Monday, October 25, 2010

Mumbai - Hubbali - Bengaluru - A road trip

Drove down to Bengaluru last week and no this is not about a boring drive down the superb NH4, part of the Golden Quadrilateral. Am aware that everyone and his dog have been there and done that. Hence i decided to do this drive slightly differently. Since the rains were around till quite late this time, the greenery on both sides of the highway was soothing. Added to that was the burst of colour in the median. Just before reaching Satara there was this beautiful sight. No idea which flower this is but it did brighten up a cloudy day! Had heard about a lot of unexplored temples near Hubbali so decided to stop over at Hubbali before continuing ahead.
Hotel Swathi in Hubli - we stayed here. and ate 'Rava idli' and 'Palak Dosa' in Swathi restaurant
Did a bit of walking around in Hubbali in the evening and captured some interesting sights.
Durga Mata Mandir There are 2 idols in the temple - Dhammamma(left) and Durga Mata(right) A bylane Mishra Pedha - The most famous and trusted sweetmeat shop in Hubbali The array of sweets on sale Hubbali florists Shiva Krishna Mandir in Hubbali ShreeKrishna idol in the temple The Hubli Dharwad Municipal Corporation office The Hubbali skyline at dusk viewed from the Hotel Swathi
Early next morning left for Bengaluru via Gadag. Saw two beautiful temples on the way. The first one, Amruteshwar, was 35kms from Hubbali in Annegiri. The Amruteshwara Temple was built in the Dharwad District in 1050 CE with Dravida articulation, and was the first temple made of soapstone. Built in the Kalyani Chalukyas style, the temple has a roof supported by 76 pillars and carvings of mythological figures on its walls. Next was the Someshwar temple in Lakshmeshwar which is another hour’s drive from Annigeri. The temple complex with three main entrances and surrounded by high walls looks like a fort. It is a splendid specimen of Chalukya architecture. In middle of the Temple complex, there is a Someshwara temple, surrounded by many small temples mainly dedicated to Shiva, along the compound wall, built with granite, some Halls in the complex meant for resting devotees. The Nandi and Shiva Parvati idols in the temple are exquisitely sculpted. These idols are referred to as Saurashtra Someshwara because these idols were brought by a Shiva devotee from Saurashtra and installed at Lakshmeshwara. There were some more temples that needed to be visited but due paucity of time we moved on to the glorious NH4 onward to Bengaluru. On the way had to meet up with a budding novelist, a great story teller and a fellow blogger – Karthik, in Davangere. We had scheduled to have some Davangere special ‘Benne Doasas’ in a restaurant that he had written about in one of his stories but unfortunately there was some strike on in town, hence just met up with him for a short while before continuing onward to our destination. Karthik blogs at Eloquence Redefined In quite a few places along the highway there was corn spread out to dry. We reached the outskirts of Bengaluru at six in the evening but it took us another hour and a half to crawl through the congested streets before reaching Malleshwaram, a beautiful laid back area in Bengaluru.

22 comments:

  1. Last month we wanted to do this route but since we also wanted to enjoy the places en route more than the destination, we fell short of time.

    Some other time....

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  2. The rains have worked their magic this year. Even Gurgaon looks beautiful with the "Cestrum nocturnum-Raat Ki Raani"trees in full bloom.

    Loved the temple shots and the Dosa pics made me hungry :))

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  3. nice shots...i def want to go there now

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  4. Informative post and lovely pics.
    My personal favourites the "rava idli" and the "florists"

    Thanks for sharing

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  5. Informative post and lovely pics.
    My personal favourites the "rava idli" and the "florists"

    Thanks for sharing

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  6. Did not know Hubli had so much to offer. Gr8 pics..... a perfect photo blog. Will look out for this road trip if possible :)

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  7. deepak sir wowo, mujhe bhi karna hai yeh road trip
    and you met karthik wow, is that him in the pic.. excellent i too have to meet him :)

    god willing 2011 will be my lucky year when i get to meet everyone ..

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  8. Thanks for taking us to those fabulous places!

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  9. Thanks for the terrific tour! What marvelous places you visited! Love your photos as always!

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  10. I was enraptured reading this, Deepak, and seeing the incredible photographs. It refreshes me so much to see the beauty of India, its temples and the intricacy of them, the colorful deities and to share in your travels.

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  11. Very informative blog. It felt like I was making this journey myself, it was so descriptive and the photos are brilliant. Thanks for sharing.

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  12. Thankyou so much for the link Deepakji or I would have missed out on such a brilliant travelogue.
    I am glad, true to ur spirit for life, you havent made this a boring travelogue like others.
    You've made it more of a visual treat!
    How beautiful is our south and it is rich in treats for a foody's tummy (like mine)too..:D
    Awesome travelogue!
    PS: Thanks for a glimpse of the celebrity blogger!!! ;)

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  13. what a wonderful montage!You bring alive the everyday,the ancient and the exotic together and put a smile on the readers faces!

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  14. great trip , nice to hear that you were in my hometown bangalore off course . Nice pics

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  15. Wonderful captures, I am sure great memories for you. :)

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  16. I wish I could go to road trips with my mirror image-fellow blogger---yours one was really cool-just like a kin observant.

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  17. I've driven Bangalore-Kolhapur but didn't deviate from main road to visit nearby places.. Next time I should...

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  18. Thanks for taking us around sitting before the PC!

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  19. truly magical and informative series of clicks.

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  20. I can see why you took so much time off. Glad to see the road trip to Bengaluru was scenic, and if I was there, I would have ate far more dosais and idlis - something that I ate plenty of while I was on holiday this time!

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  21. hehehe..... good to c hubballi captured by ur lens...! i stay at hubli..... :)

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  22. Should have included NH4 highway photograph. Especially between Belgaum and Kolhapur. This stretch is very beautiful. Close to Hubli on the way to Bengalore, there is place called Savanur where in there is ODD bottle shaped tree. Worth seeing this tree. In Hubli should have visited Mursavir Math and Ulsoor lake.

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