A weekend trip to kalasa, Chickmagalur

Lil P was not in town + a long weekend = opportunity not to be missed. So when friends suggested that we go for a trip we jumped at the idea! and Chickmagalur trip happened! .. 3 families, one kid, 2 cars left bangalore at 4.30 AM .. We had breakfast at hassan and reached our first destination Belur at 10.30.. Thats when we saw a small deviation to doddagaddavali (1Km before belur), a village popular for the 12th century Lakshmi Devi temple ..

Lakshmidevi temple of Doddagaddavalli is noteworthy and interesting for many reasons.

First of all its settings. The temple is built on the side of a large pond. In fact as you reach Doddagaddavalli, the sprawling lake appears on your left much before you enter the village.
Secondly, though it is one of the oldest temples in Karnataka, the Lakshmidevi temple is in an amazingly well preserved condition.Thirdly, the shrines contain both Vaishnava and Shaiva deities, namely Lakshmi, Siva, Vishnu and Kali. By now the other car had well overtaken us and had reached belur..

Amazing amazing architecture .. and the eye for detail. The 48 Shilabalike, the 438 Elephants, 32 corner temple, the deepa stumba, the mohini avatar Vishnu Idol, the fashion parade, the stories from mahabharata all had us spell bound. The guide got us so engrossed in the history and architechture that we did not realize it was already 12.30!!

From here we started towards our resort which was another 2 hour drive. The place was soooooo scenic!! Endless hills, green fields, waterfalls & rivulets at every bend.. acres and acres of tea & coffeee plantations.

The cottage in itself was quite sparse [ Just a bed, a TV and the bathroom] but the pool, the food , the service was excellent and made up for all the other shortcomings.

Some of the fun things we did over the 2 days that we stayed there- Had an early morning trek to a view point nearby, visited kalasa temple & hornadu temple, Checked the iron ore silt deposits at kudremukh, Lakhya dam, watched the sunset from Duggapana Katte, Tea estates, somawathi falls, went swinging on the hanging bridge…

This was the 3rd time after our marriage that we had gone for a picnic without Lil P ..[the 1st was our honeymoon]. It is tough being parents all the time, its not like we don’t enjoy going out with Lil P, but somewhere along the way u need constant reminders abt what joy it is to be just husband and wife! This was one. It was refreshing to just drive without worrying abt Lil P getting motion sickness, to eat at any roadside place without worrying abt Lil P asking for the food and then having an allergic reaction.. Well u get my point! We’ve enjoyed it .. holding hands.. cuddling up.. sleeping in late.. reading a novel.. in all

‘A Perfect Holiday!!’

Leaving you guys with a fav pic of mine… enjoy!

More pics here and here

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