5th January, 2019 – A Tour of Bangalore

Val got off to a stunning start by heading for the gym before breakfast whilst I slumbered on. It is a holiday and I still have my cold (aaahhhh, I hear you say). Another excellent breakfast, this time appam for Val with the chef coming out to present it himself along with his business card. I am not sure when we will be contacting him, but it was a nice gesture.

Our guide, Sri and the faithful Pandi met us at the hotel and it was off for our tour of Bangalore or at least bits of it as it is very big. As it was a Sunday, the traffic was a bit better, which is a bit of a relief and we headed south towards our first destination – the Lal Bargh Botanical gardens. A bit of history first.

Bangalore is the capital of Karnataka, but only since independence and from 1400 to 1947 the area was ruled by the Wadiyah royal family from Mysore with son help from the British. The Wadiyahs were temporarily deposed from 1761 to 1799 by the Mughal Haider Ali and his son Tipu Sultan, of whom more in due course. The British overthrew the latter, restored the Wadiyahs and set up a military cantonment in Bangalore.

The city started as a village, founded by Kempe Gowda, a devout Hindu in 1537 and he built 4 watchtowers some distance from the corners of the village with the expectation that the village would expand one day to them. Which of course it did and some. One of the towers still exists in the Lal Bargh gardens and was the first thing we saw atop an impressive mound of rock. The garden was started by Haider Ali in 1760 and expanded by his son with the British bringing in gardeners from Kew in 1856, who built a bandstand and a glasshouse based on Crystal Palace. The whole area covers 240 acres and is most impressive and big step up on the park we saw in Mumbai.

The only remaining watchtower of Kempe Gowda, in Lal Bargh Botanical Gardens.

Cute owls in Lal Bargh gardens.

The glasshouse in Lal Bargh gardens inspired by the Crystal Palace.

Classic

Lal Bargh gardens, Bangalore.

Aaahhh, guess who.

The bandstand!

It’s not often you see a rat these days…..

Giant tree – but can’t reme

Stunning frangipani.

‘Ah, honey’ said Pooh.

A word about the weather, it is a bit chilly first thing, maybe 12 degrees, but it warms up nicely to about 28 during the day with no humidity, so we had a very pleasant walk through the gardens. I would add that Bangalore is about 920 metres above sea level, which helps. I trust the weather is nice wherever you are.

Next stop was the Bull Temple, built by the resourceful Kempe Gowda in the 16th Century and housing Nandi, the bull god, carved from one, very large, piece of granite. Lots of souvenirs on sale too, of course.

As it says, Kempe Gowda’s 16th century Bull Temple.

The bull god, Nandi, Bull Temple, Bangalore

Toys R Us!

Back to the car and a drive around some of the city, passing Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace which unfortunately is not in a good state, so we just had a look from the outside before heading off to the City Market.

Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace, Bangalore.

Off to market!

Now regular readers of this blog will know that Val and I LOVE markets and you will also know, that I cannot resist taking loads of photos, but I will try to limit this to the best ones. There was so much to see with all sorts of vegetables and fruit, flowers for the temple and even pots and pans as well as all the colourful people to go with them. I could have spent a day there!

Hot stuff!

Some serious woks and what look like paella pans.

It is a really colourful market.

Amazing colours and artistry.

Not sure what these are – or how they get them to stay up like that.

Just to give you a sense of scale….

Fresh pomegranate. City Market, Bangalore

Impressive stacking! It’s a shame someone bought the one on the top.

Who needs a wheelbarrow…

It almost seems a pity to buy some and spoil the patterns.

Veg and flower sections of the Market

Lovely garlic.

Flower garlands at Bangalore City Market

Sorting out the flowers for the temple garlands.

We had time for a drive about the city where we drove through Cubbon Park, another large green oasis of about 120 acres in the centre of the city equipped with its bandstand and statue of Queen Victoria. We also stopped to admire the vast State Legislature building or Vidhana Soudha, built in 1956 opposite the High Court of Karnataka.

Cubbon Park bandstand, Bangalore

The Vidhana Soudha or Karnataka State Legislature, Bangalore.

Karnataka High Court, Bangalore

Ok, one final stop and that was Sri, our guide’s, favourite drinking spot, the Bierce Club, one of the many micro-breweries in Bangalore for a cool beer and some nachos.

Sri and the impressive bar!

The Biere Club, Bangalore

Cheers!!!

Ok, this blog is now quite long and needs to Ben posted. Suffice to say, we had a nice dinner in the hotel and slept well. Off to Mysore tomorrow…..

More soonish….