Sep 06, 2009 05:14 PM
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Depsite rains, we went to murudeshwar this weekend and found nirvana there.
To begin with the drive from bangalore to murudeshwar was simply awesome; thanks to the karnataka govt for laying out potholed roads which slowed down my pace considerably meant given me an oppurtunity to enjoy the pictureseque landscape on the way.
Let me write in brief about the road condition and all. We began the journey (two of us in i10) from bangalore at 5am, through the neelamangala, onto tumkar cut into tiptur, ariskere, shivamoga, sagar, honavar, and finally at murdeshwar at 2pm. Road contion from bangalore until arisekere is excellent, and then there is a nightmarish road between bhadravati and shimoga...
After shimoga the road condition improves little and overall its a pleasant ride until sagar. From sagar where the western ghats begin and although it is an national highway you rarely spot another vehicle until honavar, the pace slows down completely here in the ghats, but it consists of scenic views, and you just can't stop admiring the nature. By the way on the return back, we stopped at jog falls(25kms from Sagar), and it was nice experience there, thanks to the heavy downpours the falls were great, was able to catch glimpses of the falls as most of the time, its the clouds which hover the falls, and give your few second chances before they disintegrate and reappear back :-).
At murudeshwar, we stayed at RNS residency, you really donot have much options here as three of the good hotels are owned by the RNS group, and justificed as its really due to these group & co, the entire place was been manifested as a tourist spot. Primary attraction of murudeshwar is the biggest idol of lord shiva, one would be amazed at looking at it, such an masterpiece, you should see it to believe it. The story goes that Ravana gets a boon from eshwara to own his power but with a condition that the linga should not put on the ground, but ravana on the way back to Lanka, gets misleaded by ganesha & co, the linga is dropped on the ground (which is our present day Gokarna), Ravana realizing the sitution gets furious at the idol, and during which some of the remains from gokarna fall at the murusheshwar, and hence the presence of lord shiva is of greater significance here too....
The beach at the murudeshwar was vivacious because of the rains...as it was splendid to watch and listen to the tides and growling roars of the seas... but was dissapointed by the fact that could not really venture near to the sea, as it was really pouring down alot....
The stay at RNS residency was good, the hotel is ON the sea (not on the beach), the view from the balcony is spectacular, this place certainly deserves a visit, recommendation to stay atleast for a day.
Good luck. Happy Motoring!
