City Tour of Hyderabad

Tour Members - Karthik and family
Dates - 31 August, 1 and 2 September 2018

Trip - Chennai - Hyderabad - Chennai

Day-1

Started by morning 6:15 flight by Spicejet to Hyderabad and reached by 7:30. We had booked cab through Savaari for 6 hours package. We got picked up by Innova and had some average breakfast near airport at Hotel Udupi. We had idli and dosa there. It was just ok, not bad for a simple breakfast.

Our first spot was to visit Golconda fort; this is in the heart of the city of Hyderabad. One of the Hyderabad’s most popular and iconic monuments, Golconda Fort attracts every tourist with its grandeur and history. The entry ticket is Rs.15 per person for Indians, Rs.200 per person for Foreign Tourists and Rs.25 for Still Camera.The fort is open for public from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm. The fort is famous for its acoustics, stable, water supply system and the famous Fateh Rahben gun. This gun is one of the cannons used in the last siege of Golconda by Aurangzeb. This fort is on a hillock surrounded by the fortress. There are few gathering places, clapping gallery, stable at the foothills. There are 2 ways to climb to the top. The one from the left side after entering the ticketable area is quick to reach - short by distance, but steep steps. In few stretches, the steps are quite high and very steep, quite difficult to climb. The second one from the right side of the entrance, is relatively easy, however, still difficult for elderly members.

We, by coincidence took the right side route, and reached the top. There are views of the crowded concrete jungle as you climb. As we climb, we can see the granary, halls, mosque structures, Durbar hall and a temple at the top. We can also see Akkanna - Madhanna offices. At the top, there is a small temple for Mahakali. On top of the temple, at the maximum point, one gets to see pair of canons!

We then climbed down through the rock arches through the steep steps. We saw few halls, gathering places used as open courtyards all across. Overall, a nice place to see - quite ruined. It took close to 2 hours for us to see the whole place.

Next stop was Qutub Shahi tombs. The Qutub Shahi tombs are located around 3-4 kms from Golconda fort. The tombs of the Qutb Shahi kings lie together in one place. They are one of the oldest monuments of Hyderabad. The tombs were planned and built by the Qutb Shahis themselves, they form a large group and stand on a raised platforms, one after other in a vast spread place. This resembled like Orchha Cenatophs. The tombs are built in Persian, Pathan and Hindu architectural styles using grey granite and ornamentation, rare of its kind in the world, and vary in sizes - small to massive. The whole dynasty of Qutub Shahi has been buried at one place. The biggest tomb is the mausoleum of Hayat Bakshi Begum. The entrance per person is Rs.10 for adult, Rs.5 for child and Rs.50 for camera.

After completing the walk, we decided to check in to hotel and take some rest. We had started the day by 3 AM as we had a very early morning flight. We had booked rooms at Hotel Geethanjali at Abids near Meena Bazar. This is in mid of the city and anywhere popular is around 5-7 kms radius from here. The rooms were quite comfortable by size. The bedsheets and pillows could have been better. The advantage was location and service for whatever, is ok. They attend to it. 

On the way to the hotel, we stopped by Paradise Takeaway and took a vegetarian family pack - consisting of big pack for Veg biryani, 2 rumali rotis, veg manchurian, curd and some plain gravy. The typical Hyderabadi dum biryani was missing in the hit list and cleared by now. The rumali roti was too good with the plain gravy. The ordered portion was surplus, that might help another 3 members to eat. We shared this with the hotel service boys.

After some rest, we started to Charminar by 4:30 PM. We used Ola cabs thereafter for rest of the city tour. Ola cabs in Hyderabad take time to reach - average of 10-15 minutes every time we booked because the abnormally complex traffic of the city. So, if you are using Ola, be prepared for it. We reached Charminar by 5 PM. It was drizzling during the moment.

Charminar is one of the prominent landmarks in India. Char-Minar means four decorated pillars. Charminar was built during the Qutub Shahi dynasty. Charminar is surrounded by interesting assets - Makkah Masjid one one side, Laad Bazaar on one side, Musi river on one and four arches, called Char Kaman on one side. Char Kaman is set of 4 arches constructed one facing the other and treated as important monument in Hyderabad. They are visible from the top of Charminar. All these details are well published in details along with photographs in the gallery in the top of Charminar. Visitors are allowed to climb the top of Charminar till 17:30, starting 9 in the morning. The tickets for individual is Rs.15 per person. no bags are allowed and they need to deposited at the cloak room. The steps are very steep and not easy to climb for elders or physically challenged. Please plan accordingly. We spent around 30 minutes from the top and it was time to vacate.

Char Kaman - Charminar

Laad bazaar

Golconda Fort from Charminar !

Makkah Masjid is believed to be built with few stones taken from the original Mecca Masjid. Hence, the name. One can see this well from Charminar.

We came down and went around the Bazaar around. Laad bazaar is very famous shopping stop of Hyderabad. This bazaar is very famous for Hyderabad famous glass and decorated bangles, pearl ornaments and the famous biscuits and Iranian Chai of Hyderabad. We visited Nimrah cafe, quite popular in the area and tasted several delicacies of biscuits and Iranian tea.

The evening continued with shopping of bangles and pearl-wears. Around 8:30 PM, we took an auto to Abids Kamat for dinner. Kamat was not so crowded. The food served was ok. It did not make us think to come another time to Kamat quite surprisingly.

Day-2

The earlier plan was to visit Ramoji film city. However, the high cost of tickets - Rs.1650 per adult and transportation to-fro made us think twice about spending the day in Ramoji film city. We also read from their website that Bahubali set was not open during this time of the year. We changed our plans and decided to visit the Nehru Zoological park.

We had breakfast at TMH - TajMahal Hotel in Abids. The breakfast was super tasty and very satisfactory - idlies, button vada, button idli, pesarattu, hara bara dosa, veg dosa, upma and the filter coffee. The service was quite good as well. Every item was definitely special and tasty. We continued to go there back for following breakfast, lunch and dinner across our trip and tried many of their food and nothing left us disappointed.

The Zoo is open from 8 AM to 5 PM and closed on Mondays. We reached the zoo by 9:30 by Ola cab. The entry fee is Rs.20 per adult, Rs.15 per child and Rs.20 for camera. The zoo hosts a toy train to go around the zoo and battery cars to see the various enclosures. Interestingly, cycles for hire are available and that makes the day interesting to go around in the cycle as well. The zoo is around 15 kms located from the city. This zoo is one of the largest in the country; first being Vandalur zoo of Chennai. This zoo hosts almost all popular animals, reptiles, birds, a butterfly park (with very less butterflies), nocturnal collections and one small aquarium. We preferred to walk around. We could sight tigers, lion, leopard, Cheetah, hippos, rhinos, deer, giraffe, hyenas, nilgai, giant squirrel and much more.

We spent around 3 hours in the zoo and came out by 12:30. We had lunch at TMH and took some rest at the hotel room. By evening, we started to Hussain Sagar Lake. We took a cab and got dropped at Lumbini park. Hussain Sagar lake is an artificial lake constructed during Qutub Shahi period and fed by river Musi to maintain water in the city. One of the biggest elements of the lake is the tall monolithic statue of Lord Budhha. It is mounted on the Rock of Gibraltar on the lake.

One gets to do boating from the boating jetty in Lumbini park. Lumbini park is one of the important time killers of Hyderabad. Camera and bags are not allowed inside the park, Mobiles are allowed. There is a cloak room to keep our bags safe. There is security check at the entrance including frisking. They take a entry fee to enter the park area which hosts - a water cascade to take some photos, entry to the boating jetty, food stalls, laser show event and a bunch of play and thrill stuffs.

Boating is available in different forms - speed boat, large group boats on individual pricing and family boats for hire. We took a family boat. The queue system with ticket numbers is good and systematic. The boat ride was 15 minutes taking you closer the Buddha statue and a view of the big Indian flag. We came back and had some snacks and did a ride on one of the activities.

The laser show was at 7:30 PM and there was a long queue from 6:30. We avoided the queue and went around the park for sometime and came back at 7:20. The queue was gone and we got tickets at leisure. There is a massive sitting gallery that would hosts 4000-5000 people. There is no point in hurrying to get tickets. The laser show was screened over a water fountain. The show was quite ok with respect to water fountains and lasers. The content was quite boring as it was for accommodating the time which was a repetition of the first 5-7 minutes of the show to make it for 30 minutes.

After the show, we came out and met one of our college friend, Satheesh with his family. We went for dinner at Hotel Amogham. We had starters, soups and main course. The service had to be engaged after follow-ups. They served us food from the buffet menu they had, still, the service was quite slow. The starters were average, however, the main course was good.

We returned back by 10 PM after an interesting day.

Day-3

After breakfast at TMH, we planned to visit one of the palaces in Hyderabad and Salar Jung Museum. All palaces and museums are open only by 10 AM. We had a relaxed start for the day. We booked Ola cab for a 6 hour package until we would get down in airport. The palaces to visit in Hyderabad are Chowmahalla palace, Jubilee hall, Taj Falaknuma palace and Kothi palace.

We has time to visit one of the palaces and the museum. Falaknuma palace now operates as one of the Taj hotels.  Chowmahalla palace is behind Charminar and is open from 10 AM to 5 PM. The entrance ticket for adults is Rs.60, child is Rs.20 and camera is Rs.50. This palace is closed on Fridays. These palaces are a reminder of how rich and luxurious the kingdoms were then. Chowmahalla palace is one of the biggest, famous and grand palaces of Nizams of Hyderabad. Chowmahalla means four mahals and they are Afzal mahal, Aftab mahal, Mehtab Mahal and Tehniyat Mahal. All these are within the same premises and part of the walk tour; they are all located closeby. These are behind the main Durbar hall - which is the most decorated place of all.

The collections of the palace - furniture, ceramics, vessels, costumes, paintings, daggers, swords, chariots, cars and much more make the displays. The yellow painted 1912 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost of Nizam tops the collections of vehicles. We spent close to one hour for the palace. One more attraction is the clock tower - Kilwat Tower. The locality follows his clocks' chimes and time for setting their clock. The visit was quite good and worth the trip.

Next, we reached Salar Jung Museum. Entry fee is Rs.20 per adult, free for children and Rs.50 for camera. Salar Jung museum is one of the biggest museums that host the largest collection of single person or one family, that of Salar Jung, in the world. The collectibles are from various cultures and regions across Asia like Myanmar, China, Tibet, Japan, Nepal, Persia, Egypt, Europe and North America. There are so much collection across the geography of India too. Salar Jung III spent his savings travelling across the world and making this huge collections of articles.

The museum is hosted in a modern building across 2 floors and segmented into a whooping 36 galleries ! Yes, 36 galleries. One needs almost the whole day to go through the amazing collection. We would not complete in the available 2 hours for us. We went through galleries by sequence and were amazed by the quality and range of collectibles. Some notable exhibits we witnessed include great collection of highly artistic ivory carvings - made from elephant trunks, walrus tooth or hippo tooth; hundreds of walking stick, musical clock which involves some interesting mechanical and  moving parts; paintings from Ravi Verma, sculptures of Hindu Gods, textiles used in his palace for backdrops - made of gold, silver and metal threads and much more. Camera is allowed in this museum.

Veiled Rebecca

We went to TMH and had lunch - veg biryani, bisibelabath and curd rice. These rice were also quite good. Then, we stopped by G.Pulla Reddy sweets and bought the popular paper sweet - Puta Rekulu. We also wanted to buy biscuits from Karachi bakery, but the driver suggested to have it near the airport. Enroute to airport by 1:30 PM, we were stuck in the enormous traffic because of a landmark meeting of TRS. Somehow, we managed to reach the airport on time - 2 hours before the flight and purchased few varieties of biscuits from Karachi bakery - Osmania biscuits, coconut biscuits and walnut cookies. All biscuits were very good and super tasty. We reached back Chennai by 7:30 PM.

A nice city visit exclusively first time in our travel. It was made memorable with nice food, culture, monuments and shopping experiences!

Chettinad - Rameswaram

Tour Members - Karthik, Sathish Raja, Sankar Ganesh, TP, Dhanaraj
Dates - 25 and 26 August 2018

Chennai - Karaikudi - Pillayarpatti - Thirukoshtiyur - Athangudi - Kanadukathan - Dhanushkodi - Rameswaram - Chennai

Again, a weekend trip to cover some locally popular places down South-East of Tamilnadu.

Day-1

We reached Karikudi railway station by 5:00 AM by Boat mail train. Cab was booked already and we reached Pillayarpatti first. Sankar had arranged for refreshing in a cottage through his known circles and we went to the temple by 7 AM. Pillayarpatti is around 16 kms from Karaikudi. This place hosts the very ancient and popular rock cut cave shrine of Lord Vinayaga - known as Lord Karpaga Vinayagar. This temple was built by Pandyas and the cave is believed to be carved out in 4th century  AD. Other sanctums in the temple include Lingams Thiruveesar, Marudheesar and Senchadeswarar and respective Goddesses, Kathyayini, Laxmi, Saraswathi and Durga. We had a very good dharshan as there was no crowd then. The temple timings are 6 AM  to 1 PM and 4 PM to 8.30 PM.

We came out by 7:30 and had breakfast at a local restaurant in Pillayarpatti - Ganapathi Vilas on the temple road. The tiffen items were fairly good - homely - pongal, idlies, vada and dosas. Our next destination was Thirukoshtiyur. Thirukoshtiyur is around 16 kms from Pillayarpatti. 

Thirukoshtiyur is one of the 108 divya desams and the presising deity is Sri Sowmya Narayana Perumal. The temple timings are from 7 am – 12.30pm and 4.30pm-8.30pm. History says this is place where Brahma, Shiva, all devas, Saptha Rishis assembled to plan the death of Asura Hiranyakashipu. As they came as a group and hence Thirukoshtiyur, koshti meaning a group. The temple is of 3 tiers and Lord Vishnu poses as Nindran (standing posture), Kidanthan (sleeping posture), Aadinan (dancing posture). One has to climb narrow steep steps to reach the top tier on the gopuram to see all 3 levels. Elders and physically challenged people might find it difficult to reach to the top. One gets to also know that this is the place was the one where, Ramanuja was advised by Thirukachi Nambigal about a manthra and asked to keep it secret. But Ramanuja felt that sharing this mantra with the public as it should be useful to all of them. He went straight to the temple of Sowmya Narayana perumal and stood on the top of Gopuram and loudly shouted the Mantram. Then, Thirukachi Nambigal understands that it is nature for everyone to benefit and changes. 

We spent around 45 minutes in this temple and then travelled to Kundrakudi Murugan temple; reached by 9:15 AM. Kundrakudi Murugan temple is around 5 kms from Pillayarpatti and 20 kms from Thirukoshtiyur. This temple is setup on top of a small hillock with steps carved out on the rocks. Lord Shanmuga is presiding deity with Valli and Deivanai. Kundrakudi is also known locally as Kunnakudi. This temple is also one of the rock-cut temples built during Pandyas. Temple timings are 6 AM to 11 AM and 4 PM to 8 PM.

Now, we entered the Chettinad region - Athangudi. Athangudi palace allows visitors from 10 AM to 5 PM. We reached there by around 9:50 and promptly allowed by the care taker for Rs.50 as charges to enter. The palace is quite humongous; however, we were allowed to see only 3 big halls - one the main hall, one with mutram and one being used for dining hall. All three of different type of views and amazing architecture. The main hall had great paintings and tiles depicting the interest shown in the region to build grand palaces during pre-Independence periods. Each of us spent quality time as per our likes across each of these halls and came out with satisfaction of seeing a grand palace of Chettinad.

Next, we went to Kanadukathan, where it is known not to allow visitors in. Kanadukathan is around 10 kms from Athangudi via Soorakudi. We saw the Chettiyar palace from outside - the grand White palace with big towers and walls around. We spent around 10-15 minutes to see this palace from outside and left. This palace was constructed by Dr.Annamalai Chettiyar. Felt bad that visitors are not allowed to see this; however, if people are still living, it makes sense.

We then, started to Rameswaram - to visit Dhanushkodi - Arichal Munai. Arichal Munai is around 180 kms from Kanadukathan - route via Devakottai, Devipatnam - Ramnad - Pamban. Enroute, we stopped for lunch at Hotel Sri Aiswarya at Ramnad. The lunch - meals was quite decent enough for the sambhar, rasam, poriyal and kootu. 

We stopped in-between on the Pamban bridge to admire the beauty of nature on either side of the bridge. One can only amaze at seeing the beauty of the seas from that elevation.

Towards Dhanushkodi - Arichal Munai; the first spot to stop is Gothandaramar Temple. This is the place where it is believed that Vibeeshanan was made as King of Lanka once Rama killed Ravanan in the war. The trip towards Gothandaramar temple and the views the temple offers us all around is amazing. The place is a great time killer for photo enthusiasts. One gets to spot red sand in few spots, believed to be turned red because of the blood shed by Hanuman while trying to remove the Linga made by Sita. We gave this place a miss as we want to spend more time in other places.

The spots on this route are Gothandaramar temple - Mukuntharayar Chathiram - Dhanushkodi - Arichal Munai. Mukuntharayar Chathiram is the place where there are sandy as well as rocky beaches. 5 kms from here is Dhanushkodi - the dilapidated ghost town. Further 4.5 kms from Dhanushkodi is Arichal Munai. Arichal Munai is the land's end and further down is Sri Lanka. Earlier, none were allowed to Arichal Munai and last year, after the Government laid the roads, now this is accessible for everyone on own vehicles or government operated buses from Rameswaram. On the way, we were also surprised to see White desert - much like Rann of Kutch.

We reached Arichal Munai - which is now an open entrance to every public, by 3:30 PM. One side of the land's edge sees nice waves steaming onto the shore. On the other side, one can enjoy a beach with no waves; which is a great delight for many people, one can witness so much fun and frolic; especially children. We spent around 20 minutes on the beach, walking around the abundantly beautiful white sands and waters!

Dhanushkodi stands as the symbol of ruins with its torn down church, school and railway station. After spending some time, we reached the our stay in Rameswaram by 6 PM.

We spent the evening walking around the main temple and enjoyed the dinner at a local mess - Murugan mess. They serve homely tiffen items - idlies and dosas. The food was very simple and nice. We reached back and went to bed early in the night as we woke by early, long day and also a very early morning to wake up in the morning for Spatika Linga dharshan.

Day-2

Morning 4:30, and we are starting to the Rameswaram temple. The Spatika Lingam dharshan happens between 5 AM to 6 AM. Spatika Lingam dharshan is one of the popular events of the temple - where the main deity would be behind the screens and a Spatika Lingam - 1 feet tall. The Abhishekams and pujas would be done for the Spatika Lingam for 1 hour - 5 AM to 6 AM and then the dharshan shall move on to the main deity. People throng to see the Spatika Lingam to get special blessings.

By 6 AM, we had bath at Agni Theertham - the banks of the sea. The visit to Ramanathaswamy temple is done in this order. Perform the Spatika Lingam dharshan early in the morning. Then, goto Angi Theertham and perform ocean bath during sunrise. Agni Theertham is the most prominent Theerthams of 22 Theerthams to visit before offering prayers to Lord Ramanathaswamy. Agni Theerthan is the ghat on the ocean where it is believed that the Agni (fire) is in form of water and shall wash away one's sins. We then continued to the rest of the 22 Theerthams as well. More info about this is available in my earlier blog:

http://karthikwander.blogspot.com/2017/07/rameswaram-and-around.html

Post holy bath and dharshan of the main deity, followed by the dharshan of other prominent sanctums of Goddess Parvathavardhini, Lord Natarajar in Rudra mandap, Athmalingam, Kasi Viswanathar and Lord Hanuman. There is also the Jeeva Samadhi of Siddhar - Pathanjali. Sri Pathanjali is considered the first siddhar.

We had breakfast at Murugan mess, which is located in the adjacent narrow street from the main temple. It is around 10 minutes walk from the temple and worth it. The pooris, pongal, idlies, vada were all good. The Murugan mess is locatable by Google maps.

By 10:30, we went for Snorkeling at Holy Island. This is located just 1 km from Agni theertham. We all did some snorkeling for little more than 1 hour. We were able to see nice rocks, some corals, colourful fishes, sea cucumber.

We came out and had lunch at Jivan residency - a pretty good option for North Indian food. We order few starters, soups, naans and rotis. The food was prepared fresh and hence took some time. The food is very good and felt delighted as we were very hungry coming out of the sea.

We came back to the room, took some rest and started back to Chennai after having dinner. We were very fortunate to see a great view of Pamban bridge over the seas during full moon. The stunning moment shall be fresh in our memories for a longer time.