Places around Bangalore: Mysore & Bandipur

Have you ever crossed a place or city or anything thinking I can check that afterwards I have other places to catch up??? If the answer is yes my friend then please allow yourself to discover the same  right away!
I am speaking this with experience.  I travel to many places around Bangalore city and majorly you have to cross Mysore for many of destinations. I always used to just cross pass it thinking I will get time to explore this place some other time.  But this time I gave it all my time and it was worth the visit in ever way.
Mysore was a random plan to visit something near and by a bike ride. The roads are great and the weather was in our favour cloudy n just bit brighter and I had the best company.

We took three n half hour to reach Mysore from Bangalore with a 20 minute breakfast break.

We checked ourselves in our hotel named parklane hotel.

The hotel is situated in middle of the city and placed just walking distance away from Mysore maharaja palace

We got ready to leave for Bandipur Tiger Safari (83 KM's from Mysore covered in 1 1/2 hrs). The way to reserve is eye soothing. The path is covered in lush green grass n plants. The turns on roads are gentle and provides a landscape view to capture in your memory.

Bandipur tiger reserve Safari starts at morning 6:30 to 9:30 am and in evening by 3:30 to 6:30 pm. The tickets for bus cost you RS 300 per head.  Also there is Jeep Safari which can be booked only through online portal costing Rs 4000 for four people.
The queue for the tickets are long and will suggest you to book online.
Also you are not allowed to cross forest between 6:pm to 6:00am and thus we dropped the plan to book the safari.

We were lucky to spot few deers, elephant and peacock on our way out which was mesmerizing. The drive was successful in its own way by showing little but best of it!!

We were famished as we skipped lunch to reach Bandipur and thus called one of my native friend on some suggestions for good food n drink places.

We reached Opium ( one of the oldest pub place in Mysore). For the first time we saw something called as all male zone drinking and family drinking zones different. We found one corner place and ordered food n beer. The food and drinks were okay and we decided to hop something near our hotel for dinner. We then visited jungle restaurant. The place and food was amazing.

We took rest for the day.

Next morning we preped ourselves to visit the local Mysore.

We first visited our hotel own city view point. It offered a glimpse of palace crown and also the city southern side. We saw what we wanted to visit before breakfast and it was the Saint Philomena's cathedral.
The cathedral was again walking distance from our hotel. The architecture of the cathedral is breathtaking. Tall towers with inclined roofing . Roman architecture and the glass work were amazing. The sunday mass was in progress and tourist are not allowed inside during prayers so we just stood outside and witnessed mass for some time. We reached our hotel for breakfast and it was belly filling delicious breakfast but unfortunately it was not part of the booking deal.
We started for Mysore zoo which is 1.7 KM's away from our hotel. The zoo was jam packed but great animals and birds were our solace. I was more excited to see giraffe for the first time.

It took us three hours to complete the zoo visit.  Now we were supposed to check out of our hotel and we fortunately did it on time and kept our luggage in lockers at reception.

And now our place of interest was Much talked out place. Mysore maharaja palace.
If you are not in awe of it just close your eyes and open again.

From entry to the path to the palace everything is grand , the larger than life feeling.
The place pulls second largest population after Taj Mahal and I never wanted to figure out why. Seeing the crowd I always saw Mysore palace from outside. But this time I was intended to see much talked about interiors. The crowd was so much that everyone was just spacedout. We still took the crowd driven tour.  The entry is sober and I was disappointed for some time but I read somewhere that that art and interior of palace is incomparable and I was still hoping. We took one staircase on left and there it was.
A hall with emerald coated pillar with golden corner works. The height of pillars were three floor high with centred dome closed in green tinted glass work. What my eye saw was pure majesty and I hope I can do justice to describe the place. My eyes never left the sight and just moved around it praising its beauty for I don't remember how much time that I lost my friend in crowd.  I somehow searched a lady warning cross line cartoon top( very easily traceable)
We moved to the next hall. Looked like a Darbar with blue & golden coloured colours and central seating area for what I hope Maharaja's place. The symmetry of pillars were amazing with the ceiling decor and jharokhas kept for women to observe the gathering during old time.
I was experiencing the grandness of place and I was thinking I was on Jodha Akbar set. The film came to reality when we saw the hall where Maharaja used to speak to public gathering. The ceiling of the place were intricate designs and amazing art work. I soaked my eyes in the charm of the place and left with just delight in my heart.

I roamed around palace outside for a while and then left to have lunch at our hotel and pick up the bags.

We took Kanakapura road to avoid Sunday Mysore road jam and reached Bangalore on three hours time.

Cost of trip
Transportation- Rs 300 per head
Stay- Rs 1000 per head
Food- Rs  2000 per head ( with heavy drinkers on board)
Tickets and other - RS 200 per head
Total RS 3500 per head

This was Mysore for us!!! A destination I always  ignored to enter seeing the crowd. But I learnt that sometimes the place crowded just becoz they are too worthy for it!!!
Cheers!!!
Sudha