Amazing Mysore. Mysore, the second largest city of Karnataka is also called the city of palaces. It is hot tourist destination for Indians and foreigners. The major attraction of the city includes the Ambavilas Palace, also called the Mysore Palace. The Jagamohana Palace, the Jayalakshmi Vilas and Lalitha Mahal are the other palaces in the city.
The Mysore Palace, is brilliantly lit at night and especially during dussehra. The palace has Hoysala style of architecture in nature. Inside the palace, there are paintings showing how dussehra was celebrated in the streets of Mysore, during British Raj. The dussehra processions used to start from Mysore palace and ended in Banimantapa where Banni tree was worshipped. The paintings basically depict Vijaynagara school of painting which was patronized by King Raja Wodeyar, (1578 to 1617) AD. Viewers are asked to leave their shoes and come bare-footed inside the palace. Photography is strictly prohibited inside the palace.
Excepting 40 years of rule of Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali, who were defacto rulers, the province of Mysore was ruled by Wodeyar Kings. Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali’s creations are preserved in Srirangapatnam, around 30 km from Mysore. In 1831, Mark Cubbon, shifted the capital from Mysore to Bangalore. Famous writer RK Narayan and his brother, intellectual cartoonish RK Laxman spent much of their time in Mysore.
Mysore has Chamaraja Wadeyar International Airport, which is also called Mandakalli Airport. The national highway 212, connects Mysore to Bangalore which is approximately 150 km away which has been expanded as four lane highway. Mysore is connected by railways with Kolkata, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. River Kaveri, provides the water of Mysore.
The Mysore zoo is probably one of the best zoos in the country. Other than the variety of animals and birds exhibited there including white tiger, Royal Bengal tiger, elephant, crocodile, white peacock, giraffe, zebra, lion, cheetah, fox, gorilla, monkeys, etc. The good part of the zoo is that the animals and birds are mostly adopted by celebrities. For example, cricketer Anil Kumble has adopted a giraffe. The funds are provided by the celebrities and they are loyally spent for the betterment of the animals and birds.
The Vrindavan garden is a romantic site which is built on Krishnarajasagar Dam, which had been used for film shooting for the last 50 years. Popular films shot in the garden include Gharana, Humrahi, Sasural and others. There is a musical fountain maintained at night. It is around 35 km from the city. There is Chamundeswari temple near Chamunda Hill in Mysore, where Goddess Chamundeshwari is worshipped who had been said to have killed the demon Mahishashura.
There are museums in the city including Railway Museum, wax museum and folklore museum. The five-star hotels in Mysore are of international standard including Nalapad Hotel which has brilliant fooding, lodging facilities, and gymnasium, beauty parlor inside the hotel.
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