The 18th century Naulakha Palace at Gondal is one of the oldest palace in this town.  It has a beautiful sculpted facade.  The palace has magnificent stone carvings with balconies, a pillared courtyard, delicately carved arches.  The facade of the palace is carved with sculptures of real and mythical animals.  ..read more

Veera Narayana Temple located in Belavadi is an ancient 12th century temple carved in soapstone. This temple comprising of three shrines was built during the rule of the Hoysala King Veera Ballala II. In this temple with unique architecture each  of the three shrines has a complete by itself with tower on top of the shrine. Among the three shrines, two of the shrines face each other and are located on either side of a wide and spacious open hall with thirty seven bays. The central shrine is much older and its inner walls are plain with well decorated roof. In all, the temple co ..read more

These are group of temples at Somnath situated on the banks of a Hiren river. This is a calm and serene place just 5 kms away from the Someshwar Mahadev Temple. Lakshmi Narayana Mandir is modern temple built by Birla family in 1970 very next to Gita Mandir. It is dedicated to Lord Lakshmi-Narayan (Vishnu) and is said to be a replica of Lakshmi-Narayan Temple of Badrinath.   ..read more

At Udayagiri, the Buddhist site in Orissa, ASI have excavated many interesting structures that were created any time between 7th and 12th century. One such excavation has brought to light the remains of a huge monastic complex comprising a Mahastupa and an east facing square monastery. This monastery has the mountains as its backdrop giving it a majestic look. The monastery measures about 35 M sq. and had 21 cells. At the back-end of the courtyard, in the sanctum there is a huge 12 feet statue of Buddha in Bhumisparsha Mudra. On his either side are Vajrapani and Padmapani. T ..read more

The Archaeological Museum at Lothal was setup in 1976. In the museum it displays artifacts recovered from the excavation conducted from 1952 to 1961.  It showcases beads, terracotta ornaments, shell and ivory objects, copper and bronze objects, tools and potteries yielded from excavations. There are about 800 objects are on display in the museum. Sadly photography is not allowed inside the museum. Outside the museum there is a tree and there I spotted a new bird that I had not seen before ..read more

Shri Shiddeshwar Temple in Bijapur is located at heart of the city. It is on behalf of Solapur Shree Siddarameshwar of Basav's Saints. This is a relatively new temple when compared to other ancient structures of the city ..read more

The Temi Tea Garden in Ravangla, considered one of the best in India and in the world. It is established in 1969 by the Government of Sikkim. It is the only tea garden in Sikkim. The garden is laid over a gradually sloping hill covering an area of 177 hectares.  Organic tea is produced in this garden based on the guidelines issued by the Institute of Marketology (IMO) of Switzerland. Top quality tea is produced, which has great demand in the international market ..read more

Sim's Park in Coonoor is one of the major attraction that is feast for the nature lovers. Here one can see variety of beautiful and colorful flowers. Here are a few of them ..read more

In Shimoga in the fort area is the 16th century Shivappa Nayak Palace  has been converted into a A.S.I Museum. There are many sculptures in this museum which were excavated from various regions. Some of them are sculptures of Bodhisattva.  In early Indian Buddhism, Bodhisattva was primarily used to refer specifically to Gautama Buddha in his former life. Here is sculpture of 2nd century Gandhara style Bodhisattva Head excavated from Taxila. Here is another sculpture of 5th century Gupta style Bodhisattva Head excavated from Saranath. Tara in Tibetan Budd ..read more

In Gir Sanctuary went for Safari in an open jeep and we could see some birds flying around. We spotted the Redstart in open areas of the forest. The adult male has overall dark grey to black on the upper parts and a black breast. The lower rump and tail are orange-red, and tail feathers dark red-brown.They have bright orange-red tails. The wings are blackish-grey. They are rarely seen on the ground. They are usually seen on the trees ..read more