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A Family Trip to Coorg, India - Part 1

Nestled in the Western Ghats, amidst verdant valleys, imposing mountains and dense forests, Coorg is a great place to visit for a rejuvenating holiday.  

Recently, we had planned an outstation trip for the family.  We hired a taxi from Bangalore and headed towards Coorg, one of the best hill stations of South India.  Coorg is also called as Kodagu, and nicknamed as ‘Kashmir of South’ , ‘Switzerland of India’ and ‘Scotland of India’.  

River Cauvery (Kaveri River) is the life line of Karnataka State and Talacauvery is the birth place of this river, which is located in Coorg.  Talacauvery is  a famous pilgrimage centre for Hindus, located at the feet of Brahmagiri Hills. The main crops of Coorg are Coffee, Pepper and Cardamom.  You can also get the tastiest honey in the world in this picturesque place.


We had already booked our accommodation in a Home Stay named Chili Pili in Hoskeri village at Medikere.  After a drive of about 240 kms  we reached the Chili Pili estate, owned by  Mr. and Mrs. Dilip Ganapathy.  Fortunately, the weather was very favourable;  it was not raining during our trip and thus we had a pleasant drive. When we arrived at the Homestay, they were waiting for us with their delicious dinner.   We had booked two rooms for our family, and soon retired to the cozy rooms.   (More about the Homestay will be posted later. )


After a wonderful breakfast  in the morning in the Homestay,  we set off for our sight-seeing trip, with the directions provided by Mr. Ganapathy.   


Our first visit was to Sri Bhagadeshwara  Temple at Bhagamandala, dedicated to Lord Shiva.  The other deities in the temple are Mahavishnu, Ganapathy and  Subramanya.

The view from there was stunning. Bhagamandala is a popular tourist destination and it is the confluence of three rivers, Sujyothi, Kanike and Cauvery. The temple is named after Sage Bhaganda, who installed Shivlinga at this holy place. 









Then we headed towards  Talacauvery, the origin of River Cauvery.  It was about 5 kms from here. More about it in the next posting.




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