20-03-2010

Update: Pictures uploaded :)

The day started early. Woke up at 4:20 in the morning. Our initial plan was to start at 5:00 AM from my place but by the time Sreejith and I got started it was already 6:00 AM. We picked up Vinay on the way from the Satellite Bus Station at Mysore road and then took the BMIC road from Mysore Road to Tumkur Road, thus joining the Golden Quadrilateral.



The road was under construction till Nelmangala. but after that it much pretty much 4 lane Highway all the way till Chitradurga. Chitradurga to Davanagere was under construction in patches. We drove non-stop till Davanagere except for taking breaks for answering Nature's call.

At Davanagere we had some amazing Benne Dosa and Khali Dosa at Sri Eshwar Benne Dosa. Both were some of the best Dosas I've had in a very long time. Though I liked the Benne Dosa more, Sreejith chose Khali Dosa as his favorite. There was a Coffee Day right opposite to this Dosa place. We went there more to use the restroom than anything else. Anyways, after filling ourselves (and relieving too) we hit the roads again.


The roads were not great till Haveri, but once we crossed that town it was non-stop 4 to 6 lane Highway right till Pune. On the way we visited the Kittur fort whose last well known occupant was Rani Chennama (Karnataka's Rani of Jhansi). The fort and the palace are in total ruins and there is also a museum there with some of the artifacts from the 18th Century. After spending around 30 mins we drove till Belgaum for Lunch. We were looking for a typical North Karnataka fare but due to our lack of knowledge and time, were forced have a typical mini meals thali at a nondescript place. The thali was a poor cousin of what we get at any typical Sagar at Bangalore.

After the disappointment at Belgaum we drove almost non stop till Pune. My friend from Calcutta, Vishal stays there and we landed up at his place by around 8:45 pm. We freshened up a bit and then headed to this famous Iranian joint called Blue Nile. The food was good and we were hungry. So after stuffing ourselves with Kebabs, Biryani and 'Custard Ice Cream' we headed back to Vishal's place for some well deserved rest. On our way back we saw the famous German Bakery (or whatever was left of it). The terror attack robbed us of an opportunity to taste some of the delicacies there. Hopefully, the German Bakery is back to business soon and we can get to experience their food the next we are around here.

In all it has been an exciting journey till now. We've covered around 850 Km. Vinay drove for 150-200 Km and slept through the rest of the journey. Sreejith and I more or less drove the rest of the distance equally amongst us. We would be leaving for Ahmedabad now. Will keep everyone posted through this blog.



PS: Sorry for not uploading the pics. Will do it soon.

PPS: I've figured out that I've misspelled the URL, but I'm unable to change it now.