An edited version of this article was published in Travel + Leisure December’14 issue. As I started the car and hit the NH4 (National Highway) towards Bangalore, I noticed Pune was still fast asleep. Any sane person would be, considering it was still four in the morning. Night hadn’t lifted its veil and it was pitch-dark. We sped through the well laid four lane roads with minimal traffic. I and my husband took turns driving and by eight we had reached the outskirts of the city of Kolhapur…
It had been a long journey from Pune to Chikmagalur, but one that I had enjoyed completely. Didn’t someone rightly say, It is the journey that matters more than the destination. (Read – Verdant Shimoga and Sringeri) As I entered the town of Chikmagalur a hoarding stating Welcome to the land of Coffee greeted me. Chikmagalur meaning Younger daughter’s town in Kannada language is famous for its coffee plantations, betel nut trees, paddy fields. It is told that the chieftain gifted this land to his younger daughter hence the…
We left at 6 a.m. in the morning from our homestay in Handi, Chikmagalur. It was a lovely morning and we were on our way to Sringeri the Adi Shankaracharya matha. The drive from Handi to Sringeri traverses through winding roads lined with tall, slender silver oak trees and coffee plantations. Sringeri a small town in the Malnad region is around 72 km from Handi and around 90 km from Chikmagalur. You need to cross multiple mountain passes to reach this quaint and sleepy town. I would suggest…