Tuesday, July 21, 2015

A Peaceful Refuge - Sabuj Sathi Island


Info

A beautiful place that all Calcuttans must explore ! 

We all know the newly built Eco Park in the New Town, but not many of us knew there is an Island situated right in the middle which has a Bengali Restaurant Cafe Ekante, a Banquet Hall Glass House and 11 beautiful cottages. Each Cottage has 2 individual rooms.


Our Story

We were planning to celebrate our friends birthday over the weekend by going somewhere nearby, when another friend of mine gave me the details of this place.

We reached on Saturday afternoon at Eco Park. We bought entry tickets (Rs. 20/-) and entered by Gate No. 2. We headed straight to a Deck which read "Cafe Ekante". The boat straight takes you to the Island. The boat ride is free. We reached reception and booked 1 cottage. We had to pay the room rent in advance.












The view when we reached and from the rooms was simply spectacular. The rooms were clean and up to date. We ordered our lunch in the room which was delicious. The services were slightly slow but all staffs were well-mannered, well-groomed and polite.











The rooms in the cottage had individual balconies facing the water. The rooms led to a common deck.

In the night we crossed this bridge that you see in the picture and reached a smaller island with palm trees and a hammock. A great place to laze around where we chatted and had fun. The night view of the resort was breathtaking indeed.

























The place was beautiful, clean and safe. We checked out after breakfast.

























How to Reach

The Eco Park is well-connected by public transport. It may be reached from VIP Road or Salt Lake Sector-V.

What to do

The Eco Park itself offers a lot of activities. According to the master plan made by Bengal Urban Infrastructure Development Limited, the park has been divided into the following areas:

Active Zone - Consisting of Visitor center, Restaurants, Food courts, Urban Museum, Crafts Haat
Theme Area (North) - Consisting of Maidan (open field), Amphitheatre, children's play area, Chinese garden, formal garden, Bonsai garden, Cactus walk, Butterfly garden, heliconia garden and mist house and bamboo garden
Theme Area (South) - Play area, tea plantation, Water garden and utility area
Lake Zone - A bridge connecting the island, Bengali restaurant, Sculpture court, Lakefront Promenade, Wildflower meadows
3 different Eco-zones consisting of wetlands, grasslands, tropical and mixed-moist deciduous forests.

Alternately you may just book a cottage and want to laze around amidst the spectacular landscape.
information source Wikipedia

Details

Reception Landline Number (033) 27064057
Booking by paying 100% Room Rent
Per Room Rent Rs. 4200/- (inclusive of taxes)
Entry by Gate No. 2, Eco Park, New Town, Kolkata




















Monday, July 6, 2015

Itachuna Rajbari




  Info

A peaceful refuge, away from city's hustle bustle, in a small village stands tall the great heritage of Itachuna Rajbari. It is a heritage property owned by the Kundu's. The whole era of Zamindars living in huge rooms (কখ্য ) with large courtyards in beautiful architectural abodes comes alive instantly.


 

 

 Our Story

Four of us friends went to the Rajbari to celebrate my birthday. I had been longing to go to this place and wanted to spend a night there just to experience the whole affair at night. We had booked a four-bedded room which costed Rs. 5103/- inclusive of taxes. We had to order our meals and snacks in advance. A non-veg meal costs about Rs. 260/-and breakfast costs Rs. 65/-. Not to mention, the taste and quality was simply awesome. We reached there at 7:30 pm on Saturday. Reaching there was not much of a problem, all thanks to Google Maps. 


 

On reaching there we were informed that the room we had blocked would not be available as the air-conditioning in the room was not proper. Instead we were offered another room named "Bilash Manjari" (বিলাশ মঞ্জরী). It was a huge room with 2 beds (1 dbl bed & 1sgl bed). They had provided and extra bed to accommodate four of us. The room was spacious with wooden furnitures. 




 




It was my birthday weekend and because my friends had already informed that to them. As a gesture, they prepared payesh (kheer) for me and presented a beautiful bouquet made from the flowers of the Rajbari Garden.  

The dinner we booked was Non-Veg (Mutton) Thali. Each and every item on the plate was very authentic and simply delicious! 







Usually they take you on a Rajbari tour at 4:30 in the evening which we had to skip as we were leaving the next day. However, they were courteous enough and took us on a brief Rajbari Trip in the night post dinner. There is a temple and a pond in the same premises. It would have been quite a treat to sit by the pond on those stairs with friends at dusk.













Nearby Attractions

Bandel church – 45 mins drive
Chinsura Imambara – 45 mins drive
Pandua Minar – 15 mins drive.
Chandannagar, feel the French settlement- 60 mins drive.
Ghushkara Jungle – we are planning nature walks, trekking & biking activities soon.
Mahanad Kalibari – 15 mins drive
 info powered by Itachuna Rajbari

How to Reach

By Car : From Kolkata go Straight to Durgapur Expressway via Dakhineswar or Vidyasagar setu. After driving for around 1 hr you will cross Azad Hind Dhaba and then Hindusthan Hotel on the left, take the next left exit and turn right under the bridge, this is Bosipur, now drive straight towards Halusai which is 19 kms from Bosipur, take left towards Khanyan Railway Station. After 10 mins drive from Halusai, ITACHUNA RAJBARI is on the left hand side of the road.
By Train : Board any Burdwan bound train via main line or Memari /Panduah local from Howrah Station.
Get down at Khanyan station which is next to Talandu station (Bandel, Adisaptagram, Mogra, Talandu, Khanyan).
Travelling time in train is around 1 hr & 30 mins.
Take left exit from platform. Magic, Auto & Van Rickshaw is readily available. Magic & Auto (approx Rs.6 per head one way)will take 7 mins  whereas Van Rickshaw (approx Rs.15 per head one way) will take around 12 mins to reach ITACHUNA RAJBARI.
The address of the ITACHUNA RAJBARI is : Village  &  Post Office : Itachuna. Police Station : Panduah
District : Hooghly  Pincode : 712147.
 info powered by Itachuna Rajbari