Nagara- A Green carpet

 Karnataka is one of the places in India which turns gorgeous during monsoon. It has almost become a custom for me that I have to travel to Karnataka during monsoon.This time it was decided to explore Shimoga , a district that lies amidst the beautiful sharavathi valley. Shimoga is close to 5 hours journey from Bangalore.There are enough buses to Shimoga from Bangalore in regular intervals. So me along with two of my friends got-to-gether at the Bangalore mofusil bus stand  and started to shimoga. This time we planned to explore the shimoga  - kollur route. I remember one of my friends saying that there's a fort on the way to kolur and that it's really beautiful in monsoon. But none of us knew the name of the fort or its exact location,  Our only plan was to make plans on the way.

After reaching shimoga , We found a place to stay that night . The next day morning we inquired about that fort and came to know that  it is 85 kms away from Shimoga and any bus going to kollur would stop there. Nagara is the name of the fort.. The village is also named after the Fort, We boarded a bus from the shimoga bus stand. The bus started a few minutes after we got in to the bus ' meanwhile the three of us found the seat near one of the poles. Sugi already claimed a window seat so leaving her the space manoj settled down in the middle and i was left with no choice but to occupy the gap close to the pole with a little bit of cushion on it. The bus route was cutting across a lot of villages which were glowing green in the monsoon. As a custom it has become on the way inside the bus we were taking selfies as the whole bus was giving us a weird look . It was a 3 hour ride so we had to spend time by talking , sleeping & reading. On the way something happened in my life for the first time. A bunch of women waved at me when our bus stopped at one of the village . I still wonder the reason they waved at me but it was a foolishly proud moment as it would be for any given guy. Now let me stop bragging and continue with the story. We almost reached the place ; and remember it is important to inform the  bus driver / conductor that we want to see the fort. Because the Bus goes through  the village and the fort is actually a few minutes ahead of  the village. 

After a bumpy , pleasant-some  ride of about 3 hours, we got down from the bus. The Fort was just a few minutes walk from where the bus stopped The place were we got down was so beautiful that we actually thought we would spend some time at the same place. With huge sigh of relief we started to walk towards the fort. The  Nagara fort welcomes you with a huge wooden gate in the front .  The grass grown on the century old rocks were like a 'ever-green' carpet spread out. The weather was melodious and the slight drizzle was like a cherry atop cake. Just like any other fort , It had a  water-well , lead by sensibly  designed staircases which mazes down and reached the water. 

There were two different paths that we can take to reach the actual tower of the fort which was built on the top of a small cliff. One should take a walk on both the stairs as it gives spectacular views of the Sharavathi valley. 

The huge circular verandas  on all four sides of the fort which I believe would have been built to keep watch of all four sides was amazing.

When we had a view from the top of one of those verandas ,the tar road looked like a  black line  drawn in the middle of vast spread green fields. 

The 360 degree view of the valley with the mountains on both the sides was more than breath-taking. The main tower of the fort is connected by a straight and reasonably broad veranda which followed by a stair-case.

After getting on the top of the fort , we happened to see some spectacular views.  There was a point where one can see the ghat roads above the stream connected by bridges were running parallel . 

A building surrounded by lush green forests with layers of mountain ranges at the back-drop.

A good 3 hours can be spent on the fort , If one admires nature and architecture. Nagara fort can be a good weekend destination especially during monsoon. There are also places like kolur , kodachadri near Nagara if the plan is for more than 3 days.It was really hard for us to bid good bye to each other but we were excited about the next trip...