Shettihalli Church, the Ruins of a Royal church.

After ogling at the pictures of Shettihalli Church on social media, I decided to visit this abandoned,ruined yet beautiful church.

It is just a slight deviation from the Mangalore-Bangalore highway.

From Mangaluru:


From Bengaluru:


As I was travelling from Mangaluru, I wanted to cover a nearby place too. I picked Manjarabad fort.

Started from Mangalore around 6:30AM. The first stop was at Narahari Parvatha.

1. Narahari Parvatha:

A small hill which is after 5-6kms from B.C Road(A major junction in Mangalore-Bangalore highway) towards Bangalore. This is before Kalladka stop, if you are travelling from Mangalore. A few steps, maybe 150-200 takes you up to an old Shiva temple.
There are 4 ponds on the top of the hill, named, Shanka, Chakra, Gadha, Padma (4 tools of Vishnu).



2. Manjarabad Fort:

If you are expecting some forts like what you see in Rajasthan, don't visit. There is absolutely nothing of such kind.

But if you are interested in knowing how this architecture has helped in defence back in Tipu's age, you definitely need to visit this place. The star shaped architecture shows how good the precision and design knowledge was, back then. Stand on one of the boundary walls and you would notice that the walls don't have a flat side on the outside. It slides out at a 135 degree from the top. This was useful in pushing out explosives if enemy forces would approach the fort.

Stand anywhere on top and you will appreciate the beautiful greenery around.

The store room under the ground level has a lower temperature than the outside. 

While entering, don't forget to look up at the entrance arch. The overall star design is drawn in the ceiling of the arch.

Prefer to go here in the monsoon. At least the light green all around would interest you. Otherwise it might just be a dry patch. 

There are a few stairs to take from the base to the entrance of the fort. Like 100-200maybe.

This falls in the Mangalore-Bangalore highway and the google map should help you locate it.

3: Shettihalli Church:

The moment I reached, felt like absolute waste of time travelling through narrow roads to reach here. The place is filled with broken beer bottles, plastic covers. And to add to that, there was a group of irresponsible rascals drinking and partying with their car's music system in high volume and doors open. They were such a nuisance to the rest.

If the above could be ignored, the Ruins of the church are in dire need of attention. The walls are pretty weak. If you can imagine how beautiful these walls would have looked in the 1800s with the French architecture, you would feel good about history. 

There is a lake next to the church which apparently covers the church when the water level rises.

There are no houses/people nearby So, avoid going solo/couple. Go only if you have a group. You cannot really expect what kinda people would be drunk and partying in this secluded area.

I visited in the month of September and the water was like 50 feet away from the church walls.

Photos come out really great with the amazing sky/water backdrop.

Otherwise, nothing much to see/learn.

Note : If possible, add Bisle ghat to your itinerary too. The sunset is amazing here. But, the roads are not good always. So, be careful! :)