Best of My Travel

Gokarnanatheswara Temple, Mangalore The Gokarnanatheshwara Temple, otherwise known as Kudroli Sri Gokarnanatha Kshetra, is in the Kudroli area of Mangalore in Karnataka, India. Location: Kudroli Temple It was consecrated by Narayana Guru. It is dedicated to Gokarnanatha, a form of Lord Shiva. This temple was built in 1912 by Adhyaksha Hoige Koragappa and compared to the other temples in the Mangalore area, this temple is of recent origin. Narayana Guru formally consecrated the temple in February 1912 with the establishment of sacred Shiva Linga, which was brought by him. He named this place as Gokarnanatha Kshethra. Narayana Guru advocated that all God's creation had the right to worship the Almighty and preached that people irrespective of the caste, creed or religion must worship one divine force, known by different names. As per the Guru's advice, idols of Ganapathy, Subramanya, Annapoorneshwari, Bhairava, the Nava Grihas (Lords of nine planets), Shanishwara and Kr...

Kadri Manjunatheshwara Temple, Mangalore The temple of Manjunatheshwara on the hills of Kadri is a very beautiful and popular temple in Mangalore. It is said to be built during the 10th or 11th century. The idol of Lord Manjunathaswamy of the temple is called as oldest of the South Indian temples. Location: Kadri Temple It is believed that Parashurama who was living in Sahyadri, killed the kshathriyas who were cruel and donated the lands to Kashyapa. He prayed to Lord Shiva for a place to live. Lord Shiva assured Parashurama that if he performed a penance at Kadali kshethra, Lord Shiva would reincarnate as Manjunatha for the betterment of the world. As per Shiva's orders Parashurama threw his axe into the sea and created a place for his penance. Yielding to Parashurama's prayers Lord Shiva appeared to him as Manjunatha with Goddess Parvathi and stayed at Kadri for the betterment of the world. As per the orders of Manjunatha the sapthakoti manthras become the seven thee...

Applying for a Schengen Tourist Visa A Schengen Visa is the document issued by the appropriate authorities to the interested party for visiting/travelling to and within the Schengen Area. The Schengen Area consists of 22 European Union member states and four non-members who are members of EFTA: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Following countries are a part of the Schengen agreement: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Liechtenstein. When travelling from India to any of the Schengen countries, one needs to obtain a Schengen Visa. Once the Visa is obtained, one can travel to any of the Schengen countries hassle free.  I had planned my Europe trip in the month of Oct-Nov 2017. I was visiting Amsterdam, Paris, Rome, Hamburg, Copenhagen and Brussels. Now, wh...

A week in Sydney, Australia I and my wife had been to Sydney, Australia in June 2012. My friend Akarsh stays in Australia. He had arranged my stay  and he was the one who planned the entire trip. I did an early booking and was able to get a good deal in Malaysian airlines.  We reached Sydney on 2nd June, Saturday night. My engineering college friends Amit and Smitha accompanied Akarsh in receiving us at the airport. We then moved to Sydney city centre. We checked in at Hotel Park Regis. We had the hotel booking for 5 days and then were to stay at my friend's residence in Homebush for the rest of the trip. The hotel is located at the city centre and easily accessible by public transport. The view from the hotel room was just stunning.  We all had dinner together in one of the Thai restaurant near the hotel. After dinner got back to the room and crashed over. Our week plan was as follows: 3rd June: Sydney Aqua 4th June: Cogee-Bondi walk 5th...