Mangalore Things to Do

Mangalore is situated in the costal region of karnataka(India). Famous for its cultural heritage and soft spoken lovely people. We can see the influence of Portugese and British in local architectures and living. U can find a list of very old Roman Catholic church around mangalore.
Mangalore is also famous for Hindu temples.( Mangaladevi, Kudroli, Kadri are some of them.)
Mangalore is also a great place for shopping, though people dont bargain here.
Tourists can enjoy the calm and beautiful white sand beaches throughout the streach of karnataka till goa. Mangalore is good to visit immediately after monsoon. (during Oct-Jan).
You will like the spicy mangalorian style Fish Curry and Boiled Rice. The wether is more or less same like Kerala.

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The Thousand Pillar Jain Temple in Moodbidiri near Mangalore is well worth a visit.The unique style of Jain temple architecture is a feast to the eyes. A whole host of idols carved out of precious stones like diamonds , jade , sapphire, topaz and the like are displayed in a nearby building to which only small groups of Jains are allowed .The head priest is the sole authority who decides who are to be allowed in the secured vault.I managed to enter the vault with my family and three other visitors and were treated with a most unique half-hour presentation of priceless works of art carved in precious stones.

This simple church attracts people who believe in ' living a life of prayer , adoration and contemplation in silence and solitude'.Unfortunately it is located on a busy road in Mangalore city .I do not know if the believers ever get to enjoy silence though , thanks to the traffic on the road outside.

Savirakambada Basadi (Thousand Pillars Temple) built in AD 1462 is famous for its stone sculpture. The eight feet tall idol of Chandranatha is established in the garbha gruha.
The bronze idol of Lord Chandranatha Swami in the sanctum of this basadi is considered to be very sacred. The temple construction was a joint effort of the rulers, the Jain Bhattaraka Swamiji, merchants and the citizens. The temple is famous for the open pillared hall in front, consisting by a large variety of ornate pillars decorated with carvings typical of Vijayanagara style. A 15-meter tall single stone pillar called manastambha stands in front of the basadi.

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Karnataka, with its vast 320 kilometer coastline, has many popular beaches. Among the many beaches , Ullal Beach is arguably one of the best. Ullal is a fishing village and is located 12 kilometers from Mangalore on the south banks of river Nethravathi . The place has several 16th Century cathedrals and churches adorning its landscape.

I went to the coast of South India and visited a ship building yard in the city of Mangalore. What blew me away was to see eight men using a human powered wench pull a giant ship from the shipyard to the sea. Eight men did the pulling. Others were putting water and oil and the planks or hitting the planks to reduce the friction for the eight men pulling.

The men pulling spoke in a rhythmic chant to maximize and synchronize their efforts. Part of the shipyard where they were building wooden boats made me think that Noah must have used many of the same techniques in building the ark. When I saw eight men pulling a gigantic sea vessel could imagine how the pyramids of Egypt could be built using much the same kind of pulleys maximizing the human power.

I took this video to try to capture the awesome sight of eight men pulling a huge sea vessel.