Usually I celebrate Pongal in my native Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu in a very traditional way. This year thought of staying back in Bangalore and celebrate it here. Invited my parents and brother’s families here to bangalore. So, once after completing the pongal celebrations at home, we all decided to drive down to a very famous place in Karnataka which fascinates all the tourists by its stupendous architecture and sculptures. Belur and Halebidu are one of the most renowned tourist places around Bangalore and that’s where we drove to.
Day 1 :
Started from Bangalore by around 12:45PM, took a short lunch break after crossing Nelmangala- to have the packed lunch and marched ahead in full swing towards our accomodation in Hotel Raama, located in Hassan which is about 198 KM away from Bangalore. After reaching Udayapur, which is 20 KM ahead of Hassan, took a short tea break in Adyar Ananda Bhavan and managed to reach the hotel by 5 PM. The entire stretch of road from Bangalore till Hassan was neat and smooth.Except for a few kms, it was a 4 lane road all throughout. There are 4 toll gates before you reach Hassan, which would charge Rs. 41, 41, 40 and 30. The hotel was really good, and economical (compared to many other hotels of similar price in Bangalore). Food was served from the restaurant (Swaad restaurant) attached to that hotel and it was super delicious. That evening, we went to the famous Hasanamba temple which is in very proximity to the hotel, came back and had dinner and crashed out.
Day 2 :
Planned to leave as early as 8:30 AM from the hotel to visit Belur, but as with every plan, finally managed to leave the hotel by around 10:30 AM. Belur was only 31 odd kms from the hotel, and the route was pretty straightforward. We reached the temple around 11:15 AM or so. As soon as we enter the temple, we all were completely awestruck by the architecture of the temple. The Star shaped temple (which we had never seen before) completely blew us all away. The main deity in the temple is Sri. Chennakesava, had a quick darshan and started exploring the temple. You can take a guide in the temple which will cost you about Rs.300/- and its prepaid and you will be given with a receipt for the payment. We also took a guide and he did an excellent job in explaining each and every speciality of the architecture and sculptures. By the time, he completed we all were completely spellbound and were in great shock looking at this amazing masterpiece.
We left from Belur by 1:30 PM and set out to Halebidu which is about 16 KM from there. The road to Halebidu had some rough patches here and there, but overall it wasn’t a very bad driving experience. We reached Halebidu by 2:00 PM went to a small hotel named Hotel Krishna and munched something and then entered the halebidu temple. The main deity here is Sri. Hoysalaeshwara, and this temple is declared as Archealogical monument and there are no regular pooja happening in this temple. Again, this temple is another showcase of exemplary workmanship by the Hoysala architects/sculptors. Since, this is more of a monument/tourist attraction the area around this temple was pretty neatly maintained. It had neatly horticultured plants and lawn surrounding the temple. There was also a small museum of sculptures within the temple premises.
Halebidu has one more temple of similar style which was built for Sri. Kedareshwara. This temple was supposed to be the first one to have built by the Hoysala empire followed by a Jain temple located a few meters before this temple, followed by Hoysaleswara temple, followed by the Belur Chennakesava temple. But, this temple is not visited by many tourists, so this still has a lot of sculptures maintained in good condition
Left from Halebidu by about 5:15 PM and stopped by Kamat Upachar in Udaipur for a short tea break – which turned out to a longer break than we expected cos of those crazy hotel guys – and resumed the journey back to Bangalore by 6:30 PM. By the time we reached bangalore, it was 9:15 PM had dinner on the way and reached back home by 10:30 PM.Overall, this trip was very special and breathtaking for all of us.Though we have a seen a lot of old temples in Tamilnadu before, the temples we visited now were completely different and left us all spellbound. Clicked a lot of photos of the sculptures in this temple and returned back with some awesome memories.
- Origin -> Kaggadasapura, Bangalore
- Destination -> Belur, Halebidu Hassan
- Roundtrip : 480 KMS
- Route : Bangalore –> Nelmangala –> Hassan –> Belur –> Halebidu –> Hassan –> Nelmangala –> Bangalore
- Toll charges -> 41, 41, 40, 30
- Cars : Xcent and Grand i10
- Accomodation : Hotel Raama, Hassan
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