Friday, February 3, 2017

Weekend Getaway 35: Chidambaram - Drive, Stay and other things

Date: 28th and 29th Jan 2017

Visitors: Arun, Shilpi and Harsh

Distance: 385 Kms one way.

Toll Charges: 450 both ways.

Route: Bengaluru - Salem - Viruthachalam - Bhuvanagiri - Chidambaram.

Stay: Hotel Akshaya

Places Visited: Chidambaram Nataraja Temple, Cuddalore Silver beach, Pichavaram mangrove forest.

Initially we planned to visit Chidambaram only. Harsh was asking to visit some beach as he wants to play in water. So added Cuddalore to the list and that turned out to be a best decision. We left home at 6 AM and too krishnagiri and salem route. The drive highway 44 and 79 was very good. Then after thalaivasal we took NH 532 which was a two lane highway. This was one of the most beautiful two lane highway i have seen so far. The drive was smooth with very less traffic. While crossing viruthachalam google maps was showing another 1 and half hours for 40+ Kms. I was wondering why would it take so much time for 40Kms. As usual maps was correct, they were laying SH70 and the road was full of holes. Rain added more pain to the stretch. The muddy road turned our grey car to brown. This section how ever gave a very good photo opportunity. I loved one of the pic taken on this road. We reached the hotel around 12:45 and had lunch there. The restaurant was clean. The food was a nice. We checked into the room. The room at hotel akshaya was not great but it was ok. The bathroom and bed was clean so we were content with it. The hotel had complimentary breakfast next morning. It was regular south indian Idly, pongal, dosa and vada but it was all superb. I just loved the food in this restaurant. All the staff from reception to restaurant were very kind and helpful. Not just in the hotel but all the people we met in this two days were very nice to us. We did not rush anywhere and had a slow paced trip just covering three places.

Few pics from the drive.

Somewhere on NH 79.

Rice fields along SH 70. Main crop in this district seems to be rice and all the fields was filled with water. Few places they were harvesting rice and loading them on trucks.

Another shot of SH 70. Loved this pic a lot. The red road, green fields, blue sky and white clouds made the shot colorful.

A peaceful weekend getaway from Bangalore.

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