Sight Seeing At Bangalore

Attara Kacheri
Karnataka High Court located in Bangalore is locally known as Attara Kacheri, literal meaning being eighteen offices. The High Court is situated opposite to the Vidhana Soudha in Cubbon Park. The High Court was instituted in the year 1884 under the Mysore High Court Act. The Attara Kacheri made in the 19th century is a stone structure in an intense red color. The construction followed Gothic Style of architecture. The majestic two storied Building with Corinthian columns was completed in 1864. Attara Kacheri was built under the rule of Tipu Sultan. During his reign the offices of the eighteen departments of Revenue and General Secretariat grew beyond limit. So he decided to construct a new building and named it Attara Kacheri in Hindi.

Bangalore Aquarium
The Bangalore Aquarium is a diamond shaped building and was opened in 1973. It is situated in Cubbon Park on Kasturba Road. The Bangalore Aquarium is the second largest aquarium in India. It exhibits the largest number of indigenous and exotic fish, also cultivable and ornamental kind. The aquarium comes directly under the State Government's Department of Fisheries.
This aquarium is a three storied building. The first floor has 14 big tanks where the larger cultivable varieties of fish are displayed. It is done to aware the visitors of our natural resource and marine life. The second floor has two rows of 69 small and medium tanks. The upper row has 23 medium sized tanks while the lower row consists of 46 small tanks. The tanks are constructed in such away that helps to display the purely ornamental fishes closely.

The aquarium authority has taken much care to create a similar habitat for the fishes so that they feel comfortable. The aquarium displays a fairly large number of fishes like the catla, mahseer, gold fish (including black moor), angel fish, blue gourami, red tail shark, Indian tiger barb, glow light tetra, freshwater prawns and the Siamese fighters. The Aquarium is open to visitors from 10 am to 7.30 pm on all days except Thursdays.

Bangalore Place
Bangalore Palace is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Bangalore. Bangalore Palace has been built along the lines of the Windsor Castle in England and embodies Tudor architecture. Known for the large amount of exquisite woodwork, this stunning palace was built by Chamaraja Wodeyar, Maharaja of Mysore in 1887. The palace is complete with Gothic windows, battlements and turrets. Visitors can tour many of the palace's rooms and attend exhibitions and cultural programs held on the palace grounds. The visiting hours are 10 am to 6 pm on all days except Sunday.

Bannerghatta National Park
Bannerghatta National Park is situated just 22 km away from the city. Established in 1971, Bannerghatta National Park is part of the Nilgiris-Eastern Ghats Reserve (NEGR). Regarded the largest elephant reserve in the country, the NEGR is the abode to over 2500 Asiatic elephants. As such migratory corridors for elephant movements pass through the Banerghatta Park. The Bannerghatta National Park offers a multitude of options for tourists to get a closer glimpse of the animal kingdom across 25,000 acres of land. You can avail of lion and elephant safaris that will take you to the innermost regions of the Park. The Crocodile Farm plays host to big crocs, while the Serpentarium boasts of an amazing reptile collection.

The country's first butterfly park was set up in the Bannerghatta National Park on 25th of November 2006. The butterfly park is spread over 7.5 acres of land and constitutes a butterfly conservatory, museum and an audio-visual room. The conservatory is made of polycarbonate roof. The living environment has been so designed that it supports 20 species of butterflies.

Some of the popular animals of this park include bisons, lions, elephants and panthers gaur, leopard, jackal, fox, wild pig, sloth bear, spotted deer, barking deer, common langur, macaque, porcupine and other animals. The popular is also popular for its flora. Some of its collection includes trees like sandal, jalari, chujjullu, tamarind, neem and others. Moreover this area is also popular for trekking. Some of the popular trekking destinations include Uddigebande, Hajjamana Kallu and Mirza Hill. Trekkers from all across the world pay a visit to this venue for trekking.

Bull Temple
Located in the Basavanagudi region of Bangalore, the Bull temple is one of the prominent landmarks of the city. The name Basavanagudi literally translates to mean "The Temple of the Bull". Dedicated to Nandi, the mount of Lord Shiva, the Bull temple was built by Kempe Gowda in the 16th century. The majestic structure of Nandi, 15 feet tall and over 20 feet long, has been carved out of a single granite rock. Nandi, the awesome huge deity of the Bull Temple, attracts visitors, tourists and devotees from all parts of the country and outside the country also.

Regarding the origin of the magnificent bull carved in a crouching position, legends say that the surrounding area of the temple was inhabited by groundnut growing farmers and a bull used to graze on the flourishing groundnut crop. Enraged at the loss caused by the bull, a farmer hit the bull with a club which was transformed into a stone. Stunned by this event, the worried farmers built a temple to appease the bull of Lord Shiva.

This resulted into the practice of farmers offering their first crop of groundnut as an offering to the bull. This occasion gradually converted into the famous the groundnuts fair locally know as Kadalekayi Parishe, which is held in the month of November. The temple is also one of the oldest in the city and is believed to be the source of the river Vishwa Bharti in 17th century.

Cubbon Park
Cubbon Park is one of the most frequently visited parks and gardens in Bangalore. This popular park was established in the historic year of 1864 by Richard Sankey. He was the chief engineer of Mysore .The Park was named in honor of Sir Mark Cubbon who was the longest serving Commissioner of Bangalore. The park is centrally located and provides 300 acres of visual beauty as well as shade from the hot sun. You'll find hundreds of blooming shrubs and trees; an amusement park for children and many quiet spaces for relaxation. Lush green fields of the lawns, large shady flowering trees, flower beds, makes this Cubbon park an ideal place for morning joggers. People prefer to come to this location to take a stroll. Many classical buildings like Attara Kacheri, Government Museum, Aquarium, Venkatappa Art Gallery, Seshadri Iyer Memorial Hall, Visveswaraya Industrial and Technological Museum surround the park.

Dodda Ganesha Temple
Dodda Ganesha Temple is a famous temple in Bangalore which houses a huge idol of Lord Ganesha which is about 18 ft tall and 16 ft wide. Dodda Ganesha Temple is located near the Bull Temple in Basavanagudi. Once while taking a stroll, Kempe Gowda I came across several rocks and one of the boulders had a figure of Ganesha engraved on them. He ordered his sculptors to convert the figure into a huge and fantastic single stone idol of Lord Ganesha. The Lord is also known as Shakthi Ganapathi and Satya Ganapthi. Legends say that the idol is believed to be growing on its right side.

Fun World
Similar to Disney Land, Fun World is a famous amusement park which is situated at the Palace Ground in Bangalore. Spread over 12 acres, Fun World is an ideal destination for kids of all ages as wide range of rides can be experienced here. Fun World remains open from 11 am to 9.30 pm on all days.

Gandhi Bhavan
Gandhi Bhavan was built under the chairmanship of Dr. Rajendra Prasad with and aim to propagate Gandhian philosophies and ideals among the people of the state, especially among the youth. Today Gandhi Bhavan houses the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi along with a picture gallery that boasts of rare photos of Mahatma Gandhi from his childhood till the last day of his life. You will also come across numerous photocopies of the letters penned by Gandhiji during his life span. Gandhi Bhavan also serves as a venue for numerous meetings, sessions and seminars based on Gandhiji.

ISKON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) Temple
Sri Radha Krishna Chandra Temple was constructed by the ISKCON society to commemorate the birth centennial of its founder Sri Prabhupada. The Temple is a graceful blend of modern technology and spiritual harmony with a unique combination of glass and gopurams. The gopurams of the temple are made of Ferro cement. There are four grand gopurams, which are connected to one another by sea blue colored glass structures. One of the biggest attractions of the temple is the gold plated Kalash located on the roof of the temple. This huge structure weighs nearly 1.5 tones. Another striking feature of the temple is the huge Dwarjastambha or flag post. It is 56 feet high and is the tallest in the world. You can take a look at the huge chandeliers that is hasped like an inverted lotus flower in the ISKCON Sri Radha Krishna Chandra Temple.

This temple was built to promote vedic culture and spiritual learning. This was originally a seven-acre empty hilly area. The religious group ISKCON or the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, under the leadership of their president Madhu Pandit Dasa, purchased this land from the Bangalore Development Authority for 11 lakhs and built this magnificent shrine. The temple offers a tranquil atmosphere where you can meditate and pray in a comfortable manner. The temple is indeed one of the symbols of spirituality. A large number of religious ceremonies are regularly held over here. Around 6000 to 8000 devotees visit this temple on a daily basis. Thousands of devotees attend the annual Krishna and Balarama Rath Yatra. The temple remains open from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and then from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

JawaharLal Nehru Planetarium
The Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium was built in the year 1989. A planetarium is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. The planetarium is a sky theatre with a dome of 15 meters in diameter. Around 225 people can be seated at a time. It provides an awareness of astronomy among the students and the common public. The shows are a combination of entertainment and instructions. The narration, music and the sound effects creates among the viewers a sense of total participation.

Besides offering information on science related subjects these programs focuses on historical backgrounds, modem developments and future prospects. Cartoons, video clippings, Paintings, Computer animations, and special effects are used in the programs. Science Park is another attraction of the Jawaharlal Nehru planetarium. This park allows one to know about science related subjects in a playful manner. Some of the models, which are on display in this park, are model of Resonant Swings, Whispering Dishes, Sun Dial, Giant Kaleidoscope, etc. This planetarium is also popular for its Aquarium, which has large varsity of marine life in it.

You may visit http://www.travelhot.in/travelhot/TravelExperience/Bangalore/Places_To_Visit_In_Bangalore.html

About the Author

Josh Levine writes on Bangalore Tours and various travel destinations. He writes on topics like travel tips, discounted tour packages and holiday locations for TravelHot. TravelHot provides information on various tourist locations in continents all over the world.