Mangalore Trip Part 2 – Udupi Temple and Malpe beach

Post breakfast we started off to Udupi. There two things that one cannot miss in Udupi – Krishna temple and local cuisine. The weather is relatively hotter. Since we went in end of October, it was pleasant by local standards. Due to Navarathri there was a long queue but the darshan of Lord Krishna made up for all the wait. On the way we get to see the Lord’s Elephant Subadre (named after one of krishna’s wives) and their Gowshala.

Kanakadasa ,a pious worshipper and devotee of Lord Krishna was refused darshan of the lord since he was from a particular community. He stayed in a makeshift hermitage in front of Krishna mutt singing verses in Krishna’s name. There was an earthquake in the night and the outer temple wall cracked such a way that there was a wide enough opening for Kanakadasa to have darshana of the idol. Till today, devotees worship Lord by praying through the same window where kanakadasa was seeing the offerings/Pooja from outside. 

Since cameras were not allowed inside I am posting a pic from official website.

We completed darshan by 11 am. We set off to Malpe beach nearby even though it was close to noon. This being a fishing hub we have to pass the fishermen’s houses to reach the beach. The way is smelly but the beach is beautiful.

Though hot sun on top, the cool breeze of the beach changed our mood. Never ending stretches of white sand, turquoise blue waters, colorful shells, a glimpse of St. Mary’s island, coconut trees along the beach add to the never before seen natural beauty.

Apart from the neat and clean beach(Malpe beach is called a virgin beach), there are many activities to do. There are many islands nearby. You can visit the St. Mary’s island which is known for its volcanic rocks mostly vertical and hexagonal ones. There is a fort on Daria-Bahadurgad island. There are jets that you can drive or water skiing or para gliding.

My children collected many colorful sea shells. There are restaurants along the beach but mostly sea food on the menu. Being strict vegetarians, we hit the national highway towards Mangalore and stopped over for lunch at a south Indian restaurant.

Mangalore Trip Part 1 - Someshwar Beach Temple

Dussehra holiday time is perfect for planning long drive trips. Hence, off we went towards the west of India which had both beautiful beaches and temples. We managed to cover a few places over three days. I am posting separate blogs for each of the places visited.

We started early in the morning (around 4.30 am) on a Friday and yet got stuck in traffic at Yeswanthpur for an hour. We cursed ourselves for not selecting another route out of the city, but to be honest we dint expect a traffic jam at the under-construction bridge at 5 am in the morning. After few manouvers in the small roads, we managed to wriggle out of the traffic and hit the NH 48 towards Hassan. Route is pretty straight forward.

Bangalore - Hassan - Sakleshpur - Mangalore

We stopped two times – once for breakfast and once near Sakleshpur to admire the nature. Drive was beautiful and roads are good. We reached our Hotel in Mangalore at 1.30 pm hungry for lunch. The Hotel was in the main market area. Being vegetarians we had to search a little bit for veg restaurants. Over the next two days we identified a few and visited those regularly.

Our first visit was to Someshwar beach and temple which is famous locally for its view of sunset. Mangalore to Someshwar via Edapally-Panvel highway took 20 mins since there hardly was any traffic (13 kms from Mangalore). We reached there at 4pm. The temple was closed and we had an hour’s time to spend in beach.

The beach was clean and neat with very few people. The huge rocks in the beach (known as Rudra Shile) there gave a good view of the horizon. We heard that not many tourists know about this beach and hence the crowd is less. Not many shops around. So better carry food/ water. There are red crabs in the beach at some points, hence it is better to be careful before venturing into inhabited places of the beach.

The Someshwar temple is on top of a hillock on the beach. There are steps at the back of the temple which give access to the beach. The temple is considered as one of the 12 sacred shiva kshetras of India. It is known as Rudrapada kshetra. It is believed that the temple existed from the time of Ramayana and it is also believed that Pandavas worshipped here.

There is a Parasuram temple at the corner which gives a beautiful view of the sea. 

We spent our time till sunset there and headed back to Mangalore. The sunset view is just indescribable in mere words. Must see for yourself.

And the drive leads to Melkote..

Monsoon weekend without rain.. the weather is just perfect for a drive. We did not want to go too far since we had only Sunday to explore.

So we decided to head towards Melkote, known as “Badrinath of the South”. It is a town which is more than 1000 years old and is famous for “Vairamudi Brahmotsava” and its tasty Puliogare.

We started at 6 am and were on the Mysore road by 6.40 am. The traffic seemed endless. Though the road is good, you do not get the feeling that you have left the city at all till you cross Mandya. We stopped at Kamat Lokaruchi for breakfast. The route we took was:

Bangalore -> NH 275 to Ramanagara -> Channapatna -> Mandya -> Turn right to catch the old MC road -> Melkote (approx. 140 Kms in total)

After Mandya, do not take the right which has ‘Melkote’ signage. The road is not great. Go towards Pandavapura and then go on to Melkote. It will only add a couple of kilometers to the drive but the road is good.

It is only after you cross Mandya will you start enjoying the rural environment. Looking at the lush Green fields and small villages in between you tend to leave behind the tensions of city dwelling. There are signage all along the route to guide you.

We first went to Cheluvanarayana swamy temple. The crowd was less and the darshan was done within 30 minutes. The Vairamudi Brahmotsava is for this main diety.

Then we proceeded to climb up the hill to go to Yoga Narasimha swamy temple. It is believed that Prahlad himself installed the idol on the hill. It is a small hill with crude rock steps. There are two points from which you can start the climb up: one has 375 steps and the other 220 steps. You can take your car upto the second point so that you can climb up quickly.

The climb is not too steep and we saw quite a few elderly people climbing it with ease. The view from above is breath taking.

There are footprints carved on stone at one of the edges of the hill. Some believe that Lord Vishnu gave up his Narasimha avatar from here.

Be careful about the monkeys in the temple on the hill. They tend to snatch anything and everything. It started to rain soon after and we had a hurried downhill walk.

Right outside the Cheluvanarayana swamy temple, there are vendors selling the famous Melkote puliogare and curd rice. These are must-haves there. They also sell the readymade masala of puliogare.

Must visit places nearby:

Cheluvanarayana swamy temple, Rayagopura, Yoga narasimhaswamy temple, Sanskrit college, wildlife sanctuary and lots of ponds.

We could not make it to the wildlife sanctuary this time, but there is always a next time.