Amsterdam is the bicycle capital of Europe where BMWs and limousines are sidelined by this pollution-free and healthy alternative. This city with a population of around 8 Lakh people boasts of around 6 Lakh bicycles and it is very easy to spot a white collar executive cycling to work. Cycling is such a preferred mode of transport that civil authorities had to build a three-storey bike parking stand (more…)
The school vacation of my daughter was about to get over in 10 days and it was time to take the family on an outing. After the usual debate, we zeroed in on Yercaud.
Yercaud is a hill station on the Shevaroy hills about 230 kms from Bangalore. Being a Club Mahindra member, we got a booking at short notice in their affiliate Lake Forest resort for 3 nights. Otherwise, one has to book at least a week in advance in any hotel in Yercaud. We started late in the morning and reached Salem, 200 kms away. The route is quite straight, starting from Bangalore and passing through Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and onto Salem. At the first circle, you take a left towards Yercaud. The distance from Salem to Yercaud is just 30 kms, but the drive is just fantastic. We climbed up a mountain with 20 hair pin bends and numerous zig-zag curves. The drive was so beautiful, that we stopped at one point to admire the view and even had lunch there. Yes, we carried our own lunch.
On reaching the top, the first thing you see is the lake and our resort happened to be just half a km from the lake. I have to devote some space to describe the resort because it is simply fantastic. It has around 10 bungalows depicting British times. The bungalows are in fact in the erstwhile Eastlynne Farm Estate. One of the bungalows ( now a recreation room) was built in 1896 and belonged to Charlotte Rosario. I don’t seem to remember her historical significance. The resort is surrounded by a forest having tall trees and coffee plantation. The main lobby and the dining area is dotted with antiques dating back 50-100 years. There is a bicycle ( iron wheel, one small and one big, wooden seat), an old tiffin carrier( with a coal stove beneath it), antique irons( for ironing clothes), Modern Theatres old movie camera, a fan which used to run on kerosene, many old wall clocks, an antique lock. The collection is amazing. The bungalows are designed in an old fashion. In fact, our two rooms were in the same bungalow and a stump of a tree protrudes on either side of the common wall.
Finally, after planning for almost 4 years, we made it to Munnar. One thing that I searched for before this trip was a description about the route (fast and best). Though I found the information in bits and pieces, it was not a holisitic one. This is one of the major contributing factor for me to write about it.
Distance : approximately 500 kms (10-12 hrs drive)
Best option to get to Munnar would be to take a train till Coimbatore and hit the road from there on. There are 2 trains from Bangalore to Coimbatore. Planning in advance will be required to secure a confirmed berth in the train.
Trip to Switzerland: Part 6 - Trip to Mount Pilatus
The next morning in Luzern, our destination was Mount Pilatus (wikipedia, official site). Mount Pilatus is another famous tourist site in Switzerland, located near the top of a mountain peak. Pilatus has the longest summer toboggan track in Switzerland (0.88 miles or 1.350 m) and the biggest suspension rope park in Central Switzerland. My experience with Mount Pilatus has been that the journey is as good as the destination. There are 2 definite ways to get there, with the first being the cogwheel railway (supposed to be the world’s steepest) from the base station of Alpnachstad (operating from May to November), and the other is a combination of aerial panoramic gondolas, and cableways (starting from the base station of Kriens in Lucerne).
So, bright and early, we set out on our trip to Pilatus. Given that we were not completely sure of the journey particulars, we made our way to the railway station, and to the tourism department over there. The helpful lady over there gave us directions as to how do the journey. The first leg of the journey was to go to the bus stop just outside the train station, and take the route # 1 from there which goes all the way to Kriens. It was an uneventful journey, with the bus itself detailing which bus stop is coming next. When you do get down at the Kriens bus stop, there is a small slightly uphill journey right next to a church that takes you upto the base station of the aerial gondolas.
A beautiful church in Kriens, almost at the starting point for the Gondolas upto Mount Pilatus
