Continued from Part1...
I to started from Bangalore on 25th December 2014 and the covered Kalasa, Hornadu, Ambuthirtha, Kuduremukh, Hanumangundi Falls, Shringeri, Karkala and reached Udupi at sunset time on Day 2. To recap, this is the route map and itinerary I followed.
DAY 1 : Bangalore - Kalasa - Hornadu - Silent Valley Resort
DAY 2 : Silent Valley Resort - Kudremukh National Park - Hanumangundi Falls - Shringeri - Karkala - Udupi
DAY 3 : Udupi - Kateel - Moodbidri - Dharmasthala - Kukke Subrahmanya
DAY 4 : Kukke Subrahmanya - Sakleshpur - Bangalore
NOTE: Click on photos to enlarge
DAY 3
After an excellent continental breakfast at Fortune Inn on the morning of 27th January we headed to Malpe Beach again. We had enquired earlier regarding the ferry timings to the St. Mary's Island which is a small island (about a square mile area) located off the cost of Malpe Beach. Here's a link to the local tourist office for more information. It takes about a 20-25 minute boat ride to get there and there are private ferries plying every half an hour to the island. The boat waits an hour to ferry you back to Malpe beach and one round trip costs Rs.150/- per head.
The island is noted for its famous columnar basaltic lava rocks which have crystallized into columns and split into hexagonal mosaic. This is the only place in India where basaltic rocks show up such peculiar formation and many geological studies have been conducted about this formation.
The biggest of the islands has a beach that is full of shells and some of these shells are still being weathered by sea tides overtime to form sand eventually. Many folks were collecting shells of various hues and colours. However one must be warned, the tides are too strong and the rocks very sharp and slippery. The beach here cannot be enjoyed for swimming as it gets steep quickly however one can enjoy the getting wet in the waves on the clean beaches. The island is speckled with coconut trees, and small huts to shelter from the sun but there are no stores so do carry some food and water if you want to picnic here.
We checked out of Fortune Inn later that afternoon and headed to Durga Parameshwari temple at Kateel. The temple is situated on an islet in the middle of river Nandini. There is quite a spiritual legend associated with this temple and town and I will leave it you to read it here. We made a quick stopover at Moodabidri at around 3:00PM noon to see the famous thousand Pillar temple (Saavira Kambada Basadi).
From there we drove to Dharmastala and reached there by around 4:30PM. Dharmastala Temple however has very specific Darshan timings and devotees are not allowed into temple at other times. I suggest you take a look at the Dharshan timings from their website. Also the Darshan and pooja timings are vary according to time of the year. There are many enquiry and information centres setup in the temple vicinity. We hadn't anticipated this and were stuck in the special darshan queue for the 7:00PM night darshan. The special darhshan ticket costs Rs.200/- and I strongly recommend it if you are short on time and it comes with prasadam as part of the entry free.
Immediately after the darshan at Dharmastala temple we immediately left by around 8:00PM to Kukke Subrahmanya where we had booked Vijaya comforts for our overnight stay. The distance from Dharmastala to Kukke is about 70kms and takes about 1.5 hours. Night driving in semi-ghat type terrain with some steep curves and narrow roads was challenging and ideally should be avoided if possible.
We reached Kukke by around 10:00PM. We checked-in to our room on the 5th floor which had great view of the Nethravathi river and every room here had a balcony. The rooms are clean/well-maintained and additionally the hotel has an adjoining restaurant which servers good food. A room here with extra bed cost Rs.2600/- (base rent Rs.1600/-) including tax per night.
Next morning we were visited the Kukke Subrahmanya temple.
Today would mostly be spent in the long drive back to Bangalore. Along the way we would stop at Manjarabad Fort in Sakleshpur. We took the Shiradi ghat route from Kukke to Sakleshpur. The road was to be closed in a couple of days for repair according to notices on the road. The road was in really bad condition and has heavy traffic of large vehicles (busses, trucks). This combined with the several sharp turns made the drive a dreadful experience though it was broad daylight. Hopefully the woes have been addressed as I read a news update saying the ghat was infact closed for repairs a couple of days after my return to Bangalore.
We reached star shaped Manjarabad Fort by noon. It was constructed by Tippu Sultan as strategic defence as it commands a complete view of the surrounding hills. It takes climbing a fleet of steps up the hill to reach the fort which is now in ruins but still has its outer walls and watch points which provide majestic view of the surrounding greenery covered hills. Shamefully tourists have further desecrated the walls with scratched names and writings which paints a sorry story for the fort. For us it provided the perfect way to close the wonderful 4 day journey to the Dakshina Karnataka region with refreshing cool breeze blowing through our hair. From there it took around three and half hours to get back to Bangalore.
This completes the 4 day travelogue of Dakshina Kannada region. Feel free to ask me if you need any other specific details in the comments section below.
