Hampi

Hampi had been on our "to-visit" list since a long time. We finally visited this year - Nov 1st to 3rd.

Our aunt and uncle visit India every year, and we always plan a trip with them. So this time it was Hampi. 7 of us started off on a Thursday morning at 6.18 am from Bangalore in 2 cars. It was raining heavily in Bangalore and most of south India.

We took the Nice road to Tumkur road - NH 4 - Kamat Upachar stop for breakfast - Sira - Hiriyur by pass - Continue on NH 4 to Chitradurga - At Chitradurga, exit to NH 13 - Right to NH 13 - Continue on NH 13 - Left to SH 45, there is no sign, our gps told us to, it is a zero traffic road - Join NH 13 at Kudligi - Tungabhadra dam road - Hospet

The highways are full of lorry traffic, as it goes all the way to the north. Both sides of the road were covered with various kinds of fields - corn, banana and the best were sunflowers. By the time we reached Hospet it was 2pm. Since it was raining heavily in Hospet, we didn't step out of the hotel that day. We stayed in a very nice place called 'Royal Orchid'. I guess its the best hotel in that area and we had got a great deal on the stay.

The next day we were all waiting to venture out and explore the Hampi Ruins. The weather has always been great in EVERY place we have visited so far. So as expected, it had stopped raining :) We had a heavy continental breakfast at the hotel and stepped out. Its about 12 km to Hampi from Hospet.

The weather was pleasant, light drizzle once in a while. We left the hotel at 8.45am.

I realized after reaching Hampi, that Hampi=Hampi ruins. Almost everything has been touched/destroyed by the Mughals. Many structures don't even exist. We could see only the foundation. The archeology department has been excavating new structures/idols all these years, and its still going on. So everytime one visits Hampi, they can find something new.

We hired a government guide, as they explain every building and carving in detail. Our guide was Ranganatha. He mentioned that to see everything in Hampi, it takes 3 months!

We started our tour with "Sasive Ganapathi" darshan at the entrance.  A huge stone idol with Parvathi's back.

Parvathi's back Ganesha

Just few metres away are the huge Shiva Linga and Lakshmi Narasimha idols - Lakshmi was broken.

On our way to Vijaya Vittala temple

Tula Baara structure - where the king, after winning a war, would come here, weigh gold/rice equivalent of his body weight and distribute the same to the town people.

Tungabhadra river - there is a broken bridge to cross the river. We could see Hemavathi hills from here - one story is that Hanuman and Vali fought many wars in this area. Another story is, Rama spent his vanavasa in the Hemavathi hill region.

Vijaya Vittala temple - entrance has a gopura, there is a chariot in the center (used to be the utsava ratha), 3 structures surrounding - one is the temple, another queen's place. One of the structures has pillars that produce sound when tapped with fingers, called the musical pillars - sound of water, tabla, etc.

Musical pillars

Parrots

Hampi town is big. All the structures are spread across a very large area. We went to the place where Navaratri used to be celebrated. Its a widely spread area. Near the entrance,  there is a stage/elevated platform on which the king used to sit and watch Dasara programs like dance, music, sport fights etc. 

Pushkarni - Before the program starts, the king used to take bath in the Pushkarni (excavated recently), do pooja and then proceed.

HazareRama temple, underground Shiva temple - we passed these temples and saw them from outside.

It was 1.30pm and we all had started feeling hungry. So we stopped for a lunch break at the famous "mango tree" restaurant. It was recommended by many of our friends. Its inside a mango/banana plantation, have to walk for a minute from the gate to reach. Its a lovely place, overlooking Tungabhadra river. We had to sit on the floor with small benches as our dining tables. Food was super yummy! We ordered and ate a lot :) looking at the river. It was superb! Lot of foreign visitors as well. When in Hampi, eat only in Mango Tree :)

Tungabhadra river

We continued our tour of the place.

Akka (elder sister) Tangi (younger sister) rocks

Lotus Mahal - Since Krishnadevaraya king was a believer/supporter of all religions, this mahal was built on 3 religion architecture - bottom Hindu, next Islam, Hindu again and top most being Jain. Whenever the king was at war, the queen used to spend her time in the Lotus mahal. The fort wall has carvings of several animals, for eg. fish to depict presence of water in the vicinity.

Lotus Mahal

Behind Lotus mahal are the elephant stables.

At the museum

Next we stopped at "Kadlekayi Ganesha" temple. Huge idol.

Virupaksha temple - the main and only temple where pooja is still done has udbhava Shiva Linga. It is a beautiful temple, with a gopura at the entrance, and lot of carvings on the inside wall. On one of the corners inside the temple area, there is a very small opening, opposite to which, the wall projects an inverted image of the gopura. It is amazing.

Inside the temple

There is a pushkarni inside the temple, where we could see the  reflection of the gopura.

Entrance

We had a great darshan of the Shiva Linga.

It was 4pm by the time we decided to call it a day. There are lots more to see in Hampi. The above places are the ones we saw during our trip. We will go back to see more :) Badami/Pattadakal/Aihole are about 2.5 hours away from Hampi. We can do that in one day. So next trip we may visit those places as well.

We returned to the hotel around 5pm. We had tea and everyone relaxed. I had a spa session for nearly 2 hours :) which was perfect!

View from our room

Tungabhadra canal

We had dinner at the hotel which was good. Had a good time with the whole family :)

Dinner tables :)

Next day we had a good heavy breakfast at the hotel, and left Hospet around 10am. 

Hospet

Tungabhadra

Hospet 10.05am - NH 13 - Chilakanahatti - Kudligi - NH 13 - At Chitradurga left turn to NH 4 - Right turn after the flyover - Indian oil petrol bunk (Ate our packed lunch here as there are no restaurants on this road till Sira) - Hiriyur - Sira - Right turn after Sira - Kamat upachar (we were here by 2.20pm, didn't stop) - Tumkur - Blore.

We got back to Blore in 6 hours this time, as it was not raining, and the roads were better on this route. The highlights about the drive are the many sunflower fields that we passed. They were out of the world beautiful!! :D

Had a great trip! Thanks aunty, uncle, ma, pa, A :)