Mysore, Ooty, Coonor, Madurai, Rameswaram Trip

We started our journey from Kolkata. On 10th Jan (Friday) 4 pm we boarded Howrah-Mysore weekly express and reached Mysore on 12Jan (Sunday) at 4.30AM. We checked in at Blue Moon Residency hotel at 7AM (previously booked from internet).

12 Jan 2014 : Mysore palace, Mysore
After having lunch we went to Mysore palace at 2.30 pm. Took some photos outside the palace. Then went inside the palace after keeping our cameras at counter (free). Saw various stone works, Raj darbar and Raj sinhasan which is made of with 250 kg of gold. Outside the palace and in front of the garden took some beautiful photos. Best thing we saw at 7 PM, whole palace was lighted since it was Sunday. Back to our hotel and had our dinner.

Mysore Palace, Mysore @Sunday night

13 Jan 2014 : St. Philomena's Church, Mysore
In the afternoon (5pm-6pm) we visited the St. Philomena's Church.

14 Jan 2014 : Srirangapatna, Mysore
In the afternoon (3pm- 6.30pm) we went to Srirangapatna and visit following places.
1. Daria Daulat Bagh - The summer palace of Tipu Sultan. This palace is built mainly of teakwood.
2. Gumbaz - This is the mausoleum of Tippu Sultan, his father Hyder Ali and mother Fathima Begum.
3. Sangam - The place where the river Loakpavani joins the river Cauvery.
4. Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary - The Sanctuary is situated at 4 Kms from Srirangapatna. It is an island on the river Cauvery. We boarded a guided boat and saw large number of migratory birds, crocodiles and bats. This is a must see place.
5. Lal mahal - Tipu's residence. But it was completely demolished.
6. Tipu's Death Place - The body of Tipu Sultan was found here.
7. Juma Majid - This is built by Tipu Sultan.

Fort & Ranganathaswamy Temple - These places we could not visit. Fort was closed.

Sangam @ Srirangapatna, Mysore

 

Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, pic1

 

Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, pic2

Ranganathittu Bird Sanctuary, pic3

15 Jan 2014: Mysore Zoo, Mysore
We visited Mysore zoo during the afternoon (4.30pm-6.30pm). It is 3km from Mysore city bus stand. Saw many animals. The zoo is well organized and takes you throughout the zoo without any confusions.

@Mysore Zoo, Mysore

16 Jan 2014 : Ooty, Tamil Nadu.
Started from Mysore at 8.30 AM in a tourist bus. Saw deer, elephants while crossing Bandipur wild life sanctuary and Madhumlai wild life sanctuary. Stopped at Ooty lake and did boating. Took some photos over there. Went to Ooty botanical garden and then rose garden. Stayed at JLG hotel, Ooty.
 

Ooty Lake @ Ooty, Tamilnadu

Thread Garden @Ooty, Tamilnadu

17 Jan 2014 :  Coonoor, The Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu.
In the morning we boarded a tourist bus to Coonor. We saw following places at Coonor.
1. Sim's park- We saw many naturally occurring trees and unusual species of plants.
2. Dolphin's Nose -  Catherin Water Falls View can be seen from here, but we could not see that because it was foggy.
3. Lamb's Rock - It is view point situated at Nilgiri hills, Coimbatore city can be seen from here but we couldn't view the same because it was foggy.
4. Tea garden - While going to Lamb's rock we visit Tea garden. Bought teas (Masala tea and Chocolate tea).
From Coonoor we went to Coimbatore by Tamilnadu state transport bus. At night we stayed at Coimbatore Hotel Aiba Regency, near to railway station.
                                                                                                                             
18 Jan 2014 : Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple, Madurai, Tamil nadu.
In the morning, From Coimbatore we boarded the train to Madurai and get down at Madurai Junction railway station. Meenakshi Temple is 1 km from Madurai Junction. We visited the temple after waiting in a long queue.
The temple complex is within a high-walled enclosure, at the core of which are the two sanctums for Meenakshi (Parvati) and Sundareshwara (Shiva), surrounded by a number of smaller shrines and grand pillared halls.

We had our lunch in a vegetarian restaurant. (though food was horrible). After that we boarded a passenger train to Rameswaram. We reached Rameswaram at night and stayed in the hotel Tamilnadu (TTDC).

19 Jan 2014 : Rameswaram, Tamil nadu.
We had our complementary breakfast in the hotel Tamilnadu. Then visited following places.
1. Sri Ramanathaswamy Temple : Very big Shiva Temple. According to Hindu epic Ramayana, Rama, prayed to Shiva here to absolve any sins that he might have committed during his war against the demon-king Ravana in Sri Lanka.
2. Agnitheertham : Its a unique type of sea shore of Bay of Bengal. The sea is very calm and quite. Taking bath in Agnitheertham is considered very very holy. Pilgrims are advised to first take bath in Agnitheertham and then only they should take bath in other 22 tirthams (22 wells in the temple). 
3. Dhanushkodi (18 km) :  This is last point of Rameswaram and very close to Srilanka. This place is Amazing because you feel a different experience. One side of road is Bay of Bengal and other side of road is Indian ocean. It is about 14 kms by bus and another 6 kms by local mini bus driven by local people. We can see the remains of the town which was vanished by cyclone in 1964. There we visited the Hanuman temple and saw few stones those are floating in water are kept there.
4. Annai Indira Gandhi Road Bridge (12 km) : This long bridge connects Rameshwaram Island to main land of India.  This bridge runs parallel to a railway bridge.

During evening we boarded a passenger train from Rameswaram to Madurai. We stayed in a hotel at Madurai.

Floating Stones @ Hanuman temple, Dhanushkodi, Rameswaram, Tamilnadu

Remains of the town which was vanished by cyclone in 1964, Dhanushkodi, Rameswaram, Tamilnadu

Annai Indira Gandhi Road Bridge @ Rameswaram, Tamilnadu

20 Jan 2014 : In the early morning we boarded a train from Madurai to Chennai (train journey was painful because we didn't have our reserved tickets). After 7 hours of painful journey we reached Chennai.
At night we boarded Chennai-Howrah mail (had our confirmed reservation). Reached Howrah.

Siridi Nasik Trip

We boarded the train (BBS-LTT express) from Cuttack station on 3rd October at 7.40AM. Our train was on time. We were five people. We reached at Manmad station next day morning around 8AM. Siridi is around 55 km from Manmad, so we took a cab from Manmad station to Siridi. The journey took around 2 hours. We enjoyed natural seeneries, mountains through out the journey. In the middle of our journey we had our breakfast in a dhaba. The food was good. We reached at siridi around 11AM.

At Siridi:  

We checked in Dwarawati, a hotel of Sai Baba Sansthan, previously booked online. The room was very clean and reasonable, Rs 500 per day. Our darshan tickets were booked for 4 PM. Darshan queue was not so long as our tickets were booked online. Our darshan was over in 15 minutes. There was a big beautiful statue of Baba at Samadhi Mandir. We visited other spots like

1. Dwarakamai Masjid. 

2. Gurustan - Neem tree where Baba was first spotted.

3. Chavadi - Chavadi is a small building which is famous because Sai Baba used to spend every alternate night in this place. 

4. Lendi  Baug - Lendi Baug is a beautiful garden which was made by Sri Sai Baba, where you will find a lamp that is kept burning throughout the day and night. 

The above spots are present inside the temple periphery. There was a small market, in which many things like statue, photos, pendents of Sai Baba are available. We had booked online tickets for night Aarati which is called SEJA AARATI. The Aarati was started at 10.30PM, where priests changed the clothes of Baba, made Aarati and sang bhajans of Baba. After that we back to our hotel.

Note:- It would have been better if we have booked the evening Arati ticket so that both Darshan and Aarati would have been over during same visit to temple.

At Nasik:

The next day we planed to go to Nasik. We booked a cab to Nasik which was available outside the hotel. The fair of the cab was Rs 2200/- that was a Travera. We started for Nasik at 9AM. The journey was very beautiful and full of natural beauties. Nasik is around 122 km from Siridi. We visited following places at Nasik.

1. Tryambkeshwar Temple -  It is a jyotirling. Very old and beautiful temple of Sivji. Then we took our lunch in a hotel.

2. Godavari ghat -  The divine look of river Godavari, there are also many temples. We took beautiful snaps there. 

3. Panchabati - Which is walkable distance from Godavari Ghat. Panchabati is the place where Lord Ram and Sita stay during their 14 years of exile. There we saw Gora Ram Mandir, Kala Ram Mandir and Sita Cave. Sita cave is a cave made by Lord Ram for Devi Sita to protect her. We went through the cave. The passage was very narrow but it is a great feeling. 

4. Muktidham - like birla temple of Delhi (unable to visit).

Note:- Since Muktidham is closed for some time during evening, it is better to visit first while going to Nasik. Then we back to Siridi after a long 4 hours of journey.

Next day we checked out at 11AM. Our train (Siridi - BBS special) was at 1PM from Sai Nagar station. We reached Bhubaneswar station next day at 9PM. Our trip to Siridi and Nasik was very memorable and we enjoyed very much. 

Note:- The Sai Nagar station is a very small station, so it better to have your lunch before going to station.