Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Nandi Hills by Our Car


Bought a Santro car! So, what next? It was December 26th, 2010, sunday. Dialed some buddies to go for Nandi Hills. But none was free but that didn't stop me and my wife from going. We left our home at 7 a.m. and thought to drive for sometime before breakfast. We didn't stop by any hotel till we cross Hebbal and once we crossed, we didn't find any! We crossed BIAL deviation and took left at Devanahalli and one more left (I don't remember the place' name) reached Nandi cross. On this road we spotted some tea shops with bread and buns but no hotel. Finally when we turned right just before 3-4 km from Nandi hills, we found a hotel. We had a tasty breakfast there. Those who start early from Bangalore can have breakfast here - after Nandi cross. By the time we finished breakfast, there was no fog and sky was clear. Reached Nandi Hills and paying car fee went on top of hills and parked the car. Here there is one more hotel 'Ranjitha'. Though we didn't have anything there, that looked average if you are too hungry.

View on the way to Nandi Hills


On the way to Nandi Hills


All the way from Hebbal till Nandi Hills, there were too many cyclists cycling. It looked to me they were all part of some cycling club since they knew each other. Their age ranged from 18-20 to 60-65! The road after Nandi cross till Nandi Hills has many hair pin curves and it gives great pleasure in driving. At the same time, one has to be very careful since at many places vehicles coming down would come at higher speeds and left side of the road is very steep and dangerous.

Nandi Hills map

I am not going to write much about the places on top of Nandi Hills or its background since one would get any number of websites stating about all the places of interests to tourists and their significance. I am just writing my experience. There are many stories why it got the name Nandi Hills. But what is unambigous is Tippu used it as his summer palace. There is a fort (also called Nandidurga) covering hilltop and you need to enter inside (two wheelers not allowed). One point here is for those who want to go by two wheeler, most of two wheelers get punctured there and there is a puncture shop! Anyway, we did see following.

View from Tippu Drop

* Fort - You need to enter through it.
* Temple - Nice temples with only stones (both walls and pillars) and Kalyani (pond)
* Tippu Drop - Fantastic view point and with good camera, excellent panoramic photographs can be captured. This is where prisoners were thrown from.
* Children's playground - Not much to write about it
* Amruth Sarovar - With lot of fish including one with golden orange colour
* Tippu's summer palace - Entry barred to public, we could see only from outside

Amrutha Sarovara - spot the golden coloured fish

Tippu's Summer palace
Places which were not interested
* Nehru Nilaya - Nehru used to stay and now it is guest house of horticulture dept. of India
* River sources - Mostly dried up
* Secret Escape route - Came to know about it only when came back

We started at around 11 30 and stopped by the same hotel where we had breakfast and reached Bangalore for lunch.

6 comments:

Aravind GJ said...

Looks like you had a nice time driving your new car.

Enjoy maadi!!

Gowtham said...

Yup :-)

Deguide said...

Gautham that was nice description of your trip to Nandi Hills, did you check out Bhoginandieswara temple on the otherside of Nandi Hills

Sujatha Sathya said...

i have been to Nandi Hills but somehow don't remember seeing the golden fish

like the part where you wrote didnt stop for breakfast & then when you wanted to stop, no hotels :))
yes, many times when we travel it happens so. we keep saying "inu swalpa mundey nilsana" & then :(


pls remove word verification for comments

Gowtham said...

@Deguide, Thanks for dropping by.
I didn't check out Bhoga Nandeeshwara temple on the other side but heard it was very nice and worth visiting.

Gowtham said...

@Sujatha, Thanks for dropping by.
Might be the fish was born or brought later!
I agree, on an unknown route, whether you are hungry or not, you should have something when you see a hotel.
There were some spam comments in the past and so, I kept word verification.