Bangalore Journals

Bangalore 2009 part 2

A travel journal to Bangalore by koshkha

Tipus Summer Palace Photo, Bangalore, India

Quote: A second set of reviews from our visit to Bangalore in November 2009

23 Photos

Lal Bagh Botonical Gardens

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Remarkable Public Gardens"

Lal Bagh Botonical Gardens Photo, Bangalore, India

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If you had asked me what there was to see in Bangalore before we actually went there, then I would have struggled to tell you the main attractions with the exception of the Lal Bagh gardens and its famous greenhouse. Based on my very very basic knowledge of Hindi, I think Lal Bagh means 'red gardens' but I could well be wrong. What I did know was that it ranked near the top of the city's 'must see' list. As a Brit I'm normally pretty sceptical about the ability of any other country to produce a decent public park or botanical gardens. We may have lousy weather but we're a nation of gardeners and despite a national trait of modesty, we can be remarkably arrogant about our ability to beat the world at all things horticultural.

Sunday afternoon was a good time to go since it seemed that the whole of the city was out in force to take a stroll in the city's biggest park. Unlike many attractions, this is one where being a tourist doesn't come at a high price and entrance was just 10 rupees. Lal Bagh is a massive public park that covers 240 acres. There's no way you could see it all without spending at least half a day there, possibly more. Unfortunately we arrived late in the afternoon and knew we wouldn't have time to do more than scratch the surface.

The park was set up in 1740 by local heroes Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan and together they gathered tropical and sub-tropical plants. Their collection was supplemented in the 1870s by the British Garden's Superintendent, John Cameron, who imported plants all the way from Kew Gardens. Cameron also commissioned the building of the famous glass house which wouldn't look out of place in Kew itself and was based on the Crystal Palace in London. In a real spirit of British gentility he planned that it should be used for horticultural shows and these continue to this day.

We weren't too sure whether the gardens would be a bit too kitsch when the thing we came across after entering was a rather poor flower clock that reminded me of seaside visits to Weston-Super-Mare, one of England's kitschest towns. It wasn't particularly well done and the presence of all seven of Snow White's dwarves (we couldn't see the lady herself but she must have been there) was an unexplained addition. We giggled rather too much.

Other things that will make you do a double-take and question whether this is Bangalore or Basingstoke are the Rose Gardens and a pretty little bandstand that wouldn't look out of place in any traditional English municipal park. We passed this on the way to the greenhouse and on our return at the end of our visit, a local folk band were setting up to play in the early evening.

The greenhouse exceeded all my expectations and was bigger, fancier and more all-round awesome than I could ever have imagined. It's a truly magnificent construction all the more remarkable for being so totally unnecessary in the tropical climate of India. To avoid everything getting totally over-heated, the glass only starts at about a height of 10 feet so that fresh air is almost sucked through the building. I'd love to be there for the flower show since I've seen photographs and it looks absolutely incredible.

Lal Bagh is also home to one of the oldest specimen rock formations in the world – the Peninsular Gneiss which dates back roughly 3 billion years – yes, billion, not million. As a geologist by education, I had to have a good look at that and like all the other tourist we clambered across this National Geological Monument like a bunch of over-excited ants. In the middle of the outcrop we found one of the so-called Kempe Gowda towers which were set out in the 16th Century to mark the boundaries of what the city's founder Kempe Gowda imagined to be the likely greatest extent of the city. He couldn't possibly have imagined that his ambition for the city covered only a tiny proportion of 21st century Bangalore.

Passing rose gardens, cactus gardens and a lotus pond we became aware that the light was fading so we rushed towards to lake to watch the sunset. It was a bit of a crazy thing to do because we'd left out hotel many hours before with a plan to just stroll around some shops and now found ourselves at twilight with no mosquito repellent hanging out by a lake – it wasn't clever and we were likely to get eaten a live so we had to take care not to stay too long. After grabbing a few photographs and swatting away lots of bugs, we headed back through the park to return to our driver and head back to the B&B with a long and busy day behind us. Read Less

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on October 9, 2010

Lal Bagh Botonical Gardens
Lal Bagh Road
Bangalore, Karnataka

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Tipu's Summer Palace

Best Of IgoUgo

Attraction | "Go on, be a Tiger!"

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In the days when the British were trying to stamp their mark on India, Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali were thorns in their side. As other local leaders fell under the rule of the East India Company and the British army, Tipu Sultan fought back again and again, earning himself the nickname of the Tiger of Mysore. He wasn't a sultan - his father just gave him that name, a bit like Michael Jackson calling his son 'Prince Michael' but sometimes if you believe it enough, you can make a name into a title.

If you visit the region between Hyderabad and Mysore as we did last year, you cannot fail to come away aware of Tipu Sultan and his impact in the region. Even before I went to southern India the first time about 8 years ago, I knew of him through one of the Victoria and Albert's most famous exhibits – an automaton called Tipu's Tiger which is a large metal clock-work figure of a tiger (symbolising Tipu Sultan) mauling a figure dressed as a British soldier.

On that first visit to Mysore we saw Tipu's summer palace in the town of Srirangapattana. It was one of my stand-out attractions from that tour and I wanted to see another of his palaces so when I realised that Bangalore had his 'summer palace' I wanted to see it.

Tipu Sultan's palace in Bangalore dates back to 1781 when Hyder Ali started its construction but it was finished ten years later by his son Tipu Sultan. It is mostly made of wood with some very grand carved teak pillars. Its design is based on the palace we'd seen in Srirangapattana but it doesn't have the large beautiful gardens or the astonishing level of preservation of that place but it's still worth a visit.

Entrance is 100 rupees per person for foreigners. Our driver tried to persuade us not to go because he thought it wasn't worthy of a visit but I'm too stubborn to be put off. The palace is adjacent to a Hindu temple that's probably worthy a visit if you have a bit more time but we were tyring to squeeze in a couple more visits before it got dark so we stuck to the palace. It stands in neatly manicured lawns with tidy little flower beds and the most tightly trimmed box hedges I've seen in India. Sari-clad gardener ladies were patching up the grass and removing weeds to keep everything looking pristine and we took a few minutes to wander in the gardens before heading inside.

The shape is very similar to his other palace and is a two story construction with colonnades and open verandas and balconies but the colours are very dark and a little bit gloomy. Some of the hand painted wood is very pretty but it suffers badly by comparison with his other palace. It feels more like a pavillion than a palace and with just a few rooms, I'm still not quite sure what it would have been used for.

There's an interesting exhibition on the ground floor about Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali which includes a small version of theTipu's Tiger automaton as well as lots of prints and information about the four Anglo-Indian battles he fought. He won the first two but lost the third and fourth and as a result two of his children were taken 'hostage' by the British. Can you imagine how that would go down under the Geneva Convention?

If you are unlikely to make it down to Srirangapattana to see the best of his palaces, then this is worth a visit. If you have seen the other, then this is an interesting contrast. But if you have no interest in Tipu Sultan and his place in Indian history, then you can listen to your driver and go elsewhere. Read Less

Member Rating 3 out of 5 on October 9, 2010

Tipu's Summer Palace

Bangalore, India