Monday 2 October 2023

Varkala, Kerala, India

Sunset from Varkala South cliff

Ever since I moved to Bangalore in 2022, I have been hearing about Varkala as if this is the "Goa" of Bangaloreans. I started planning for a Varkala trip but due to many unavoidable circumstances, the planning didn't see light of the day until September 2023 during the Ganesh Chaturthi extended weekend. I didn't drive down to Varkala (I usually drive to any nearby holiday destination as I love driving) but took an overnight AC sleeper bus from Punchiry Travels. I'm mentioning their name as I found their bus to be very comfortable, hygienic & less rolling compared to other sleeper bus companies. For the return journey, I booked train tickets for 16525 KSR Bengaluru Express (Kanyakumari t KSR Majestic) from IRCTC. While there is still daylight, one can get to witness some spectacular Kerala landscapes form the train window.

Coming back to the trip, I wouldn't say I had a "fantastic" trip because of many factors which I will elaborate further as you continue reading this blog.

Friday 19 May 2023

Cappadocia, Day 1 - Zelve Open Air Museum & Fairy Chimneys/Paşabağları Müze ve Örenyeri, Turkey

At Goreme Open Air Museum

After having a phenomenal sojourn in Istanbul, we flew to the historical region of central Turkey - Cappadocia/Kapadokya (in Turkish). It is famous for its unusual & exclusive historical heritage, rock formations & scenic hot air balloon rides. I had kept 2D/2N in Cappadocia. But personally I felt even 5 days is too less to properly explore the whole of Cappadocia. Hence, it is always good to decide which attractions one wants to delve into.
In front of Red Valley, Goreme


Notable sights of attraction/activities:

Zelve Open Air Museum


If one visits Fairy Chimneys with ample amount of time, it is not required to spend more time on Love Valley, Rose Valley, Three Beauties, Devrent as the rock formations, terrain, landscape are more or less very similar to one another (we actually skipped these as we took our own sweet time to explore Fairy Chimneys). Cappadocia local tours & travel agencies operate 2 types of tours viz:

  1. Red Tour covering the northern locales of Cappadocia
  2. Green Tour traversing the southern Cappadocia
Fairy Chimneys


It goes without saying that both the above tours CANNOT be done on the same day and many attractions are not included in the above tours. For example, either Kaymakli or Derinkuyu underground city tours are included in the Red Tour but not BOTH the underground cities. If the stay in Cappadocia is exceeding 3 days, then all the above attractions can be explored with ample time & energy without hurrying.

Friday 5 May 2023

Istanbul, Turkey 2023

Silhouette of Istanbul from the Bosphorus

Ever since I watched the series Rise of Empires:Ottoman on Netflix amazed at how Mehmed II, popularly known as Mehmed the Conqueror, captured erstwhile Constantinople from Constantinople XI in 1453 portraying the sheer intelligence & thorough dedication of Mehmed II, I became fascinated by the whole idea of Turkey and included it in my bucket list since 2020. As is the golden rule for any international or domestic travel, it is advised to buy flight tickets minimum 3 months before the final travel date so I started planning from end of February (I was still late). I wanted to avoid the rush & crowd of tourists during summer time, which starts from end of May in Turkey and all the prices - hot air balloon rides, AirBnB, hotels become double or triple of what the prices actually are in winter season. But I also had to keep in mind to avoid the holy festival of Ramadan which ended on 21st April 2023, so I bought the tickets planning to reach Istanbul on 22nd April, i.e. the day of Eid.

Bosphorus Strait & Ayasofya Camii
in the background