Bangalore - Belur - Halebidu - Shravanabelagola - Bangalore

Destinations: Belur, Halebidu, Shravanabelagola (India)

Date: Saturday, July 19, 2008.

Origin: Bangalore (India)

End: Bangalore

Group Size: 5 (Chandra, Milan, Ramesh, Simon and myself)

Route:
1. Started from Marattahalli, Outer Ring Road, Bangalore.
2. Headed north towards K R Puram.
3. The road take a left on its own and then took a right from the fly over towards Channasandra.
4. Passed Nagawara Lake and Hebbal Lake.
5. Crossed a crowded railway crossing where road is narrow.
6. Joined NH-4.

7. Headed to Nelamangala. A big part of this road was under construction.
8. Took a left from there on NH-48. One can easily see the directions for Belur and Mangalore on that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NH-48

9. Passed Kunigal - Yediyur - Hirisave - Channarayapatna - Hassan
10. Just before Hassan, took the bypass. This saved us from the city traffic. There is a three way and one can take a straight rather than a right to take this by-pass.
11. Followed SH-57 to reach Belur.
12. Took SH-58 to reach Halebidu and then to hit NH-206.
13. From Arsikere, took a right to leave NH-206 and then came to NH-48 again.
14. Then took SH-8 to reach Shravanabelagola finally again NH-48 to return to Bangalore.

Vehicle used: Maruti Suzuki SX4.

Destinations:
I am not going to write about these places because huge text is already available on Internet. I am just adding some personal observations.

Neither entry nor camera fee was collected at any of these places. This was really surprising to me.
There was a 20m long bridge in between and then there was a funny toll booth after that. Chandra told that this was built 10 years back by the people of the local village and they are still collecting the toll. How long? No one knows... Do not worry, it was just INR 7/-. :)

Belur:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chennakesava_Temple

When I entered the place it was not looking that great to me. Then we hired a guide and he really invoked the interest. The architecture was obviously excellent but the way that guide put up all the history in front of us was very impressive. He was a knowledgeable person and explained us that how this temple is different from others.

Halebidu:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoysaleswara_temple
We went to three temples at Halebidu. Hoysaleshwara Temple, Kedareshwara Temple and Jain Temple (this may not be the official name).
On the Hoysaleshwara Temple you can easily notice the uncompleted work due to the attack from other kings. There is a lake near to this temple and many beautiful landscapes around. This temple was not so properly maintained as the compared to the temple at Belur.
About the other two temples, we were the only people visiting those places. I liked the Jain Temple a lot. The pillars of that temple were polished so finely that you can see your image in them. If you hit them with your nail, they will generate sounds. This was really surprizing to see that a stone pillar was generating the sound just like metal pillars. Another proof of the presence of unbeatable technology at that time.

Shravanabelagola:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shravanabelagola