1:

Route 2:

On to the travelogue!

To Bangalore and Nandi Hills:

The drive from Hyderabad to Bangalore remains as pleasurable as ever. Great roads 99% of the way, barring a couple of short diversions. The Superb's right at home on these long, spirited inter-city drives.

A detour to Nandi Hills:

Being regulars on this route, we decided to spice things up a little and visit Nandi Hills this time. It’s a short detour off NH-44 on the way to Bangalore. It includes a pretty enjoyable twisty section towards the end. The fact that we were tailed by a delicious silver W124 made it even better. 

What a view!

A history lesson:

The next day, we decided to visit Tipu Sultan’s summer palace. Located within the boundaries of the Bangalore Fort and completed in 1791, this was as the name suggests, Tipu Sultan’s summer retreat.

Quite the contrast here, in front of a much more modern building.

The palace is a glimpse into Indo-Islamic architecture. The entire structure is built out of teak and is supported by ornate wooden columns with golden detailing. This is one of the balconies from which Tipu Sultan is said to have held court.

On the ground floor of this palace is a very interesting display of Mysorean rockets. The Mysorean army was a pioneer of rocket technology; they army put these rockets to very good use against the East India Company in the late 18th century. These advanced (for the time) rockets had ranges of nearly a kilometre, and their destructive capacity caused utter chaos, with a deluge of these hindering the advancement of British troops.

Visiting Lalbagh (finally):

This was one of those places we hadn't visited yet. It got very pleasant in the evening and plenty of birds kept us company throughout.

Here’s the sun peeking through the trees as it got low in the sky.

A museum of music:

Another place that any music lover absolutely HAS to visit in Bangalore is the Indian Music Experience Museum . It has an incredible amount of video and audio samples of every genre and subgenre of Indian music possible, across Hindustani and Carnatic styles, down to even individual “Gharanas.” It is all explained in crystal clear ways and can be understood by even the uninitiated.

Reviewing everything about this place would result in a massive text wall, so here are a few pictures. Definitely, definitely worth a visit!

Towards the end, there is also a fabulous collection of vintage technology, from gramophones to cassettes, Walkmans and CDs. Here’s a wall full of radios spanning decades!

And as a bonus, here’s a wall full of film rolls. 

There’s even a small recording room where you can record your own voice singing along to pre-set tracks, and then play it back with different filters or in different musical styles. Really cool stuff, you can spend half a day here without getting bored. This place gets a solid 10/10 from me.

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