Mauritius fun

Laguna Beach Resort

It was time for our annual Christmas time vacation with my wife's family as my father-in-law's birthday is on Dec 25th. The final choice came down to a 5 hr. drive to some place in Western Ghats or Mauritius, so dissimilar! But, Mauritius became an option when we found out it was visa free for Indians, there was 6hr direct flight from Bangalore, and most importantly, the island sounded lovely when we looked it up. So, why not. Once decided, we booked the flights quickly getting us a near best deal and set about planning our 5 day stay. Read on to find out what we did....

Day 1: 

On way in the Sienna

The good deal meant that we had a very early 3.20am flight out of Bangalore and had to head to the airport at 11pm. So, no sleep! We managed this slight challenge well and after a quick uneventful flight landed by 8am in Mauritius Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport to good weather and welcoming immigration and people. Our first task was to get our rental car which was to be our mode of transport on all 5 days. Mauritius drives on left, has excellent road infrastructure and they accept Indian license. Perfect!

Car pick up was not the way we were used to in America. An agent met us as we came out and drove us us a few kilometers where the formalities were completed at a car parking area. We got Toyota Sienna for 3 days that we planned to switch for a fancier car on last 2 days. Soon, we were on our way to Laguna just an hour away (everything is within couple of hours!) but detoured for an early lunch at an Indian place in Mahebourg. The drive is very scenic along the coast and we couldn't help but to turn into the quaint La Case Du Pecheur, restaurant (part of resort) for some drinks, views and relaxation. We finally reached our resort, Laguna Beach Hotel and Spa,  to lovely ground floor rooms with views of the bay.

La Case Du Pecheur

They had arranged an elaborate Christmas eve dinner with a lavish buffet, music, games and dance. We had just about enough time to get settled, rest a bit and join the festivities. It was a great way to spend our first night in Mauritius and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Laguna Beach Hotel and Spa

Day 2: Sunrise, breakfast, temple run, swimming pool, dinner.

Murugan Temple

We had decided to relax on Day 2 as it was the big day. The hosts kindly arranged for a birthday cake and greeted him, restaurant group style, in the morning after breakfast. We visited several temples nearby for the rest of the day. Highlight was the Murugan Temple at Clemencia. It was not a planned destination and we turned into the road leading to the temple after seeing the board. The temple was lovely but closed. We got our darshan through the door gratings and were about to head out. However, the priest who lived close by had seen us. He came out and opened it for us, then invited us to his house for a cup of coffee! True hospitality indeed. Rest of day we relaxed at the resort in their nice pool.

Pool at Laguna

Day 3: Sunrise, Snorkeling, Checkout/Check-in, Sunset.

Sunrise at Laguna

Checkout day. We managed to squeeze in snorkeling activity in the morning. The guide took us out into the ocean on a speed boat. The experience of the fast ride and observing colorful fishes up close was enjoyable as always. Our next stay was a full Villa with 4 rooms overlooking the Indian ocean on the west side of the Island. So, it was a drive right across the island that took us about an hour. The villa was fantastic with a great view, private pool and a small public beach right in front. The host had also kindly provided snorkeling gear that we could borrow. So, lots of choices to enjoy around the house itself! Grocery was also required now that we will be on our own food wise for 2 days. London way, grocery store was a 10mins walk and we stocked up for the 3 days. 

Villa Front view

Day 4: Change car, lunch, 7 Earth.

On this day we had to take care of the car swap logistics. For convenience we had kept drop and pick up location at airport itself. So, it was an hour drive out and back across the entire country! After an easy switch, we were heading back in a BMW M3 performance model and enjoying the engine and its power on the wonderful Mauritian roads. For lunch, we made use of the outdoor Asian Kitchen and cooked up a tasty stir fry with noodles that was enjoyed by all in front of the pool with an ocean view! Few restaurants can beat that. Finally, we visited our first touristy spot in Mauritius. The Chamarel Seven Colored Earth Geopark. It is an interesting privately managed nature park. It also had a scenic water fall and giant Turtles. On the way back we stopped at Flic en Flac city along the coast for dinner. Place was packed and parking tough as it is only at designated areas along the beach. We finally ended up at a Chinese restaurant with a busy atmosphere.

Chamarel Seven Colored Earth

Day 5: Beach hopping around and north of Port Louis. Snorkeling. Lunch at Trojan Horse. 

Mont Choisy

This was our last full day in Mauritius! We had relaxed too much and hardly seen the country. So, we planned a day of beach hopping, maybe snorkeling and lunch at recommended Trojan Horse in Grand Baie, a lovely water side restaurant. We had to drive through Port Louis to get to our first stop Trou-aux-Biches and thats pretty much all we got to see of the capital city. We did our planned snorkeling activity here. The sites were close by and we went in glass bottom boats. The fishes were in a deep section of the ocean and we got to experience the depth with many sea creatures, corals and plants down below as we floated above. Only in Hawaii we had a similar awesome deep and large snorkeling site. Giant Turtles also frequent this area, but our timing was wrong. Guide suggested that we should come early in the morning to sight them. After one more stop at Mont Choisy, our second beach, we headed back home tired and happy.

Trou-aux-biches

Day 6: Drive to airport

Last day was just packing and heading to the airport for an uneventful flight back home to our usual routines.

Mauritius surprised us with its beauty, culture, friend people, roads, beaches, food, and so on. There was not much touristy points to see. But just driving around eating and chillin on the beach and snorkeling where we could was perfectly fine for us. Hope to go back again sometime and enjoy more of the wonderful country.

Album of all images

Birds at La Case Du Pechuer on way.

Few birds at Laguna

Switzerland: Land of organized beauty

Glacier Express on Landwasser Viaduct

Switzerland had been on our wishlist for a long time. So, our 2024 Europe schedule was around Switzerland with a meetup of our European friends who flew over to trek its famed mountains together.

Chapel Bridge, Lucerne

Our first sight of Switzerland was early morning on our overnight bus from Brussels to Lucerne where we stayed the longest, 4 out of the 9 days. Lucerne is a quaint city centrally located for many popular tourist spots. Our Airbnb host graciously offered to pick up our luggage after we reached early in the morning so we could do some local sightseeing before our late afternoon check-in. That worked out perfectly. We freshened up in the nearby railway station and then wandered around. We visited their famed Chapel Bridge,

Chateau Gutsch

 

Lion Monument, and Chateau Gutsch. At Gutsch our Google map showed that there was a Funicular to go down but we couldn't find the entry point even though we could hear the train! After searching for a bit, we saw some people come out from behind a building and point out the entry. Another surprise awaited us as this funny (first time for us!) train ran without anyone at its controls like an elevator in a building. There was no one else taking it to guide us! We read the instructions... got in... door closed... down it went at a very steep angle.. and got us to the foothills safely. *phew*. Quite an experience indeed. 

Water fountain, Lucerne

So many things were new and interesting for us on our first day in Switzerland. Water fountains with cute spouts that gave drinking water continuously, on-time buses (we had city passes for free rides), nature all around, etc. Finally, we visited the wonderful Museggmauer Fort with incredible views before heading to our Airbnb and finally checking in exhausted after a full day of walking and sightseeing.

Lion Monument, Lucerne

From the many possible destinations to experience the Swiss mountains around Lucerne, we chose to visit Mt. Rigi. It is known for its views, ferry ride, cable car, and cogwheel train. The ferry gave us some fantastic views whichever way we looked with idyllic sailboats, towering mountains, birds, quaint lakeside towns, and so on. The ferry itself was quite an experience with exposed engines and drink services on board for first-class passengers. 

On Ferry to Mt. Rigi

We chose to get off at Weggis, took the cable car to Kaltbad and then the Cogwheel train for the final leg. All are free with a Swiss Rail pass and you don't have to worry about buying tickets. Mt Rigi was a fun experience with short trails at the top to enjoy 360-degree views. There are also several trails to go up or down by foot but we had not planned to do them. 

View from Mt. Rigi

The next day we chose to go to Trummelbach Falls on a recommendation and enjoyed it thoroughly. The train from Lucerne is the same one that also goes to Grindelwald and the popular Jungfraujoch. How is that possible? Well, it splits at Interlaken with one part going towards Lauterbrunnen and the other Grindelwald! So, one has to board carefully at Lucerne paying close attention to the A/B part of the platform number. As expected we didn't, and had to switch over later in a mad scramble. The falls are a great experience to witness the power of water up close. 

Trummelbach Falls

We chose to walk back the 3km which turned out to be the highlight of the day as the views were mesmerizing and better experienced on foot. We also painted small personal canvasses midway to capture the ambiance, which was quite fun.

Walk back from Trummelbach

Our Airbnb was called Apartment Mount Pilatus, so named because we could see Mt Pilatus from the windows and the Kriens Cable car station was walkable from there. So, this was a must-do for us. Our host recommended that we check the cloud cover before visiting it. But, since this was our last day in Lucerne it was then or never. We were lucky to get great views with clear blue skies as we went up on the cable car to the first stage, Frankmuntegg. We walked around there and enjoyed some exhilarating toboggan in a bobsled-like setup before taking the Gondola to the top or Kulm. And yes....  the top was completely under cloud cover. 

Dragon Path, Mt. Pilatus

We walked the Dragon Path around the mountain top that was very deserted, freezing cold but thoroughly adventurous and enjoyable even without the views. There were rare (I think) high-altitude plants tagged with scientific names making the trail special. We headed back down via the worlds steepest cogwheel train  which was quite an experience. 

Lucerne is a wonderful city that helped us explore Swiss culture for the first time. It is located perfectly to visit many popular spots and mountains of Switzerland. 

This, useful link to compare the mountains we could visit from Lucerne, helped us tremendously. Thanks, Alexx!

Zurich from Grossmuenster Tower

Next was our meetup with my wife's school friends to bond and trek in the Swiss mountains. We took the train to Zurich to join the group. We spent half a day exploring the city. In that short time we managed to visit the huge National museum or Landesmuseum of which we hardly explored 10%, Grossmuenster church with its city views from the tower, and even had a lunch picnic along with the locals on a city bridge.  We caught up with our group for dinner at Hiltl after a lot of excitement with the 3 college classmates meeting after many years. Our treks were planned at Lugano but our stay was in Bellinzona, a quaint little town close to it. The train journey from Zurich to Bellinzona was quite interesting as two young friendly Swiss professionals riding along with us shared many aspects of Swiss culture.

Lido San Domenico, Lugano

Our first trek was the scenic Olive Grove Trail along the Lake Lugano shore. There were cute restaurants all along the trail. We relaxed at one, Lido San Domenico, for some drinks, after just 10 minutes into the trek! They were that irresistible. 😄. The trail winds through some extremely picturesque villages. We met a German team cycling all the way across Switzerland and beyond. 

Monte San Salvatore to Melide

The longer trek we did was the trail down from Monte San Salvatore. The Funicular to the top was fun, the views at the top were spectacular. We could even see Italy. Since our goal was to trek down we could not explore the area which included a museum. We chose the trail down to the lake, that descended most of the time winding through villages along the way. From the lakeside near Melide, we took a bus to Morcote for our Ferry back to Lugano. Morcote was another lovely lakeside city where we had our Lunch with beautiful lake views. As a bonus, we got to witness a Harley Davidson rally who were in that area for an event. 

View out of Glacier Express

Our next big Swiss adventure was the famous Glacier Express. We had booked the leg from Andermatt to St Moritz. Unfortunately, because of flooding in the area, we had to take the local trains for part of the itinerary, from Andermatt to Chur. So, we got to experience the Swiss mountains on both the local trains and the Glacier Express. The local trains were quite good. However, Glacier Express had larger windows, personalized service, and onboard catering. Regardless of which you choose to go on, the mountains and the vistas are truly magical to watch from a train window. As another blog described, no camera can do justice. Just put it away after a few images for nostalgia and enjoy the sight of mountains that go by. Highlight was going over the 122 years old picturesque Landwasser Viaduct. 

Swiss Alps from GE

We planned only an overnight stay at St Moritz, a picturesque upscale ski city. Our stay was in a lovely youth hostel next to the forest into which we did a quick morning walk before heading off to the railway station to begin our Austrian adventure.

Forest trails, St. Moritz

Many more images with captions in the photo albums below. Enjoy.

Lucerne and Glacier Express

Lugano with friends

Cellphone images from the full Europe trip

Mussegmauer Fort, Lucerne

Cogwheel Train, Mt. Rigi

Top of the World, Mt. Rigi

Wild flowers, Mt. Pilatus

National Museum, Zurich

Picturesque Cottage, San Salvatore trail

Glacier Express

Jog Falls - Natural beauty

Location: Jog Falls, Karnataka, India

Date: Oct 30th and Nov 1st, 2019

To get there: [Click here for Google Map].
From Bangalore, it is connected by Train and Bus. Driving takes around 6 hours on pretty good roads for the most part.

Trail type: This is a tourist spot. We did not trek in the proper sense. However, the main Mayura viewpoint of the falls is well developed and managed by the tourism department.  One can walk among the ramps to get different views at the top. For the fit and adventurous, they have constructed steps, 1388 in total, to reach the foot of the falls. This, in essence, was our "trek". The stair access is only from 9am to 4pm. Allocate 2 hours or more for this option to have a pleasant experience. The other public viewpoint at the British Bungalow side also has some ramps to walk around and gives a different perspective of the falls.

Facilities: Restaurants and small shops are present. Public restrooms are also there though we did not use it. HDFC ATM booth is also there. Plenty of car parking at both viewpoints.

It was disheartening for me to not have visited Jog Falls since my school days. That finally came to an end when we had to attend a family function at Shimoga to which we added a one-night stay-over near the falls. The Falls is about 100 kilometers from Shimoga and takes 2 hours drive time.

Our aim was to leave Bangalore by 6am and we missed it by 30 mins, even though packing was just dumping all our clothes and snacks into the car! Note that there are not many eating places on this route after Tumkur. We ended up eating at a small roadside restaurant in Hosadurga, which surprisingly had good Masala Dosa. Lunch was at Sagar 1 hr before the falls at a riverside hotel. Unfortunately, there was no bird activity on the lake. On the way back from Shimoga, we were recommended a much better hotel near Tarikere called Aramane.

View from Mayura

Gray or Hanuman Langur with a better view!

There were not many spots on the way either where we could do some roadside birding. So, we reached the Falls at the expected time of 2.30pm. Since the weather was fine, we just checked in and immediately headed towards the main viewpoint at Mayura Hotels. It is well managed here with ample parking space though I am guessing, it may overflow on popular days.

It was just after 3pm and we inquired about the steps to go down to the foot of the falls. We were told that the pathway closes by 4pm. So, after taking in a quick glance at the falls we hurried over to the steps. Its a total of 1380! but undaunted we started down fast. However, rain played the spoilsport and at about 80% down, we had to surrender and head back up. Our plan was to return the next day.

Clouds coming across

Stairs to the base

As we were told the route will be open for public at 9am, we started out first birding near our resort around 7am and then drove to British Bungalow for the fall views. Here also there are nice viewpoints and you can see and hear Roarer up close. However, the other falls are partially or fully hidden. We then drove on to the Mayura viewpoint (around 2 km) and started down the steps at 9am prompt as soon as the guard opened it. These 2 guards will go down and stay until the closing time at 4pm to prevent any untoward incidents. This time the descent was more leisurely and we enjoyed the views along the way. Birding wise, we were given a spectacular posing by Asian Fairy Bluebird which sat and posed for few mins just a few feet in front of us. Mountain imperial pigeon and small minivets were also seen.

Resting in gazebo at the start of the steps

At the bottom, they have created a small enclosure where one can wade in water from a small runoff falls. No one is allowed close to the bigger ones. We were told that when the falls are in full flow, the water will spray all the way to the enclosure. It was not the case for us as the flow was restricted. We spent about an hour there before heading up. We spotted only Pigeons and Egrets here. The Rock pigeons were perched in rock crevices naturally unlike their urban friends (or cousins?) who prefer the man-made tall structures. Hundreds of them if observed carefully tended to fly out in a flock once in a while.

It was a great trip and we were finally happy to have seen Jog Falls in all its beauty and take in the wonderful nature around it.

Bird list:  https://ebird.org/checklist/S61921322

At the base of the falls