I used to visit a lot of temples with my father. Temple trips used to be my father’s favorite kind of trips. He was a true devotee of God. In some way or the other we all are but not to the extent my father was. Ishan and I visit temples but not that often. Ishan is a complete opposite, he is a believer of the fact that God is a belief system, we cannot depend on him to answer all our problems and challenges. He likes to go to temples, spend time there and know the history of the place but that’s all. I am lucky enough to feel the temple thing with two different men who are an integral part of my life. My father made me believe in God and my husband made me feel God around me.

Nowadays, we are on a sprint to visit temples of South India. So we planned to pre book train tickets for Murudeshwar, an ancient coastal shiva temple. Trains are the best way to commute when one has to travel in the south because mostly from Bangalore all the locations are overnight. We booked the train tickets 1 month back for Murudeshwar, that time we were on the waiting list and on the day of journey we went on a single seat in RAC. God, the trains in India are so packed I don’t know why!!!! 

Coincidentally, my mother and brother came to Bangalore for some work at the same time and they also became a part of our trip as my mother loves to go on trips with me and Ishan. As our tickets were already booked and were in RAC, we booked bus tickets for Mumma and Raghav. 

Journey started in the evening as we all boarded the metro. My mother and brother got down at Majestic as they had to catch their bus from there and we boarded our train from SBC Railway station. We got ourselves packed with idli at the station for dinner. 

Ishan and I are really comfortable with each other because we are similar kinds of travelers. But this night was tough. We both had to sleep on the side lower berth for the whole night and there was no chance of getting RAC cleared. I was scared, he was not scared because he can sleep anywhere even in a sitting position also he can sleep and people with this quality are born with a blessing. 

As the night progressed, Ishan slept and I was continuously moving here and there, not able to cope up with the limited space. I was terrified and then around 1.30 AM in the night, TC came and gave us another seat to sleep and he felt like Lord Shiva to me at that time. It felt like Lord Shiva has come himself and blessed us with space to sleep so that we can enjoy the coming day in Murudeshwar. 

The route to Murudeshwar is full of locations where one can come and spend a weekend. The train is super good to reach Sakleshpur, Udupi, Mulki and Karwar. 

Morning at 7, Murudeshwar came. As we got down the train we felt the vibrations of purity there on the railway station itself. It was such a rural style railway station and I really like such stations where the modernization has not finished the essence of the old school vibe which used to be there on the railway stations. 

We waited for Mumma and Raghav to come. The wait was short and as soon as they arrived we went to hotel Kamat for breakfast. Kamat is a well known name for south indian breakfast but something was wrong with Murudeshwar’s food as it was not good anywhere. Be it breakfast, lunch or dinner, it was all a compromise to fill up the stomach which is not the case at temple destinations. In the cities where renowned temples are there, food is always great because a lot of tourists come there from all over the country. 

After breakfast, we headed towards our homestay which was only 1 km from the breakfast place. One thing about Murudeshwar is it’s a town stretched on a short distance along the both sides of NH66. This time, keeping my mom and brother in mind we booked a 1 bhk homestay so that we all would be able to live together in the same house. The homestay was a cozy one with a beautiful feel because of the overall ambience. The hall was inclusive of kitchen and dining area, there was one bedroom and a modernized bathroom. Also it was beautiful because it was located in between farms and in front there were mountains visible. There was a homely vibe in the homestay and we all became so comfortable there that we did not wanted to leave and go out. Outside it was humid and hot and inside it was all air conditioned so it was hard for us to get ready and start the journey but we somehow started for the day. 

(The details for the homestay have been attached below in the blog)

After reaching the temple, we saw a huge queue of people. It was hot and crowded but as we entered the temple it became all peaceful. I don’t know what’s the reason but there is some refreshing sensation and coolness in all Shiva temples.  We did a nice darshan, ate a laddoo which was extremely delicious. Couldn’t click pictures as it was very very hot there to be able to pose. After darshan we went for lunch but the food was pathetic. I urge you all readers to keep some ready to cook food packets with you and book an Airbnb so that you will be able to cook for yourselves some food for your soul. 

After lunch my mom and Raghav gave up and went back to homestay as the sun was not tolerable to them and they are big time sleep enthusiasts so they wanted to sleep. Ishan and me are habitual to tolerate sun whatever be the weather so we thought of stretching a bit a click good pictures and shoot some videos for the sake of creating content in front of highlight of the location that is 123 ft. Shiva statue. The light was good at that time and we managed to click /shoot some good photos/ videos in front of the statue. 

After this, we ran towards our homestay to chill in the air conditioner for sometime to re-energize ourselves for the evening. As we reached our place, we saw our co-travelers sleeping very peacefully and the temperature inside the house was so chill that we also got tempted to sleep for a while. 

In the evening, we got ready and started for the temple again. One good thing here was our homestay manager used to arrange an auto rickshaw for us everytime we had to go somewhere and it was a good deal because we were staying in a silo area and on our own we couldn’t have been able to find an auto.

We reached the temple, did darshan one more time and attended the aarti, ate laddoo again and this time we ate 2-2 laddoo each because we thought what if tomorrow we could not come to temple and not be able to eat ladoo!!

Evening time, the atmosphere of the temple was totally different, there was less crowd and we were able to click good pictures inside the temple because of this. There was spot lighting on the shiva statue which was changing every second minute and it looked great. After attending aarti, we went again up to the statue of the Shiva, sat there for a while, it was breezy and that is why it felt so peaceful and serene there.  There was a cafe near the statue which was surprisingly empty, so we went there. It was beach side from where the statue of shiva was clearly visible and that night was full moon so we were lucky enough to spot the moon over the head of Shiva statue. The view was exceptional and very beautiful to remember.

After this we went to our homestay and chit chatted for a while and then slept. 

Next morning, as we woke up, we went outside to sit in the verandah and enjoy the birds chirping, the morning breeze and the tea. The plan for the day was not fixed by then, I just had a few thighs on my checklist to complete and we sat along with the manager of homestay to finalize the itinerary for the day. 

I wanted to visit Netrani Island near Murudeshwar as it is very famous for scuba diving and is said to be famous for doing scuba in India but our homestay manager told us that it was closed because the Navy has taken up the island for some Navy related project. He gave us 4 places to visit for the day:

1. Echo Beach
2. Mangrove Forest walk
3. Apsara Konda View Point
4. Idagunji Temple

The manager arranged an auto rickshaw for us for the whole day and he agreed to take us to all these places for Rs. 1500. It was hard for us to seat 4 people in a 3 seater auto but we are very accommodating people and we managed. I sat on the lap of Ishan all the time 😛 

The first place we went was Echo Beach. From google we came to know that Echo Beach is one of the cleanest beaches of India, we were too excited to go there but as soon as we reached there Ishan saw a board of no swimming in the water board. Disappointment clearly was there on our faces as we went there all prepared wearing swimming costumes. On further investigation, we learnt that the beach is blue flagged, is environment friendly and falls under government control and because of monsoon high tides swimming was prohibited there.

We felt very bad because we wanted to get inside the water. Since the beach was echo friendly, there was a park near the beach where we went and relaxed for a while, ate ice cream to cool ourselves down. After this, Ishan and I wanted to click some pictures for world ocean day and that is why we went near the beach, Raghav and Mumma chilled for the time till we clicked our pictures in a hut that was there in front of the beach. The beach was rough and aggressive but one thing that was commendable over there was the cleanliness. 

Second, we went to Mangrove Forest Walk. Me and Ishan were familiar with the mangrove forests but my mother and brother saw it for the first time. It was a forest where in between mangroves there was a walking trek. It was adventurous because without any support we had to walk on a thin bridge beside which there were mangrove plantations and beneath the bridge was water. We took a stroll over there, it was super amazing and a complete new experience. Last time in Kerala we went to Mangrove Island where we went inside the mangrove forest through a boat but this time we walked in between. 

After mangrove forest, next we went to ApsaraKonda ViewPoint which was a view point on a cliff and from where sea was visible but only thing is one has walk down 2 km through stairs to reach the seashore and in such a scorching sun we did not wanted to do that so we just went to the view point, it was a man made garden where benches were there and it was covered with lots of trees so it was a calm place to sit and enjoy the afternoon. There was a tap there in the garden and it looked so tempting to me that I went near it and without giving a thought, I just started washing my face thoroughly in that tap to absorb the coolness of that tap water. Once I did it, it was like a trend was set. After me approximately, 15 people came and washed their faces in that tap. It was like everyone wanted to do that but was hesitant to do it and once I did it, everyone felt like doing it. It was a magical feeling to wash face in that tap water because the sunlight was too strong and was absorbing all the energy from the body but once when we washed our faces in that chilled water, the heat became a lot more easy to tolerate. 

After the view point, next we went for lunch to a dhaba place which our rickshaw driver took us to. After lunch, he took us to a temple which was of lord shiva again and it was said to be powerful temple because in that temple, the face of Nandi has moved from front to sideways and it happened on its own and it is said that it happened because the shiva idol in the temple is quiet fierce and it is believed that the idol’s force did that. 

After this temple we went to yet another ancient temple known as Idugunji temple of Ganpati. It’s a very famous temple and is known to be very ancient. 

After Idagunji temple, the plan was to go to Murudeshwar beach in the evening but we were running out of time and more than that the energy level was very low of everyone so we just went to the homestay, booked bus ticket for Mumma and Raghav and packed our bags. 

It was hard to leave the homestay as in my entire journey of two years being a traveler I have never stayed in a homestay as comfortable as the Murudeshwar one. It was warm, cozy, comfortable, modernized and beautiful. 

We had dinner at Kamat again and left the town. 

While going back home, I was feeling very bad because I wanted to stay there more and enjoy the time with my family but every good thing has to come to an end and with the same thought we left Murudeshwar with all the good memories for lifetime.

While going back also our tickets were in RAC and this time there did not come any TC in the form of Lord Shiva to protect us from sleeping on the same birth and hence with no option left we had to sleep on a single birth. Surprisingly, this time we adjusted with the situation and slept peacefully.

Homestay Details

S.No.	City	Comments	Homestay URL
1	Murudeshwar	Coastal Pearl Homestay- 1 BHK	https://www.coastalpearlhomestay.com/