One day trip to Shravanabelagola, Belur and Halebidu. Recently my cousin visited me in Bangalore after a long time during his semester break. His main intention is to explore the Bangalore city but since he is new to city he didn’t roamed much without me and I have got time only in weekend. So that’s why we decided to go to some surrounding tourist places around Bangalore in weekend. We did a lot of research on places but none of it worth in a short span, because most of the places requires a more days and people to have fun like trekking. Luckily through one of the travelogue we found about this one day trip to Shravanabelagola, Belur and Halibeedu.
I heard about these places but never visited, that’s it we fixed on it. And I was quite amazed that we can cover all those 3 places in 1 day with the help of KSTDC(a state tourism board). If you don’t have proper time to plan and travel, this is best one for you .Trip is simple no need to plan anything from your side rather booking a ticket, rest all they will take care. we booked it for Sunday through online, though it was showing Normal, AC, Volvo buses. Currently they are operating only 2 types of buses that is normal Deluxe in weekdays and Deluxe AC on weekend Sunday. Don’t expect much from the bus as it is not a Volvo. And one draw back here is they don’t have any other pickup points anywhere in city and we need to reach Badam house by early morning 6:30 AM. If you have vehicle its fine or else you should start bit early to reach on time. They are also having some other 1 day trips like Mysore, Hogennikal and all. I never expected those many people for these trips. Bus is full and we started to Shravanabelagola as starting place. In between around 8:30 AM they will give you a 1/2 hour break for breakfast in one of their KSTDC hotels.
Since its mid of monsoon the route is picturesque fully surrounding with coconut trees and other plantation. It’s bit cloudy and we enjoyed the drive like anything. Just in 1 hour we reached the small village called Shravanabelagola where you will see all these huge Jain Constructions of Bahubali and other few Jain rulers.
After reaching the main spot the bus conductor came gave us a small info like where to start and how to come back and also he gave us 1hr time to cover that entire place which is very less for that place. And here is few pics from the place….
After Shravanabelagola we started back to Belur which comes under Hassan district. In between we had a break about 1 hour for having lunch in one of their hotels in Belur.After having food we visited one of the Hoysala Temple is Belur.
This temple is one of the finest example of Hoysala architecture which is completely dedicated to Lord Chennakesava(Vishnu). And this entire construction is not done separately with any material separately rather it was completely rock-cut into those shapes. Means they will take a big stone and carve that into those shapes.The two main persons who contributed most in this construction are Amarashilpi Jakana and his son Dakana. As per the guide it took nearly 100 years to complete this temple. And it was said that Belur Temple is treated as a complete finished temple where as Halebidu which is 15 KM away from Belur is not fully complete one.
Belur is more good from inside where as Halebidu was more good at outside. Our guide explained each and every design/carvings in and out of the temple. Due to 1 day trip we have only 1 hour for that temple which is very less.Most of the time went for that explanation it-self. We hardly have some time to take pictures. My advice is if you want to know the complete history of both the temples better allocate 1 complete day for these 2 places.
Halebidu which is 15 km away from Belur is another example of Hoysala Architecture where this temple is dedicated to Lord Hoysaleshawara and Kedareshwara(Shiva).You will see lot more architecture in these temples compared to Belur but so many are destroyed during 14th century by Muslim rulers and local vandalism. Here also guide will explain you the complete history of Halebidu. Better take a guide to know completely about the temples. Without knowing the history of those 2 places it’s really waste of going there . At last we started back to Bangalore by evening 6 PM and we reached by night 9:30. Here is the few snaps from those 2 places
Sarath Chandra 