Worth day trip out of Bangalore - Somanathpura and Mysore

We planned a day trip to Somanathpura and Mysore from Bangalore. It was a sudden plan and we decided to visit with our car. We were four people, I, my spouse and my in-laws.

In Somnathpura we visited Keshava Temple. It is a 12th-century temple of Lord Visnu, made of stone and around 140 KM from Bangalore. This temple is also known as Chennakesava Temple, is a Vaishnava Hindu Temple on the banks of River Kaveri.

We started early in the morning for Somanathpura so to skip the city traffic and enjoy the mornings of city outskirts. Soon, we started to observe a lot of changes, the road spread out nicely, straight with no traffic, the people living in the homes beside the road seemed to wake up early, children playing in front of houses instead of holding any smartphone in their hands which is a usual sight in cities, farm fields where farming was in progress. It was my first time when I have observed the life of the people living outside Bangalore. I noticed their life is slow and simple in comparison to people in the city. We saw a lot of Banyan trees on the way and after an amazing journey through the villages, we reached our destination Somanathpura.

Chennakesava Temple, Somanathpura

There was a beautiful garden from the main gate of the temple to the inner hall. At the entrance of the inner hall, we read the history of the temple, when and how it was built. Its walls were filled with stories from Puranas, Mahabharata, and Ramayana. The main hall is on a high star-shaped platform with three symmetrical sanctums called Garbha Graha, made of stones and carved with various forms of Hindu deities all over, the ceiling was supported by huge stone pillars. The stone floor was very hot because of it being a sunny day, but we managed to capture beautiful pictures of the structure and temple deities. There you find three different forms of Lord Vishnu. The inner sanctum was really so peaceful, sacred and serene. We had a great time visiting this ancient temple. Before starting further we had a last look at the temple, just to relive the moment.

From there we started our journey to Mysore of around one hour. Mysore is a major tourist attraction in the state of Karnataka as being a Royal city and home of Mysore King and Royal family members of Wadiyar dynasty. 

So, the first place we visited was the beautiful Mysore Palace. We were so amazed by its beauty, architecture, and opulence. One can see the paintings of royal family members on walls of it. Big dining rooms, libraries, the main administration hall from where King and his subjects discuss politics and rules the entire province. Mysore also hosts the biggest Dushhera festival in India, a big extravaganza where the Royal family have multiple Religious processions, entire Palace decorated with lightings, colorful fare throughout the city.

Mysore Palace

After Mysore Palace, we have been to Mysore Zoo and it was among the best of all the Zoo houses I have ever seen. It houses a wide variety of animals and birds, even many which you don't find in India like Ostrich, Giraffe etc. Though electric vehicles were also available to roam around, we preferred to walk, hence It took us few hours to visit the entire Zoo. I found it as a good place to visit with kids and family. The premises were very clean, no litter and the management was good.
Another attraction of this Zoo was that we can adopt an animal of choice by paying a fee, and zoo management will take care of them on our behalf. So, we could also do our share to protect them and provide habitable conditions for living. Thereafter, we had dinner and headed back to the Banglore.

This was our entire day full of new experiences, visits to new places, learnings of cultures, rituals, and traditions.