Sirsi trip, North Karnataka

Hello,

After a long time I went for a short trip few weeks ago with my friends to Sirsi which is located in North Karnataka. We departed from Bangalore by bus. I must say this I am amazed by the quality of the KSRTC bus. Can anybody imagine good quality bus and I mean really good quality bus in Government buses. I bet we cannot see this kind of bus quality in many states. We went in sleeper bus and thanks to the good roads we didn't feel much tired when we got down at Sirsi old bus stand.

Sirsi is about 400 kms and will take about 6-7 hrs by bus. Nearest rail station is Kumta which is situated on Konkan railway line is 60 kms from Sirsi and nearest Airport is Hubli about 100 kms away from Sirsi. This is a small hill station with very few landscapes. Since we went in oct there was no chillness. We reached Sirsi in the morning at about 7.00 AM and straight went to Madhuvana Hotel which is just 10 mins away from Sirsi old Bus stand. There is no place of visit in Sirsi town but around Sirsi there are lot of places. There is waterfalls, temples, some trekking areas through forests and beach. So we enquired at the reception and decided to go to temple and falls the first day and forest and beach the next day. We refreshed ourselves and had breakfast which was good. A reminder to the travellers this is a vegetarian restaurant. So we started our journey by visiting a temple first. The temple is called Saharsalinga which means thousand lingas. This is very significant place where sceulptures carved from stone are installed in the middle of a flowing water.






The river is surrounded by lush green forest.





The next place we went to Magodi falls which is another few kms from Saharasalinga. The falls is group of waterfalls which is falls from a height of 200 ft. One can see the falls only from the top and there is no access to go near the falls. The view is good as it is surrounded by forests and the sound of the waterfalls will make you relax. Here is the snapshot of the falls.

After seeing the falls we  had our lunch on the way back to Sirsi. After reaching Sirsi we went to one of the famous temple which is dedicated to goddess "Marikamba". After having the darshan of the goddess we went back to the hotel and got ready to watch cricket match.

The next day we had planned to cover Gokarna Beach and Yana. We left the hotel at 7 AM for Gokarna as it is 90 kms from Sirsi. It took around 3 hrs to reach there. Gokarna is a town in Uttar Kannada and is often referred to as temple town. Gokarna means "Cow's Ear" . It is believed that Lord Shiva emerged from the ear of a cow here. It is also located at the ear shaped confluence of two rivers Gangavali and Aghanashini. 

As said Gokarna is a temple town , one of the famous shiva temple is situated here. "Mahabaleshwar Temple" is a famous Shiva temple   situated at the edge of the western end. Gokarna is also famous for some of its beaches . As mentioned before Gokarna is shaped as ear. The Gokarna Beach and Om Beach formed the shape of the ear. The Gokarna Beach is near the Mahabaleshwar Temple. The Om Beach is little bit far but on the same stretch. The landscape is just breathtaking as the beach is surrounded by forest of the western ghats on one side and the Arabian Sea on the other side.

The Beach was very clean and we had wonderful experience by taking bath in sea, walking on the slippery rocks and watching various kinds of birds. We spended around 3-4 hrs in the beach. Words cannot describe the experience we had at Gokarna. It is must visit place for tourists.

After spending an excellent time in Gokarna we had lunch near the beach itself and boy we were so hungry after all this activities that we ourselves were surprised how much we can eat when we are ravenous.
The last place to visit in our short trip was Yana. Yana is about 50 kms from Gokarna. Yana is known for unusual rock formation. It is located in the Sahyadri mountain range of the Western Ghats. Yana is famous for two massive monolithic rocks. The massive rocks are composed of solid black, crystalline Karst limestone. It is surrounded by thick forests and streams making it a perfect spot for trekking. A cave is formed under one of the rocks and within the cave is naturally formed Shiva Linga over which spring water drips from the roof of the tunnel. This place can also reached from Karwar. It is advisable to go to Yana during morning or afternoon because after 4 PM this place gets dark very quickly and if it is a monsoon season then you would want to get out of this place as quickly as possible.

At last our short trip is coming to an end now. Back to hotel pack everything and waited for our KSRTC bus at Sirsi Bus station. Again I would say the bus was very much comfortable for a government operated services.

That's all about Sirsi and the surrounding places. Hope you got some useful information. Keep visiting this blog for any future updates on short trips . Till then have a beautiful life.