Udupi Sri Krishna Temple

16 & 17-2-2018: From Murudeswara we traveled 102 Kms southwards along the coast towards Udupi via Bhatkal, Bhaindur, Koteswar & Brahmavar. We had no prior hotel booking and therefore scoured around a bit in the vicinity of the Sri Krishna Temple before settling for Hotel Ocean Pearl. Rooms were nice & cosy and we got a good discount after a vigorous bargain with a good natured and amiable Bihari lad at the front office. We were weary after almost a full days road travel and we simply sunk into the comfortable cushiony beds for some well entitled rest. After a revitalizing shower and a change of attire we went for dinner to the Coral Multi cuisine fine dine restaurant. The menu card had a wide selection of North Indian, Mughlai & Continental dishes to choose from. Some of us had Penne Pasta in Pesto Sauce, Vegetable Au Gratin, Baby Corn Golden fry amongst other dishes. We enjoyed a pleasant and enjoyable evening, good service & great ambiance. 
Next morning I had to stay back in the room due to sudden stomach disorder and the rest of the group went ahead with visit to the famous Udupi Sri Krishna Temple.
Thousands of  devotees throng the Krishna temple all round the year to catch a glimpse of Lord Krishna. The unique feature of this temple is that the Lord is worshiped only through an exquisitely carved and silver plated window with nine holes called the Navagraha Khidiki. 

A pleasing & customer friendly Front Office at Ocean View

The Entrance to The Sri Krishna Temple Udupi

The Holy tank or teertham

A  captivating selfie with brightly festooned temple chariots in the background 

Posing alongside a huge statue of an ancient soldier

After visit to the Temple at Udupi we checked out and departed for Mangalore via Mulki & Kateel. At a distance of 29 Kms from Udupi, Sri Venkata Ramana Temple located in Mulki is a 12th century temple dedicated to Sri Venkateswara. Mulki is situated on the banks of River Shambavi on NH 17 between Mangalore & Udupi. Sri Venkataramana, Bindu Madhava, Lord Vittala and Ugra Narasimha are worshiped in this temple. The presiding Lord of this Temple is popularly known as Volalanke Ugra Narasimha. The Sthala Purana says that Lord Hanuman on his way back carrying the Sanjeevani mountain of herbs mistook this beautiful locality for Sri Lanka and started descending. But soon he realised that this is not Lanka and therefore at once ascended and resumed his journey calling this as Volalanke or fake Lanka.The word Mulki is actually derived from Moolikapura. Moolika – means medicinal herbs. People say that a few herbs had fallen here in Mulki from the mountain of herbs that Hanuman was carrying and hence the herbs and medicinal plants grew here. The priests at Mulki informed us that food was ready and it was customary of all devotees to eat there. As we were short of time we expressed our apologies and proceeded on our teertha yatra.

The deity at Venkataramana Temple at Mulki

Entrance to Sri Venkataramana Temple

Next we motored on to Kateel to pray at the Durgaparameswari Temple before continuing on to Mangalore a distance of around 25 Km from Kateel. We finally reached Mangalore around 3.00 pm. We had some basic lunch comprising of Curd Rice and Pickles. From this point our friends carried on to Bajpe Airport to catch their flight to Bangalore scheduled to depart at 7.00 pm. Meanwhile we checked into the retiring room at Mangalore Central. Our train to Coimbatore which was scheduled to depart at 10 pm was reported late by two hours and we finally departed well past mid-night at 12.30 hours.
This brought the curtains down to an incredible trip to important temples of religious importance in South Kanara, Chickmagalur, North Kanara & Udupi districts of Karnataka. The four of us had some awesome darshans, drove through spectacular reserve forests, viewed breathtaking scenery enroute, clicked countless pictures including some memorable selfies and enjoyed some great camaraderie, stimulating conversation and amazing moments together. The high point of the trip was of course the visit and overnight stay at Shringeri and meeting with the illustrious Acharyas.

Kateel Durga Temple