Every now and then I keep asking myself, which place should I go to next? Just like that, I planned a trip to Kodaikanal, with very minimum expectations and budget.
After my short stay in the hills, I have realized how any corner of the world you travel to, it will give you a different experience altogether, and will manage to keep you wanting for more.
Bangalore - Kodaikanal
You can reach Kodaikanal by car or by bus, I booked a sleeper class ticket and made my way. Little did I know, the roads were curvy enough to make one sick. But, Luckily I am not prone to travel sickness.
As I woke up, the first sight was a treat. I did not take a picture as I was lost into the beauty of the mountains. What a view from where I was sleeping on the bus. ????
I got down and stopped a taxi to head towards Zostel Kodaikanal. I was super worked up as it was my first experience of staying in Zostel. I will talk about that later though.
Reached Zostel, and boy was the location of the hostel beautiful?
Just the perfect place to stay when in the mountains. ????
I didn't want to waste any time as I was traveling on a time constraint, I got dressed for the day and stepped out wearing my flip flops.
We did our basic sightseeing, after which I could hear my stomach growling. It had been 12 hrs + since I and my travel partner were traveling empty stomach. We stayed quite far from the city to get our hands on food or any kind of munchies for that matter.
As we were heading towards Vattakanal, our stomach started growling out of hunger. To our disappointment, we could see nothing but Maggie spots everywhere.
I asked the driver if there was any place nearby where we could hog on some real food. He immediately stopped the car and pointed towards a small house. He smiled and said 'There you go, Madam. Altaf's cafe is right next to that tiny house'. I was confused if I should walk into a cafe that I had not heard of, but we had no other option.
As we took long steps towards the direction, we saw a very small cafe with tourists seated everywhere. We had arrived!
A little boy walked up to us and placed a menu on the table. The menu was quite limited but had varieties of Middle Eastern dishes. Without any further delay, we quickly placed our order.
When we looked around, we could see nothing. The fog had taken over the view and slowly people in the cafe were also not that visible, Yes it was that Foggy!
Everything around seemed to be so quiet and calm. There was something about that cafe, an essence in the surrounding that got into me.
There was no hunger left in me,
Just when the Waiter served us a Falafel plate.
To my surprise, the meal I ordered turned out to be one of the best meals I ever had.
I let out a sigh of bliss. My happiness had no limits.
What better than being away from the hustle and bustle of the city, sitting on a cliff and Bolting down the best plate of falafel with hummus and Pita?! I will always remember Altaf's cafe, as it served me more than food! It fed the soul as well ✨
After hiking back & forth from Vattakanal to Dolphin's nose wearing flip-flops (which was not the best idea), the view was outstanding, which again made us super hungry. We were on our way back from Vattaakanal - Kodaikanal, just when we found this beautiful stream flowing secretly through the wilderness. We were okay staying hungry for a while just to go dip our feet into the natural cold water, with Pink Floyd playing on the speakers. No kind of spa could beat that ????
After feeling all rejuvenated we were headed out to explore more eateries in Kodaikanal.
Doing wild mushrooms was not on the list, so we decided to explore the rest of the eateries instead.
Cloud Street- Honestly, the best pizza of my life was in Nepal before I stepped into Cloud Street and ordered a large spinach & cheese pizza.
I can't thank my friend enough for suggesting this place. I almost cried out of happiness when I took a bite out of this perfectly textured Pizza, with layers of cheese, olives & spinach.
Cloud street is definitely gonna be my go-to place in Kodai !!!
We didn't have enough time so we quickly headed towards Muncheez for desert.
Muncheez - If you're in KODAIKANAL, muncheez is the place to munch at!
We googled up this place and what came to our knowledge was that Muncheez was serving the best chocolate cake in town. Now how could I miss that?
You can spend an evening by the corner
fireplace to warm yourself up while sipping on the varieties of coffees served & grooving on the beats of the 90s. ????
Also, do try out their special 'Double chocolate layered cake with ice cream'. You're in for a chocolaty treat !! ????.
After my little food tour in Kodaikanal, I realized how every place has so much more to offer than it's scenic & picturesque surroundings.
Kodaikanal has very limited options when it comes to fancy eateries, but Boy is all of them serving lip-smacking delicacies?
If I ever go back to Kodaikanal, it would be to gorge on the food whilst I enjoy the view ????
