Wednesday, the 26th of February.
Our journey south continues into the foothills of the Western Ghats today, as we negotiate the long drive on to Chikmagalur. Famed for its coffee and its pleasant climate, the town lies close to the heights of Mullayanagiri, the highest peak in Karnataka. Arriving late in yje afternoon, the rest of the day was free to relax.
After breakfast we set off at 9 am with Anthony in the car for a 5 1/2 hour journey. This passed fairly swiftly with just one restroom stop and several attempts for him to fill up the car using his India Oil card, which was only accepted at about one and four of their garages. The journey was quite interesting going through palm plantations and villages and the odd town, the road conditioned varied from very good to abominable: the national highways were always much better than the state highways
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So at 2:40 pm we arrived at our new hotel, The Serai, this was again a lovely hotel set in a coffee plantation and the room itself was very luxurious, with its own pool although the garden around the pool was uninspiring. There was also a gorgeous large pool fairly near the room. We were greeted well by a Sikh manager. After unpacking a bit, I went for a swim in the large pool which had lovely woodland and birdsong around it and I was the only person around.
At 5 pm, we went for a walk with the naturalist through part of the coffee plantation and then back to the restaurant for a sampling of two different coffees made in four different ways.
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Then at 7 pm, we went up to the bar lounge which had glorious views over the ground., for a cocktail. But before the cocktail arrived blaring music hit us: we asked for this to be turned down but the barman was unable to do this. However, at this moment the manager appeared, listen to our problem and assured us it could be turned down. So we returned to the bar where the cocktails two different sorts of coffee cocktails, eventually appeared and the manager then came in and assured us that the loud music would not start again until 8.45 So we then went down to the restaurant where the said manager advised us on what to order and we had a thoroughly pleasant meal, chatting to 2 other guests who were from the Cotswolds and had also travelled widely.
Once back in the room, I dictated this story and then had a swim in our small pool.
The Serai Chikmagalur
The hotel is located on a hillock in the beautiful Western Ghat, surrounded by forests and in a 69 acre working coffee plantation.. It is well located for the nearby temples of Belur and Halebidu. The resort has beautifully designed villas equipped with all the luxury amenities and stylish interiors, our villa came with its own private pool. The Odyssey restaurant offers India cuisine and international dishes. The bar has spectacular views of the surrounding countryside and estate and is the perfect spot to enjoy a glass of wine. The stunning infinity pool is the perfect spot to relax.
The funny thing about the luxurious bathroom where it there was no conventional sink and I had to wash a polo shirt in the bath. I must take a picture of that those funny sinks
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Thursday, the 27th of February.
After an average breakfast, far too much food set out on a buffet when they were probably only about 10 customers.. I had a swim before breakfast in the small pool in our grounds
We were picked up by Anthony at 9 am. We drove for 45 minutes to Halebeedu, A magnificent temple constructed in 1120. Stunning example of temple architecture from the Hoysala dynasty filled with Hindu mythology stand as superb testaments to the glory of Hindu temple art. It took 190 years to build and was constructed from a soft soapstone that hardened 2 to 6 months after it had been taken from the ground. With this stone there had been carved the most wondrous statues: it really took my breath away amongst all the wondrous statues of Vishnu and Shiva etc there were more than 1200 elephants, each one of them different. This were certainly way above all the other temples I had seen. It was given UNESCO heritage in 2023.
Hoysaleshwara temple, also referred simply as the Halebidu temple, is a 12th-century Hindu temple dedicated to the god Shiva. It is the largest monument in Halebidu, and the former capital of the Hoysala Empire. The temple was built on the banks of a large man-made lake, and sponsored by King Vishnuvardhana of the Hoysala Empire. Its construction started around 1121 AD and was complete in 1160 AD. During the early 14th century, Halebidu was twice sacked and plundered by the Muslim armies of the Delhi Sultanate from northern India, and the temple and the capital fell into a state of ruin and neglect. The Hoysaleswara temple is a Shaiva monument, yet reverentially includes many themes from Vaishnavism and Shaktism tradition of Hinduism, as well as images from Jainism.
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We went round it barefoot but I had a pair of socks in the rucksack so did not suffer from the hot ground. We had picked up a guide at the site and he then travelled with us onto the next site which was at Belur Here there was a Kings temple and the Queen’s temple built about the same time as the previous one but in only 103 years. This too had very intricate carvings that did not give me the same wow factor as the first one of the day.
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The guide then left us and we drove the 45 minutes back to the hotel where we arrived soon after 2 pm and had a lazy afternoon .
We read and I had a swim and then around 6 pm we went for a 30 minute walk around the grounds, down to the helipad and back through the coffee plantation. At 7 pm we went up to the bar for a cocktail, followed by dinner where the waiters rather rushed us.