Trip to Belur

So atlast! , after having dillydallied for some time me and badri decided to go for a short trip around Bangalore.We decided to go to Nijagalbetta, which was about 57 km from Bangalore.Nothing much of a tourist spot but , heck, who wants to be a tourist.The only specialty about the place was a small trek to a temple which was on the top of hill. We were planning to be back in Bangalore by evening 6.00 pm so this particular place was quiet suitable for it .We DECIDED to start early ( as usual ) around 5.30 am from Bangalore and board a bus going towards Tumkur ( we needed ot reach Dobaspet ,which is on the way to Tumkur ).With all the alarms set at 5.30 am we went for a good night sleep. Well!! as it happened the next thing that we knew was getting up at 7.00 am ( hehehe !! ) and figuring out how the hell the alarm didn't go off( well it did go off but some how I managed to shut it ..while still in dream ;-) ) Anyways , we still decided to go (after all what were we going to do in our rooms the whole day !!!)

We reached Majestic Bus Stand at around 8.30 am after a quick breakfast. The bus for Tumkur was supposed to be from platform 16 .But the platform boards were arranged sequentially till 15 then all of sudden the order changed .platform 16 was before platform 1 ;-)

Well after having waited for bus for about 10-15 min ,we decided to alter our plans and instead choose between Belur or Halibedu.As we found more buses going towards Chickmangalur (Belur falls on the way ) we decided to go to Belur ( we had no idea about the distance we thought at max it would be 100 km from Bangalore)

After figuring out that platform no 5 ( buses towards Hasan ,Chickmangalur )was OUTSIDE the enterence of KSRTC bustop , we immediatly boarded a bus for Chickmangalore .The bus started moving and we were figuring out what we will/could do at belur , if any important places were there.Vola !!! in come the conductor and gave us Rs 280 ticket (2 tickets so perhead Rs 140 ) to belur.We were quiet taken aback by the cost and then when we looked at the Distance colomn in the ticket our hearts stopped.
Distance : 220 km

We were laughing at our selves ( were is 57 km and where is 220 km ) so we decided to spend the whole trip in the bus ( both to and fro if we wanted to come back on the same day)
So the trip started at around 9.15 am from majestic and it went on and on and on .
10.15 , 11.15,12.15 ,1.15 ....
















The landscape along the way wasn't very lush and was quiet barren.

Atlast at around 2.00 pm we reached Hasan .Belur is 24km from this place.At around 2.45 we reached our destination ,hungry but excited .

On the way Badri had called up his SOURCES to find out about the place*bellur).We came to know of a famous temple by name of channakeshwara temple known for its sculpture.Also it was supposed to have a rotating pillar ,which we never found though .. may be we might have missed it.




This temple was just 1 km form the bus stop so we headed our way towards it.Also this temple remains closed from 1-3 pm and 5-7 pm.


Some of the subtemples( if u may call so ) were closed and there wasnt much to see in the main temple.There were a lot of equipments for lighting , inside the temple.I guess evening time (after 7 pm) would be the best tiem to visit that temple.



I was amazed at the carvings and sculpture of the temple though most of the sub temples were closed and the main temple had very poor lighting.But atleast from exteriror it looks like a lot of effort had gone in building this temple.

It is said that it took three generations of some king to complete these temples

After take a de tour of the temple for 40 min we headed back towards the bus stop and luckily we found a Bangalore bus waiting.The time was now 3.50 PM .We bought some snacks and stuff on our way back and had a very pleasant evening rid back to bangalore.It was pleasant because the bus was quiet empty and also the evening fadinglight made it more cool and scenic.Also during our journey ( both to and fro ) the bus driver and bus conductors were fighting with each other and it was fun ( time pass ) with people joining in and pitching for both , like two groups fighting ...

Anyways we reached Banglaore by 9.45 PM , had our dinner near majestic and were at our rooms but 11.00 pm .It was a very good day considering the fact that we traveled a total of 480 km in one day and also visited a famous temple. I think the part of the excitiment was becoz it was not planned .I think unplanned trips are more fun than planned ones ;-) You may say we spent 8hrs of travelling for 40 min of temple darshan !!!.... so what after its the journey and not the destination that matters ;-)

You can get more info on places near to Bangalore the below site

http://www.bangaloretrips.info/belur

This is a good site which also shows links to near by places of interest for a particular place.