Bangalore was very dry and hot. Our hotel Octave Suites - Toucan Plaza, 65 Residency Road. was close to Residency Road and the Garuda shopping Centre. The hotel no longer served breakfast and so we ate at the South Indian restaurant next door. Excellent Dosas and fruit juices and even ice cream. The pay first and then wait for your order at the serving counter and everyone else pushes in front of you was annoying. We managed to organise a tuk tuk driver each day to take us to various places each morning. As Peter was not ambulant this was the best course of action for us. We did not see as much as we would have had he been able to walk. We visited St. Mary’s Basilica on Msgr. F. Noronha Road, Shivaji Nagar. Shivaji Nagar is in a muslim area so the church is quite incongruous with its surroundings. The building is very well maintained, near Russell market and Commercial Street. It is a combination of European (Gothic) and Christian influence with Indian culture - garish statues and neon lights abound. St.Mary’s Basilica, the oldest church (7th C) in Bangalore is the only church in Kartanaka to be raised to the status of minor basilica. This church was initially a thatched hut named as the Chapel of Kanikkai Madha. The church was pulled down in 1832 during communal riots. The existing church was built in 1875. Pilgrims visit the shrines in the courtyard. There are squat toilets but you need someone to accompany you to hold your things as everything is awash.



St Mary's Basilica - Bangalore

Embellished columns

Colourful interior

Shrine to Our Lady of Velankani

Sermon on the Mount bas relief.

On the way to St Mary's we stopped to view the High Court and the Vidhana Soudha – is the State Parliament and the seat of Karnataka’s Legislative assembly (Closed to the public). This massive building is located opposite the red High Court of Karnataka and Cubbon Park in Dr Ambedkar Road. Metro: Vidhana Soudha. Lit on Sundays between 6:30 PM and 8:00 PM. The building contains elements of British, Dravidian and Indo-Islamic architecture.


Vidhana Soudha

Vidhana Soudha - offices

Hugh statue of Mahatma Ghandi in the grounds

More great photos and trip details, Rasputin, thanks. The only trouble is that your descriptions are so good, I'm beginning to wonder if I need to go myself at all.

Hi Thursdays
Only in the 80s. Peter stood at the counter in Jaipur and could not believe people coming around him at all angles to get their own tickets! Similar things happen at suburban metro stops now.
We have purchased on line just once and since we could not remember the password and the Railway site will not let you change your password, only create a new e-mail address and start again, we abandoned that idea after the creation of three new-emails! We have also purchased through an online site and again once that linked to the Indian Railway site and it recognised the e-mail we could not continue using that site.

Now we have our friend and driver Kan Singh of Rajasthan Visit Tours (whom we have used many times) to book the tickets including airline tickets for us and he sends us the tickets via e-mail and I transfer the cost to his account. All good.

Our intended walks around Bangalore with Unhurried Tours, Bangalore Walks etc were shelved. Our Tuk Tuk driver met us after breakfast after he had done the morning school run, and took us to Bangalore Palace – Palace Road Vasant Nagar. The Bangalore Palace was for many years closed to tourists. The palace was originally Rev. Garrett’s home. In 1873, it was bought by Maharaja Chamarajendra Wadiyar. The palace has fortified towers, Gothic windows, battlements and turrets. The palace is mainly constructed of wood and is famous for its carvings and paintings. Built to resemble the Windsor Castle in England, it is the seat of the current Maharajah of Mysore, and head of the royal Wodeyar dynasty. Inside, are lavish interiors and a surprisingly wide exhibition of nudes which is displayed in some rooms. There is renovating taking place and when finished (if ever) there will be more rooms available for viewing. The palace interiors are decorated with carved floral motifs in wood, relief paintings and patterned walls. The highlights of the palace include stained glass windows, crystal chandeliers, the Wadiyar Coat of Arms, trophies and paintings by Raja Ravi Verma. A weighing chair for jockeys is one of the curiosities . The Coat of Arms was gifted to the Wadiyars by the British. The palace contains the first lift in Southern India, unfortunately it is not operational and Peter had to climb the flight of stairs to get to the upper levels. The staircase is tiled and has an interesting collection of photographs along the walls. There are unfortunately heads of elephants and other wild animals which had been shot by the Rajas and their guests. The audio guide is very good. There are guards all around the place, but they are mainly more interested in their phones rather than worrying about whether you are taking photographs. There are so many interesting photographs along the corridors of a time long since gone (in some ways thank goodness). There are architectural drawings of various items of furniture that are still in use today. You should allow more than 1.5hrs to visit here. Looking out of the windows you can see that renovation or merely upkeep is limited to the paying parts of the palace. Everything else is slowing falling into ruin. The beautiful glass hot house is closed to the public and from the upstairs window you can see that it needs a lot of work to restore it.

There is not much of a garden but it does give you a good exterior view of the Palace.

A bit pricey@ ₹600 but an audio self-tour is included in the price. ₹1500 for a camera. You can’t even take photos of the exterior of the Palace without the ticket. Even a phone requires a fee of ₹300.

If you dismiss your transport at the Palace, don’t take an auto rickshaw from outside the palace. Walk away and get one for ½ the price they ask. The gardens are free without a ticket and you can take as many photographs as you like, but of course you have to get past the guard to walk down to the gardens.. Open 10am – 5.30pm. The area is commonly referred to as Palace Grounds and some of the BMTC buses which ply out of the central bus terminal include 287, 287B, 287C, 287D and 287E.

Entrance to Bangalore Palace

Bangalore Palace

Mounted soldiers

Uniforms of the Wodeyar's soldiers

Bronze statue

Main reception hall

Reception Hall

Wodeyar's coat of arms

Lift door and elephant head


Upstairs reception hall.

Screen for women to watch the proceedings in the upstairs reception room

Reception hall in use today.

Ceiling in upstairs reception room

Widoyer Throne.

Royal bedroom

Exterior from gardens

Portrait of Spanish King

Corridor in the harem area

Downstairs reception area - used for a week long wedding.

Furniture .

Courtyard tiled in Spanish Moorish style. The seats were tiled in Spanish tiles given by the Spanish King of the time.

Spanish tiled floor

Floral Archway

Looks a bit less over the top than Mysore Palace, which belongs to the same family.

Last time I need Indian train tickets I bought them from cleartrip.com with no difficulty, plus one journey from an in-country travel agency when I changed my plans.

A trip to Tipu Sultan’s Palace - Albert Victor Road - ₹15/200 camera ₹25 - 8.30 – 5.30. The tickets to the Tipu Sultan’s Palace are also much cheaper than to Bangalore Palace – ₹10 for Indians and ₹100 for foreigners. 3 km from Bangalore City Railway Station, Tipu's Summer Palace is near the Fort at Albert Victor Road. It is an Indo-Islamic building and an important landmark in Bangalore. This was used as a summer retreat by the Sultan, who called it the Rash-e-Jannat meaning Envy of Heven. Hyder Ali, his father, started the palace within the walls of the Bangalore Fort and it was completed by Tipu Sultan in 1791. The structure is similar to the Daria Daulat palace in Sirirangapatnam. After Tipu Sultan's death in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, the British Administration used the palace for its Secretariat before moving to Attara Kacheri in 1868. The entire two storied palace is built of teak wood, mortar, stone and plaster laid on a stone plinth. The carved pillars support giant wooden beams It is quite dark and so difficult to see many of the carvings.. Tipu Sultan used to conduct his durbar (audiences) from the upper floor of the palace. The upper chambers and balconies are accessed by four staircases with the central portion being a large hall that leads to four smaller rooms. - the women's quarters. The balcony at the rear was used by the queen. Beautiful floral motifs enhance the walls and the ceilings of the palace. The palace houses a small museum showcasing various achievements of Tipu Sultan and his administration, together with historical photos and artefacts of Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan and other famous personalities. There is a replica of Tipu's Tiger, which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Tipu Sultan's clothes and his crown are displayed on silver and gold pedestals - large - reminds me of Henry's VIII's clothes.. There is a painting of the throne visualized by Tipu Sultan - coated with gold sheets and covered with emeralds,. Tipu vowed never to use it until he completely defeated the English Army. After Tipu Sultan's death, the British dismantled the throne and auctioned its parts. Photography is allowed and there is no special fee for camera. Open: 10 AM to 6 PM Monday to Saturday. Closed on Sundays.

We also wanted to visit the Armory which is located in the University grounds, but could not get the Tuk Tuk driver to understand. We drove past the local market and the Bangalore Fort - or 'Old Dungeon Fort and Gates', was built as a mud fort by the city's founder Kempe Gowda I. In 1761, Hyder Ali replaced the mud fort with a stone one.

Plaque at Tipu's Palace

Stairs to upper level. Museum on ground floor

first floor gallery

Entrance

Tipu's balcony

Queen's balcony

Tipu Sultan

Women's quarters - first floor

Frescoes on columns

Entrance and fan Palm

Ceiling paintings

A jackfruit from the garden
Tipu had experimented with fireworks and rockets and these are said to be the first rockets used in warfare. Most of them are in British Museums.

This is quite a small building so you will not need to allocate more than 1 hour here.