#mommytraveler Archives — FORBABYNMOMMY

How to Plan a Trip to Dubai UAE

Travel trip to UAE

In this trip to UAE we visited 3 emirates out of 7 emirates:

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Planning for the visit to 7 Emirates

We started the planning at least 2-3 months before. Planning includes various things like – length of visit, what to see, which time to visit, how to arrange etc.

We checked various travel partners/websites to get the quotation for a 6N/7D itinerary for 2 Adults and 1 kid to UaE. We were getting around 2.6L to 3.2L quotations. Cost of these packages depends on type of hotel and what all things you are including in it plus your bargain skills.

Finally, we checked if we could plan ourselves and if our friends are okay with that or not. Our friends were good with planning the whole trip by ourselves and had same thought that this provided us the freedom to plan as per our requirements.

Basically, with any tour package you get less tension, but you are stuck with them, they decide what to do when to leave where to go etc. With self-planning you have the freedom to decide what to do how much time to spend what to visit etc.

So, first we finalized what all places we want to visit in UAE and what all activities we want to do. Once we have that list, we checked the ticket prices on various websites. Then we checked the cab charges, hotel prices, flight prices and after all this we compared it with packages cost, and it was coming less only as this does not include their commission.

We booked better hotel, we decided what we want to visit, we decided the time when we want to visit, we decided in our leisure time what we want to do etc.

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Cost for Trip to UAE

Our trip cost was around 3.2L for 2 Adults and 1 Kid (6 years age). This includes

Flights, we booked Emirates were little costly than other Indian carriers
Hotel, we stayed in 4* Marriott property that was not too far from Downtown
All the attractions
Taxi fares
Food we eat
Shopping including Duty Free
Visa
Travel Insurance
International Sim
Cab fare from home to Airport and back in India
Shopping for the trip

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One can save some money on hotel and attractions. Like you can book something cheaper say a 3*, we choose to go to 148 Floor of Burj Khalifa which was costly then normal ticket, we booked a private 2-hour boat ride in Marina instead you can do a smaller tour or skip it, smaller tours of Abu Dhabi which were cheaper etc.

Attractions We Visited in UAE

After a lot of research and discussions with our friends we shortlisted:

Burj Khalifa
Burj Al Arab
Abu Dhabi
Dubai Frame
Dolphin Show
Dubai Mall
Ponte
The View At the Palm
Old Dubai Walking Tour
Boat ride in Dubai Marina
Miracle Garden
Ras Al Khaimah

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We didn’t do the Desert Safari had done something similar in Jaisalmer so were not too keen on doing it. Our friends did it later in there stay with some of there relatives and said it was good one-time experience, if you have never experience something like that before.

Also, we missed visiting Museum of the Future as tickets were sold out, Dubai Eye as it was under maintenance.

There are a lot of other attractions/places to see in Dubai & around but you need time, so kept them for next visit.

Visa For UAE

We applied for Visa via MMT (Make My Trip). The process was quite simple and straight forwards. You don’t have to visit any place and can apply from the comfort of your home. We took 30 days Single entry Visa.

Document required:

Passport Scan – Front & Back
Coloured Visa photo

You can use MMT App for the same. Upload all the documents on there and pay. We paid INR 19,800 around for 2 Adults and 1 Kid. MMT say it will take around 10-12 days, but it takes around 3-4 working days to get the visa.

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Flights

Do plan your trip well in advance to save some money. We were little late in finalizing the dates and doing the booking and due to this we paid around INR 20,000 extra. Initially same flight was costing us INR 57,000 and when we booked it 3-4 days later it was INR 77,000 around.

We choose Emirates because of the experience & service, even though we travelled economy but it’s different then Indigo and SpiceJet for sure. One can save some money here as well by choosing Indian Carriers.

If you have some Credit Card/Priority Pass that offer free lounge access, then you can plan your arrival at airport accordingly. We won’t recommend anyone to do this @Mumbai Airport as the Loyalty lounge here is pathetic. It’s so claustrophobic and smells of food all the time & you will feel like coming out of it immediately.

Food was also not good; we had few things there and were out of it in around 30 min. It was much better outside then sitting there. There are other lounges but as this Airport was taken over by Adani, I think they have converted them into but for Business/First class. There are much better lounges on Domestic then on International.

Do note that you’ll need separate cards for all the passengers even for kids above 5-6 years age.

Travel Insurance

We took this from Reliance General as this was the cheapest option. It costed us INR 1000 for 3 passengers with cover of USD100,000 and some add-on features which were common across all other providers.

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Stay

For this trip we booked Aloft Al Mina which is a Marriott property. It’s a 4* property and it’s good. This property is situated right on Sheikh Rashid Road and has a hospital right adjacent to it. Marriott has their Elements property as well in the same compound so, 2 hotels in same compound.

The property is nice and clean with different options to eat and party. We have booked the room with B/F and they have good vegetarian options with good Indian options as well. Food was good, staff was good and helpful. We didn’t face any issue throughout the stay. Only drawback I would say is they don’t have any free pick and drop to the airport.

They do have free pick and drop to Dubai Mall and La Mer beach but that to is quite less, I think only 3 times a day.

Rooms were quite specious and had a great view of Dubai Downtown. We could see Burk Khalifa from one window and sunset in the evening from the other.

This property is near to Airport around 16-17 Km and nearest attraction is Dubai Frame and Dolphinarium. Farthest attraction was Miracle Garden, which was around 30 Km, but the beauty of Dubai is it will only take you 25-30 min max to reach there.

Attractions

We booked the above listed attractions mostly via there official websites and few via GetYourGuide. It’s best to book the tickets from the official websites as it’s cheapest there and there is guarantee that you won’t get cheated.

Only drawback of this is that you must pay in AED which will add some additional cost to your Credit Card, but you will earn points so kind of win-win.

We choose GetYourGuide as it has good reviews and packages, like Abu Dhabi tour, boat ride, walking tour. While booking this we paid in INR only and got a coupon code which gave us 10% discount but only on there App. Using this we saved at-least INR 8,000.

Taxi

We book all our travel within Dubai via Careem, this is the cheapest and most used app for booking taxi. In non-peak hours it starts from AED 5 around and in peak time which starts from 8 AM to 11 AM & evening 5 PM to 8 PM I think it starts from AED 12.5. For the farthest i.e. Miracle Garden which was 30 KM from our hotel we paid AED 64 which is quite reasonable and something similar we paid in Mumbai for Uber Prime ride to airport.

Uber is too costly there and is not for us mostly used by Europeans and Americans etc. for example same ride in Uber would cost anything above AED 150 easily.

One point to highlight is don’t get into any Black Cabs all Black Cabs are luxury cabs and will cost you way more then Careem. We took one from Miracle Garden to Dubai Mall and it costed us AED 94 this was at-least 9 KM less than what we travelled while coming to Miracle Garden.

International Sim

We purchased Matrix International sim from Mumbai airport for INR 33oo/- after 10% discount. We opted for E sim as our phones does not have duel physical sim options and our friends choose physical sim.

E sim calls were working fine but internet connectivity was a big issue. On the other hand physical sim was working fine. Also the number provided was UK number and not of UAE so our friends & other people in UAE were not able to call us on that number.

Adding to this, whatsapp calling is not allowed in DUBAI, it worked fine in Abu Dhabi.

Don’t take Matrix sim, at the immigration they handed us 2 Du sim for free with 24. hour validity and 1 Gb data. Then we can recharge it for AED 200 I think which will give validity, talktime and data. This is much better then Matrix but not sure how long this will be provided.
Even if they stop then better to buy a sim there only.

Stay tune for more details about the daily planning and attractions details.

For more travel blogs click here

This blog post is part of the blog challenge ‘Blogaberry Dazzle’ hosted by Cindy D’Silva and Noor Anand Chawla.

Day 2 in Jaipur also knows as Pink City of India

Day 2 in Jaipur Pink City of India

After exploring the magnificent forts of Jaipur we started our second day after heavy b/f. For this day we have planned to visit the Jantar Mantar, City Palace, Amer Fort & Jal Mahal.

We started with Jantar Mantar as it’s totally open space with no shade, so if it’s hot then we have to bear the heat. In Jantar Mantar there are more than 15 astronomical instruments which were built by Sawai Jai Singh 2.

Jantar Mantar Jaipur — Worlds Largest working Sun Dial

Jantar Mantar is situated right beside City Palace and Hawa Mahal. The instruments created here allowed the astrologers to see the astronomical positions of different planets and stars with naked eyes. This was built by the king as he has keen interest in astrology, he used all the knowledge while constructing the Pink City.

There is a sun dials which tells the local time in which we need to add I think 38 min to get the IST. The biggest sun dial(vrihat Samrat yantra) in world shows the time to a precision of a second.

Witnessing all this live was an amazing experience and to know this all was created 200+ years ago by our astrologers and craftsman. Overall time spent here was maximum 1 hour. Ticket price is Rs 50 pp and car parking is of Rs 80.

From here we went to City Palace which is situated right next to it. Ticket price is Rs 200 pp. There are other tickets as well like the one where you can visit it at night and then there is package in which you can even visit the place where the current royal family lives, as I remember the price of this ticket was Rs 3000 +.

City Palace was created at the same time as the Pink city itself. It consists of Museum and a part where the royal family lives. This palace houses many courtyards, buildings and pavilions and the most prominent are Chandra Mahal and Mubarak Mahal.

There are many entry points to the palace, one is reserved for Royal Family i.e. Tripolia gate. Visitors can enter via Udai Pol and one other.

Mubarak Mahal was built as a guest house for foreign guests which is now converted to a museum. Chandra Mahal is one of the oldest building in the palace and has several floors.

Then there is a place which was used as a Diwan-e-khas, it’s an open hall which is now used by royal family to celebrate important festivals. There are 2 big Silver vessels kept on either side and these vessels hold the Guinness World Record as well.

These vessels are the largest silver vessels with height of 5.2 ft weighing 340 Ks and has a capacity of around 4000 liters. These vessels are used by the king Sawai Madho Singh 2 to carry Ganga Jal when he went to London for some function/play.

Another special thing about these vessels are they are created without any joint or soldering. It was a wonderful experience knowing our history and seeing how skillful our artisan were. We spent around 1.30 hr here.

From here we went straight to Amer(Amber) Palace. This is situated in the Amer town and was build by Man Singh and later by Sawai Jai Singh. It situated on the foot of Jaigarh Fort. Ticket price is Rs 100 pp and parking charges for car is Rs 50.

There are many options to reach the palace one of which is your own vehicle. There are electric vehicles which will take you right inside the palace and charges Rs 80 pp after your own vehicle this is the most economical and affordable option.

There is one main attraction here to reach the top is elephants, but they are there till 11 AM only after that you have rest of the options till 5 PM.

From down to the full tour it will be around 3 Km of walk. The fort is laid out in 4 levels starting from Diwan-e-aam which was used for public celebration, Diwan-e-khas used by King and his special council, Sheesh Mahal and finally the Sukh Niwas.

This palace and Jaigarh fort are situated in one complex as there is a passage which connects both and was used in case of war. This enables royal family to shift to the Fort which is situated on a height and much more secure.

In Jalebi chowk there is Ganesh pol/gate which is very beautiful. It leads us to the private palace of the Maharaja. Beside this gate there are steps which directly leads to the temple of ‘Sila Devi’ which was worshipped by the Maharajas.

Going up from here comes the Diwan-e-aam, this was used to address common public. Going further up comes the third level. This is the courtyard where the Maharaja his queens and attendants used to live. There are rooms for all.

There is a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ and a beautiful garden as well in this courtyard.

Sheesh Mahal and beautiful garden in front of it

Final courtyard is where the queens used to live. The king had 12 queens, so he constructed 12 rooms and there is a staircase which is connected to the Maharaj’s room, but the queens are not allowed to go up.

All the rooms open to a common area which has a Baradari in the middle. It is said that if any queen does some mistake then the king gives them the punishment and make them sit in this baradari which is then covered by curtains and the queen will do some hard work like ‘Chakki peesna’.

In front of this Palace situated a lake know as Maota Lake and in middle of it situated a garden also known as Kesar kyari(garden) and as informed it was built to harvest Kesar.

In the Amer town situated Jhodha Bai ki Haveli which is not maintained at all and no once can access it, we can only see it from the Palace or the Fort.

After this we stopped on the way to click some pics of Jal Mahal. It is situated in the middle of the lake ‘Man Sagar’

It is said that it was given on lease to someone big company to renovate it and make hotel in it like what we have in Udaipur. Someone said that there is a stay on the construction/renovation.

This Mahal is a 5 storied building of which 2-3 floors remain submerged all the time and when the lake is full 4 floors are submerged. The situation on the shore is not good, so much of garbage was present in the water that it was stinking.

This ends our second and final day in the Pink city. From here we went to the less explored region of Rajasthan which houses some of the most beautiful Havelis.

Do check my next blog for more details about this place.

Exploring the wonderful Pink City of Rajasthan – Day 1

Jaipur aka Pink City was formed by Sawai Jai Singh in 1700’s. It took around 4-5 years to complete the construction of the Pink City i.e. construction of main roads and main areas of the city. Present day it’s the largest city of Rajasthan.

Do check out my previous post where I have given details about different regions of Rajasthan we have visited and how we planned this trip.

After check-in to hotel and relaxing for some time we started our tour after lunch. We stayed in Jaipur Marriott. The property is quite big with 300+ rooms. We stayed in Executive room on the top floor and the view was quite good.

There is one restaurant ‘Okra’ which serves good and quality food. We had daily b/f and dinner at this restaurant. There is one more restaurant/bar where you can have high tea or drinks.

Service is very good; we missed our high tea on the first day and requested them if they can send at least tea to room as we were really tired after the tour. We were surprised when the room service came with a big tray.

The chef has sent fresh aloo bonda(aloo Vada) with a sandwich, some cake, cookies etc. Everything was tasty and fresh.

First day we have visited Jaigarh Fort and Nahargarh Fort. These forts are situated above Amber Palace and there is a way to reach Amber from Jaigarh fort which was used by the queens in case there is an attack.

First, we went to Jaigarh Fort and the main attraction in this fort is worlds biggest cannon named ‘Jaivana’. The weight of the cannon barrel is said to be around 50 tons and 4 elephants were used to turn the cannon from one direction to other.

It is said that the only time it was fired they have used around 100 kg of gun powder and 50 kg of cannon ball. When it was fired it travelled a distance of 30+ Km and a small lake was formed in ‘Chaksu’ were the cannon ball landed.

This fort has its own water harvesting system as well, as water scarcity is there in Rajasthan from long time so they use to clean and store a lot of water.

There are small museums inside the fort one displayed the swords, shields, guns, and also a 50kg, cannonball with other smaller cannonballs. Other one has photographs, stamps and other stuff of royal family.

There is a small garden which is quite well maintained but cannot be accessed by public, one can see that from fort walls.

Many movies were shot in this fort/garden area.

View from here is amazing you can see Amer palace and Maota Lake, we can also see the Nahargarh fort walls which are spread over several km. Roads to this fort is in good shape but it’s a single road broad enough that 2 cars can pass.

Timing of this is from morning 9 to 5 in the evening. Ticket price is Rs 100 per person. One good thing about this place is you can take your car inside the fort, ticket price for car is also Rs 100, driver fee is included in car fee but if you are driving then you have to take ticket as we were told that driver can not step out but our guide managed it for that time ?

From here we went to Nahargarh Fort. Opening time is same as Jaigarh but it opens till late in evening due to sunset point. Ticket price is Rs 50 pp and Rs 50 is for car parking. There are 2 parking places one is inside, and one is outside so if you want to visit the sunset point and parking is available inside then do park inside else you have to walk extra.

Best time to visit this fort is in the evening time, you will witness amazing sunset and can click some amazing pics, when we were there a couple came for there pre wedding shoot.

There is one restaurant Padao as well which is operated by RTDC and they charge Rs 100 pp as entrance fee. Our guide said that the food quality is not that good, and we can get the pic from outside as well, so we didn’t went inside.

There is a wax museum at the entrance of the fort and the ticket price is Rs 500 pp, they have built a ‘Sheesh Mahal’ small palace made of different color glass and few other attractions.

We didn’t visit this as well as the price is more, and we don’t want to visit wax museum as we have seen Madame Tussaud’s in NL and Sheesh Mahal is there in City Palace as well.

Nahargarh Fort

In the main building of this fort there are around 9 rooms which are exactly same created for 9 Ranis(queens) of that time king.

We can even climb on the roof of this building and the view is just amazing.

While returning back from the fort to hotel in the evening we visited the Pink city. The city building are well maintained and are maintained by the government. No one is allowed to do any other color inside the Pink city.

Pink city has 7 gates to enter/exit, the wall of Pink city and the gates are still intact and well maintained. This city is well planned city and was constructed as per ‘Vastu’. There was no modification done with any of the buildings(there are new constructions but old is as it is).

We missed taking pics at night as our guide said that lights will be there till late night, so we went out around 11 PM one of the gates was closed so we have to take a de-tour and found that the lights are off.

I am not sure if they close some gates at night daily or it was due to Covid they closed it. There are lights which lit the full pink city at night and the lights are turned off by 10-10.30 PM daily.

This concludes our first day out of 10 days. Keep following my blog and Instagram for day by day trip details.

Paris To Florence Italy

This is 4th evening of our small 9 days 🙂 Europe holiday, do check my previous post. On our last day in Paris we need to board a train to Milan & from there to Florence Italy.

This was the first time my husband forgot’s the departure time and also didn’t thought about the evening traffic. Our train was scheduled to depart at 7.10 PM from Paris-Gare-De-Lyon station and we left the hotel at 6.20 PM.

Ticket cost was Euro 196 for 2 berth in 4 berth couchette and Euro 66 for Milan to Florence in Thello Premium.

We didn’t book flight as the airports were far from Paris city and Florence and also we want to experience the sleeper trains of Italy. There are different categories and early you book cheaper it will be.

There are 6 berth couchette, 4 berth and then business class where it is 2 or 1 berth and in that you will get bedding and other perks. Then there are option to select if you want to book in mix, only women or only men couchette.

Premium cabin
6 Berth Couchette
4 Berth Couchette

We didn’t took the metro because Paris metro is not at all stroller friendly and with luggage and a small kids it will be too difficult if you are short of time.

First there was issue with Uber, the first diver was taking too much time and then cancelled the ride which again wasted some time. Finally we left and there was bumper to bumper traffic in most of the way till the station.

Due to the tension of missing the train and ruin further bookings and plan we were not able to enjoy our luxury ride, can you believe it was Mercedes as our Uber cab.

Finally we reached the station quite late, trying to figure out where to find the Thello authorities. While looking for help, help found us 🙂

As we were on holiday so didn’t check the news. Our luck was on full swing that day, there was strike of workers due to issues related to salary etc.

Because of the strike all the trains were cancelled. So we actually didn’t miss the train :). Thello has arranged buses for all the passengers and were looking for last passengers by carrying small hoardings on the platform.

When we came to know about all this then we got little relaxed. We were the last passengers so in a full 40-50 seat bus we were the only passenger, other than us there were 2 Thello officials.

They arranged for some food and drinks as complimentary due to the inconvenience caused. It was a 2×2 semi sleeper bus. We are not used to travel in bus and with small kid it was quite difficult.

Some how we managed to get few hours of sleep and reached Milan. As it was via road and bus left little late, we reached the Milan station late and due to this the connecting train to Florence was missed.

As it was not our mistake the officials arranged the seats in the next available train ours was in Premium, they were not able to provide the same sitting but it was same category.

From Milan to Florence it was Frecciarossa. There are mainly 3 categories –
1. Standard – very basic with no additional perks
2. Premium – additional perks like better seats, welcome drink and snacks
3. Business & Business Quite – here seats are more comfortable and wider as it is 2×1 arrangement.

Business sitting and features
Premium sitting and features

Finally we reached Florence the capital city of Tuscany region of Italy.

This is for all the people reading this and planing a vacation abroad please double check the scheduled departure time of the trains and buses. Also consider the time you will spend in traffic.

We really appreciate how Thello management took the responsibility of there passengers and managed everything.

Last day in Paris

After amazing day 1 & 2 in Paris, we were getting use to the things here like travel, food, walking etc. Day 3 starts with visit to Notre Dame roof. We missed our timeslot due to the huge line to enter the cathedral and confusion, assuming the entry to roof will be from inside. But … Continue reading “Last day in Paris”

After amazing day 1 & 2 in Paris, we were getting use to the things here like travel, food, walking etc.

Day 3 starts with visit to Notre Dame roof. We missed our timeslot due to the huge line to enter the cathedral and confusion, assuming the entry to roof will be from inside. But it was from outside.

After we missed our first slot (check detail here) we booked it for the next day and made sure this time we are on time else our €10 ticket will be waste. We checked with the Paris tourism office from where we got the ticket that if we can exchange it with some other place, but they refused.

Notre Dame, Paris — One of the tower of Notre Dame view from the top

After seeing the city from Eiffel tower, you won’t be able to justify the view from here, it’s beautiful but can’t be compared to Eiffel. So, our conclusion is you can exclude this from your list, and you can invest the money purchasing ticket of someplace else or eating something good or enjoying French wine ?.

There are lot of stairs to climb and the space is very little. The stairs are in spiral shape and quite steep. After climbing all the stairs, we were feeling so hot that we had to remove our jackets. It windy on top.

There are multiple levels here like Eiffel but in this case it’s only 2, Eiffel has 3. One can spend limited time on the roof as there are fixed number of people per slot and there are continues slots. So, they even ask you to hurry up and start your decent.

You will climb through the left tower (if you are facing the cathedral) and come down through right one.

View from Notre Dame, Paris — Beautiful sky & Eiffel at the back

After this we went to see one of the most beautiful Opera house in the world – Palais Garnier.

If you want to walk, then it’s around 3 Km from Notre Dame else you can take a metro station name is Opera.

Opera Garnier, Paris — Front Side of Opera, there are lot of sculptures made on this side

We were very exited to visit this place as we have heard a lot from our friends and family who have visited it. But our bad luck it was already closed for the day.

As it’s a working Opera so continues shows keep happening here. Before planning your visit here do check the schedule on their web site.

So, we just took some pics from the outside and left for lunch. We went to some falafel place which was suggested by one my husbands’ friend. And trust me it was simply amazing.

The falafel was so amazing and tasty and fulfilling. It’s a take away place and there is line in front to place order.

There staff will be on the street to help you decide with your order. It’s located on a small street with very less traffic.

Then we just relaxed a bit strolling on the banks of Seine river. It was amazing, cold breeze, calm.

After some relaxation we wen to place which is one of the most famous and important thing to do in Paris. This place is even featured in some movies i.e. Louvre Museum.

Louvre Museum, Paris — One of the part of Louvre after closing

This museum is one of the biggest and will take a lot of time and walking to explore. It’s located in Louvre Palace and the famous glass pyramid is right in the centre of the palace ground. This place contains antiques from all over the world and one of the most famous possession of this place is – Mona Lisa.

Ticket price starts from €15 and then we have skip the line, guided tours, audio guide tour. So, decide carefully which one you want.

It has all sorts of things in the display like art, paintings, sculptures, prints & drawings. If one has interest in museums & history then this place is like temple for them. So much of history and beauty to admire.

As this place took a lot of time, rest of the evening we spent just strolling on the banks of Seine, it’s nice just to walk on the banks, it’s in the middle of the city but still quiet.

This ends out 3^rd day in Paris. Paris has a lot to see and one would at least need a weeks’ time to visit Paris alone. It should not be like this is on your bucket list, so you planned and spent just 1-2 nights and visit 2-3 places in a hurry.

We stayed here for 4 days and still it was not enough.On our final day we really want to see Opera, this was one of the top priorities. We have already checked the visiting hours on their web site.

As usual there are different kinds of tickets available starting from €12 which is an independent visit ticket. You can check the prices here, this is from where we bought ours.

Stroller can be taken inside, but you need to leave it just before you enter the main area as there are a lot of stairs. So, better take Baby carrier also with you if you have small kids.

This place is mesmerizing. It’s beautiful, you will be lost in its beauty. It is beautiful inside out. There are many sculptures on the out side on the Principle Facade.

One of the ramp through which King use to come

There are 2 pavillon one is on west side which has 2 ramps and it was the entrance for the king, now a day this is used to enter visitors. Second one is on the east side that was designed for rest of the public.

The interior has many corridors, stairwells and huge place for people to socialize. 3 main things to see inside –

Grand Staircase
Grand Foyer
Auditorium

Grand Staircase Opera Garnier, Paris — Grand Staircase

Grand Staircase – as the name say these are grand, white marble staircase which divides into 2 & leads to the Grand Foyer. These staircase is decorated with female sculpture holding torches. Hence sudden royal feeling will come when you climb these staircase ?.

Grand Foyer – this is a long hall with very high ceiling. This is 154 mtr long, 18 mtr high and 13 mtr wide.

Grand Foyer,Opera Garnier, Paris — Beautiful ceiling of Grand Foyer

The ceiling is painted and represent various historic moments in the field of music.

This place was used to socialize and enjoy some drinks.

Both the ends of the Foyer have halls with beautiful painted ceilings.

Auditorium, Opera Garnier, Paris — Main Auditorium

Auditorium – this is traditional horseshoe shape sitting with a capacity of nearly 2000 people.

The stage is largest in Europe. The main ceiling area which surrounds the chandelier is beautifully painted & it depicts scenes from opera of 14 different composers.

The min chandelier was designed by Garnier him self and is very heavy and made from bronze and crystal.

Grand Vestibule, this is from where you will exit, it contains the statues of four composers: Rameau, Lulli, Gluck and Haendel.

Grand Vestibule Opera Garnier, Paris — Grand Vestibule

There is a small museum inside which displays stage sets, photographs, drawings & paintings. Besides that there is a library with huge number of books.

After spending some quality time, we went out had our lunch and then headed to Luxembourg Garden.

This was our final stop in Paris as after this we had to catch train to Italy?

Luxembourg Garden, Paris — Our doll enjoying some time before the rain

Luxembourg Garden is huge spread in more than 20 hectares. It was constructed in 1612. The beautiful gardens are the part of Palace – Luxembourg Palace which is now owned by French Senate. Gardens are known for its lawns, flowerbeds & fountains.

Again, it was our bad luck as soon as we reach and decided to relax for a bit it started to rain. We thought it will stop in some time and waited for it to stop under a shed, but it didn’t and finally we decided to leave as we have a train to catch.

This place has covered sitting area, metal chairs in front of the palace near to the pond. What ever time we spent here it was good and relaxing. You can spend some quality time with friends and family here.

Information about Paris Pass

Paris Pass, it’s a card where you pay one time and it gives you access to certain number of attractions as per the pass. You can buy pass starting from 2 days to 6 days.

This Pass includes travel card with which you can travel unlimited times in central Paris in metro, RER, bus and is valid as per your pass validity.

As per me it is useful and cost effective for those who want to cover maximum in the given period. We didn’t want to rush things get most out of the Pass.

There is a lot more to see like – Palace of Versailles which will take one full day, Disney Land again will take one full day, Montmartre to name which are not to be missed and many more museums if you are a museum fan.

Paris to Milan Bus — Good Bye Paris, beautiful final evening Of Paris

Our Paris trip ends with a twist which is related to our journey to Florence, Italy which I’ll tell in my next blog so stay tuned for it.

Coorg – Scotland Of India

Coorg is also known as Scotland of India due to its vast natural beauty, hills and cold climate. Coorg was on our travel list from long time the time, the time when we came to know about Orange County Coorg, I remember it was in 2013. After we move to Bangalore it was our top … Continue reading “Coorg – Scotland Of India”

Coorg is also known as Scotland of India due to its vast natural beauty, hills and cold climate.

Coorg was on our travel list from long time the time, the time when we came to know about Orange County Coorg, I remember it was in 2013.

After we move to Bangalore it was our top most priority to visit Coorg but again delayed as I was pregnant ?. So, after delivery and baby is big enough to travel long distances & buying our first car it was time to visit Coorg.

Done some research online, trying to find some nice home stays and luckily, we found one in our budget on MMT(MakeMyTrip). It was Silver Brooks Estate; this home stay is run by a couple Revathi & Yogesh. Yogesh was in hospitality business for long, so these guys knows what all things are required and how to manage and maintain a property effectively.

Route we took was – via Mysore highway till a round about from where we need to take exit on KSR Road then Belagola – Yelwala – Mallinathpura – Hunsur – then on Mysure – Medikeri Road till Kushalnagar. Continue on same road via Suntikoppa – Kedakal – Boikeri.

It was around 250 Km from our home and took us 5.30 – 6 hours with 2 stops. Our first stop was at Kamat Lokaruchi – Ramanagara, it’s around 50-55 Km 1 hour drive, nice clean toilets and very good food.

Parking is on the road side. Second stop was Café County which is around 125 km from Kamat Lokaruchi and 70-75 Km from out stay. It’s café cum restaurant here you have snacks coffee or full lunch/dinner as per the time.

Service and cleanliness is not good, less staff and until you call them they won’t bother to come to your table, so better find some other place if you want a second stop.

We had one of the cakes with coffee (don’t remember the name) but it was delicious. Small but clean toilets 2 type of sitting options i.e. inside and outside.Other than these 2 stops we stopped at 2 attractions before Coorg.

1. Namdroling Monastery:

Namdroling Monastery is center of Tibetan Buddhism, it’s very calm and peace full place. There is a parking facility outside the monastery behind the shopping complex. Entry is free, there is large beautiful Buddha temple in the center of the complex. It is surrounded by beautiful gardens.

2. Nisargadhama:

Nisargadhama is an island formed by river Kaveri. This place is situated near Kushalnagar. There is ticket to enter the island, you have to cross an hanging bridge built over Kaveri.

The island has lots of bamboo trees and some activities like zip line, place to sit, small tree house kind of. The place is not maintained very well. There is boating facility as well but when we went the current in Kaveri was strong due to which boating was suspended for some time.

There are lots of shops here, all kind of shops like Gov. Silk shop, food shops, toys etc. The main entrance is little hard to find as it’s a small way b/w the shops which leads to the place to buy ticket.

After all the stops and soaking all the natural beauty on the way we reach out home stay Silver Brooks. Believe me it was amazing, exactly what was shown in the pics and the hospitality was just great. Revathi guided us very well and was available all the time for help.

The house is created from scratch inside their estate, look and feel was of old housed. Revathi informed us that they have used reused the old materials like the pillars, doors, swing, chairs. Means they bought the things from some old home and restored it to give more traditional and old age feeling.

This home stay has 5 rooms I think 2 in the main building 1 on the right side which has its own private entrance and site out area, room is also little big and 2 at the start near the parking which are smaller than the other 3.

Cost of room includes B/F and dinner which is home made by 2 talented cooks. Food was delicious, it was a buffet with authentic flavors. There is an open kitchen which means guests have access and can cook their food or snack.

It’s kids friendly place even for infants, the cooks cooked special food for our daughter, the staff is very friendly and help full.

For more detailed review please check my TripAdvisor.

We stayed for 2N/3D and felt that we could have stayed one more day. Most of the time we have spent in home stay relaxing, interacting with other guests. But we also went for some sightseeing to the places like Abbey falls, Raja’s seat & Madikeri Fort.

Abbey Falls:

Is around 14 km from the home stay and you have to pass the Madikeri city, but don’t worry there is not much of traffic like what we have in Bangalore ?. Route is beautiful as it’s a ghat/mountain road 2 lane.

There is a parking little ahead of the main entrance to the falls. There is toilet facility as well in the parking area. To reach to the main falls you have to decent some steps and slope.

The area in front of falls is quite small and in tourist season when the falls are at there peak it will be difficult to find a spot to click some good pics. Spent less time there as it was over crowded, took few pics and came back.

One main issue there is due to some stupid people which park their cars on the road side which leads to traffic jam, so be prepare for that.

Madikeri Fort:

It is around 8 Km from home stay and it is near to Raja’s seat. So, you can cover both the place in one go. You can either park your car in the parking area in front of Raja’s seat or inside fort and walk to one of the places. Distance b/w these places is around 1 Km.

Fort is old and now kind of Gov. office, there is one small museum inside the fort on the right side just after entering the fort. One can stroll on the fort walls, but there is nothing much to do here.

This place lacks proper sign boar, or any kind of guide like some printed material or some guided tour. Due to these reasons it’s very less time consuming.

Raja’s Seat:

Is a kind of valley view point or sunset point.

Kings of Kodagu use to sit here to relax and watch the mesmerizing sunset with beautiful valley view that’s why it is called as Raja’s seat. It has beautiful garden at the start with fountains. Safety measures are good with railing on stairs and on the edges.

There is bon fire facility available in the home stay but went there in after rainy season, but it still rained so couldn’t do it.

To shop from Coorg is special Coorg wine, which comes in different flavors like ginger, chilly, mixed fruit, dates and many more, price range from Rs 500-1000 also spices. There is one government shop on the road which leads to Raja’s seat.

We really enjoyed our stay in Silver Brooks and Coorg tourist spots and the long drive from Bangalore.

Visit Month – August

Note - All pics are from our trip and clicked by us.

Drive-in Beach Kannur

Kannur has one of the most beautiful beaches we have visited till date. It’s also known as ‘Crown of Kerala’ due to various reason and its geographic location. After we bought our first car it was my husbands wish to drive the car on a beach and splash the sea water while driving through the … Continue reading “Drive-in Beach Kannur”

Kannur has one of the most beautiful beaches we have visited till date. It’s also known as ‘Crown of Kerala’ due to various reason and its geographic location.

After we bought our first car it was my husbands wish to drive the car on a beach and splash the sea water while driving through the waves (just like what we use to see in movies). So, while planning our holiday he came across Kannur and immediately it was his first preference to visit this place.

After doing some research for route & stay, we finalized one home stay through Airbnb. Our home stay was located right on the beach, well not exactly right on the beach but stone throw distance.

It was around 310 Km from our home, we started early but not that early around 5.30 AM. With kid it’s hard to leave very early, you keep thinking if you have kept all the required things for your kid or not till you sit in the car and leave.

What we have started doing is we pack all the luggage a night before and arrange it in the car, only thing we leave for the morning is the food item and ourselves ?.

This leads to less hassle in the morning to arrange the stuff, less sweating which leads to fresh mind and body to start the long drive. We took 2 stops one for B/F and another a loo/tea break, also it helps in relaxing the legs which is required if only one person is there to drive.

Coorg Gate Karnataka — Coorg Gate, stop just before entering Kerala

The route was quite straight forward till we reach Kerala, then some ghat section comes through the beautiful jungle. Our second stop was just before the ghat/jungle section at Coorg gate, that’s the only restaurant on the right side. It has ample of parking, nice clean toilets (w/o health faucet).

The route we took was –

Mysore highway till Krishnarajasagara road, then from there Bilikere – Hunsur – Gonikoppal – Vayathur – Iritty – Mattanur – Kannur

Most of the road is in good shape till we reach kannur but just before kannur there is road and new airport construction going on so there are some diversions, mud road etc. otherwise no issue at all.

With all the stops and road condition it took us 7-7.30 hours to reach our home stay, by lunch we were at our home stay.

We booked Ivorycoast’e home stay through Airbnb and believe me it was simply awesome experience with our host. Our host is simple, humble, polite and friendly guy who will help you in every manner.

Ivorycoast'e Kannur — Balcony of our room

They serve fresh, homemade Kerala style food at very reasonable rates. We didn’t go anywhere else for any of our meal. If we are out somewhere then we finish that site and came back to have the lunch and then after some rest head back to another place.

Another benefit of our home stay is distances from the places to visit, it was like in the middle of Muzhappilangad Beach and Kannur Light house & St. Angelo’s fort. Ivorycoast’e has 6 rooms, 3 on ground and 3 on first with porch, balcony, garden area with table chairs kept.

(For more detailed review of the property visit my TripAdvisor)

Here you have your B/F, Lunch/Dinner served which you can enjoy with cold breeze coming from the sea and magical sound of sea waves.

Thottada Beach is just 50 mtr away from the Ivorycoast’e, it’s beautiful, clean, calm beach. It’s located behind the residential area so not many people come here. In the morning we saw only 4-5 people doing there morning walk or exercise. You can easily enjoy your time with family and loved one’s w/o worrying about any kind of disturbance.

Ivorycoast’e is mostly popular with foreigners which come here to relax for 10-15 days and explore the local culture. When we were there Theyyam festival was being celebrated in a near by temple. Our host was kind enough to take us to witness the festival.

Believe me it was amazing experience.

Other than relaxing at our home stay we have visited Kannur light house, and St. Angelo’s fort and the most important place for which my husband had planned the holiday i.e. Muzhappilangad Drive in beach.

Muzhappilangad Drive in beach is one of the largest in Asia. There is entry fee of I think Rs 30, it’s around 5 Km in length so you have enough space to drive your car or find some place away from crowd. The beach is very clean, its awesome experience driving your car on the beach (as per my husband ?).

Muzhappilangad Kannur — Beautiful sunset

We have visited in the evening to witness sun set and it was amazing experience. It was special as it was my daughters first beach holiday. She was initially afraid of water as it was too much of water coming and going also it was her first time on beach. After some time, she was enjoying her time playing with sand.

There is one thing one must be cautious about i.e. washing the under body after driving the car in sea water.

Second day of our visit we went to see Kannur light house and St. Angelo’s fort. There is also a museum below the light house which has a collection of different types of lights used in different types of light house etc. there is ticket to enter the light house and museum which is reasonably priced.

The view from the top is quite magnificent you can see sea at one end and greenery at other. Even in sunny day it was very pleasant on the top due to cold breeze. There is separate ticket to go to the front of the compound sort of walking space with garden at one end, it’s good for morning/evening walk beside the sea. Parking is available on the premises which is free.

Timings are – 10 to 6

There is documentary played inside the museum, in local language and English which gives more information about the history of light house and types of light houses.

For St. Angelo’s we have to first pay the entry fee as it is located in cantonment area, then there is parking that one has to pay. Entry is free. It’s a Portuguese fort built in 1505.

St. Angelo's Fort Kannur — View of Arabian sea from fort

There is ample space inside the fort and has a cliff like end of the fort. There are watch towers on the walls and a chapel in the premises.

From one the walls of the fort we can see the port where the fisherman park their boats. Fort has some beautiful trees inside it’s an ideal place to relax, watch sunset and enjoy the breeze. School children comes here for picnic or visit to learn more about history.

We have really enjoyed out stay here, it was amazing experience in the home stay with amazing homemade Kerala style food and in the town with amazing long drive from Bangalore.

Visit Month – January

Note - All pics are from our trip and clicked by us.