Ticket to Channapatna

Every soul needs a trip, a solo trip. It’s just to find the endless possibilities. One such trip I had been was to Channapatna.

It was one of those days where I just had to stop my brain from its routine and explore something different. “How about a visit to a vineyard ?” said the inner me. Ok! I am a teetotaler, and this was a really unusual experience.

To my luck, found the Heritage Vineyard near Channapatna which was also the city of toys. I prepared my checklist with the following:

Wine Tour at Heritage vineyard
Grape Stomping
Visit Jaaanapada Loka

My journey on April 16th started at 7:00 AM. It was a 72km ride to Heritage Vineyard. The sight of various toy shops was a pleasant view. The first town Bidadi soon after Bangalore is famous for its Thatte-Idli. I had planned to skip this one and try a millet-dosa since I am not a big fan of Idli.

The vineyard was welcoming and I was the first one to be there. Got my tickets for the wine tour and grape stomping. The tour guide had a lot of interesting facts to share about the variety of grapes, the concept of wine tasting. The factory was smaller than expected and it was not operational since it was a Sunday. He showed the complete set of stages where first the grapes are first washed, crushed (with the stem), fermented with a controlled temperature and finally bottled. I got to taste around 5 variety of wines including the ones made from pineapple and berries. The stomping experience was fun. I’m sure it’s not an experience for a solo traveler though.

This entire activity of stamping had made me damn hungry. I picked up some famous wooden toys from Chennapatna as a souvenir and left in search of a tummylicious food. Kamat Upachar near Ramnagar was the best choice with North Karnata Rotti Meals.

The next destination was the Jaanapada Loka where a variety of artifacts were exhibited related folk arts of various parts of Karnataka. It’s a must visit place if you are on the way to Chennapatna. Haven’t seen such a beautiful representation of information and culture before.