It's our product release done in our office and my son's PG phase2 exams are also done (P.G Means play group not Post graduation š). And it's been quite some time since we go on a long drive, so we thought of using the festival season for the same. After exploring multiple options we zeroed on the India's most famous heritage spot Hampi, as winter is the right time that we can explore Hampi(But it is super hot in winter also š°). Apart from Hampi we have planned for the places near by and on the way from Bangalore to Hampi as well.
Here is the plan of our trip that we have followed.
Dec21st 2019: Day1:
Bangalore - Hampi- Virupaksha temple - Monolithic Bull - Hemakunta Group of Temples - Achutaraya Temple - Veerabhadra temple - Hampi Bazaar shopping.
Dec22nd 2019: Day2:
Hampi Sight seeing spots: There are around 80 spots around Hampi that we can visit. We choose the below ones as they are more prominent and that suits our route and time.
Sasivekalu ganesha - Kadalekalu Ganesha - Krishna Temple, Bazaar and Pushkarini - Badavalinga Temple - Lakshmi Narasimha Temple - Akka Tangi Gundu - Underground Siva Temple - Watch Tower - Queen's Place basement - Lotus Mahal - Elephant Stable - Parashwanta Temple - Srinagarada Habbigalu - Ranga Temple - HazaraRama Temple - Royal Enclosure - Mahanavami dibba - Stepped Tank - Kings Audience hall - Queen's Bath - Vittal Temple - Vittal bazaar - Stone chariot - Vishnu Temple - King's balance - Inscribed Vishnu temple - Mathunga Hill and Sun set
Dec22nd 2019: Day3:
Sunrise at Hemakunta Hills - Virupaksha Temple (Hampi) - Aihole --> Archiological Museum - Durga Temple - Ladkhan temple - Lot of temples around Aihole - Pattadakal --> Kadasiddeshwara Temple - Jambulinga Temple - ChandraSekhara Temple - Sangameshwara Temple - Monolithic Stone Pillar - Virupaksha Temple - Mallikarjuna Temple - Badami --> 4 Caves - Cave1 (Shiva) - cave 2 & 3(Vishnu) - cave 4 (Jain) - Banashankari Temple
Dec22nd 2019: Day4:
Tunga Bhadra River - Temple Elephant Bath time - TungaBhadra Dam - Chitradurga Fort - Bangalore
Hampi is a fantastic place for the history lovers and who won't feel bored of visiting lot of similar places and can walk for a longer distances. If you are not any one of these places then Hampi may not be a place where we can spend much of the time. Even after spending 4 days we still have lot more places to visit that we have planned and couldn't visit due to time constraint such as Anegunde - Anjaneya Hills - Hippie Island etc. As you all know the hampi is the place of Vijayanagara empire ruled between 14th 15th century. Historically between 14th-1565. There are around 8 famous Vijayanagara rulers and Krishandevaraya is the famous one among them. Let's cut the history here and get into the details.
Some Tips from our learnings:
1. I suggest to stay in Hospete as it will be more convenient for stay as well as journey. Second option is Kamalapura. As our booking is in the last minute we couldn't get any places to stay. So we have booked in Hampi.
2. The Homestays in Hampi are extremely basic and the roads are full of dust and cow dung all around. So be prepared if you are allergic to them.
3. Be prepared for lot of heat (even in winter) and walking around the rocky places. So I suggest to wear the comfortable clothing and footware.
4. There are around 100+ places in and around Hampi so you may plan the places that you want to visit in advance based on your interest, time and comfort.
5. There won't even be medical store in Hampi, so if you need anything please carry them with you or else you may need to travel till Kamalapur.
6. Food will be more or less average in Hampi there are some famous places (mango Tree, Funky Monky) but I didn't find them that great. Fans of those places please excuse me. :)
7. 99% of the temples in and around hampi will not have any idols in the temples. So if you are a truly devotional then be prepared to visit them as archaeological wonders rather than temples. People will be roaming in the temples with footwear as there will be no idols or the idols will be broken and no puja rituals for the idols.
8. I suggest you to hire a guide to know more details on the places, we couldn't do it as we are already short of time and need to cover lot of places. Whatever the info that I am providing the in the blog is from wikipedia and the infor provided infront of the temples.
9. The weather will be super hot even in winters so be prepared with lot of fluids which will recharge you.
10. You can also view lot of birds around the area.
On 21stDec 2019 Saturday, We have started at 7 AM from Bangalore (As ususal planned to start at 5:30-6AM) and we have stopped for Breakfast at Kamath Upahar after Dabbaspet the maintenance and service is bad and food is average. Then we have started from there and drove to Hampi with some photo shoot breaks.
We reached Hampi around 2:30 PM. There is a parking lot available at the east gopura of Virupaksha temple and our homestay is also just 200mts walk from there. We got freshen up and the went for lunch to the most talked about food joint in Hampi Mango Tree restaurant. We were super Hungry as it is already 3:30PM by the time we reached the place. But to our disappointment the food is not at all satisfactory they charge Rs. 200 for south Indian Thali and Rs. 300 for North Indian Thali. None of them were worth of the money or the hype. Some how we finished the lunch and started our exploration. The first point is Virupaksha temple(lord Shiva), it was just mesmerizing the view the beauty of the temple is captivating. There is a 28 year old elephant named Lakshmi in the temple, we can offer bananas to the same.
It's Day 2 22ndDec 2019, we had huge list of places to be covered, the sight seeing in hampi. All the places are near by you can drive across, but plan accordingly. You may also hire an auto they will charge around Rs.1K in the peak season for a full day and around Rs.600-800 per half day. I suggest you to book for a full day, as they will need that much time to explore. You may even book a moped (TVS 50 XL) for aroud Rs.400 in hampi excluding the fuel. If you want a scooter or bike, you may need to go till Kampalapura. We started with the darshan of Virupaksha first and then went on to visit Kadalekalu ganesha whose belly will be in shape of unsplit bengal gram. The sculpture is carved out of a single boulder and stands 4.5mts high. Then we have visited Sasivekalu (Mustered seed) Ganesha which is 2.4mts high and is enclosed within open pillared pavilion.
It's already around 2:30 by that time we have completed all these places and its time for us to take a break for lunch as we are already exhausted due to high temperatures. Then we moved to lunch in a place called green restaurant in Kamalapura which they offer the thali buffet for Rs.200. Where we can sit on the ground and enjoy our food. We took a break for an hour and had our lunch relaxedly.
Then we quickly got freshen up and started to our destination Aihole which is around 140 Kms from Hampi the drive will be on NH50 and you can have an beautiful driving experience.
Aihole has archaeological museum, durga temple and ladkhan temple and lot of other temples in the same complex. It has around 22 temples around the main temple. These temples were built by chalukyan kings in the era of 5th-8th CENT A.D. There is also a museum which has the sculptures of pre chalukyan period as well. The entrance ticket is Rs 25 + Rs 5 for museum.
The next stop is Pattadakal, it also has multiple shiva temples. Few of them has dravid viman style and some of them curvilinear sikhara and few of them having a square roof. It has lot of temples in the same complex and we can also see a Monolithic stone pillar bearing inscriptions in telugu and kannada. The complex will also has the miniature of the entire temple structure. It also has a big nandi statue opposite to the main temple. It also has a garden in the complex so we relaxed there for some time as the temperatures is too high and we spent lot of time visiting these temples in the scorching sun. The entrance ticket costs Rs.40 for cash and Rs.35 for digital payment. We had some quick lunch bytes of Jawar rotti and then moved to our next destination Badami.
The first destination of ours in Badami is the cave temple. It has 4 caves, cave1 is for Shiva cave2 and cave3 are dedicated to lord shiva and cave4 is dedicated to Jain and Buddha. The sculpture style is homogeneous and recalls that of sculptures in the 8th century brahmanical caves at elephanta and ellora caves. The entrance will cost Rs.25.
It's Day4 24th Dec 2019, we have vacated our homestay and our camera memory card is full. So spent almost 30mins of time to copy the pics from camera to a pen drive using a super computer nearby.:p On the way our first stop is Tunga bhadra dam. We have shuttle bus from the parking lot to the top view of the dam which will cost Rs.40 for up and down drive. They have around 9 places to visit near that area like boat ride, park, musical fountain etc. We have completed the visit around 12:30PM so we didn't visit any other places and it is super duper hot.
The next stop of ours is chitra durga fort. We reached Chitra durga by 2:45 and we break for lunch at Hotel Mayura Durga by KSTDC which is a beautiful place to stay and the food is also awesome. As the weather is extremely hot we spent time leisurely till 4PM and then we moved to visit chitra durga at 4PM. The entrance costs Rs.25. The fort reminded one of the heroic and various deeds of the Nayaka rulers was conquered by Hyder Ali in 1799 AD. The fort has a total of 19 main gates, 35 smaller entrances and 35 secret inlets, and among the last named one reminds the heroism of Obavva.
It's our product release done in our office and my son's PG phase2 exams are also done (P.G Means play group not Post graduation :p). And it's been quite some time since we go on a long drive, so we thought of using the festival season for the same. After exploring multiple options we zeroed on the India's most famous heritage spot Hampi, as winter is the right time that we can explore Hampi(But it is super hot in winter also ????). Apart from Hampi we have planned for the places near by and on the way from Bangalore to Hampi as well.
Here is the plan of our trip that we have followed.
Dec21st 2019: Day1:
Bangalore - Hampi- Virupaksha temple - Monolithic Bull - Hemakunta Group of Temples - Achutaraya Temple - Veerabhadra temple - Hampi Bazaar shopping.
Dec22nd 2019: Day2:
Hampi Sight seeing spots: There are around 80 spots around Hampi that we can visit. We choose the below ones as they are more prominent and that suits our route and time.
Sasivekalu ganesha - Kadalekalu Ganesha - Krishna Temple, Bazaar and Pushkarini - Badavalinga Temple - Lakshmi Narasimha Temple - Akka Tangi Gundu - Underground Siva Temple - Watch Tower - Queen's Place basement - Lotus Mahal - Elephant Stable - Parashwanta Temple - Srinagarada Habbigalu - Ranga Temple - HazaraRama Temple - Royal Enclosure - Mahanavami dibba - Stepped Tank - Kings Audience hall - Queen's Bath - Vittal Temple - Vittal bazaar - Stone chariot - Vishnu Temple - King's balance - Inscribed Vishnu temple - Mathunga Hill and Sun set
Dec22nd 2019: Day3:
Sunrise at Hemakunta Hills - Virupaksha Temple (Hampi) - Aihole -->; Archiological Museum - Durga Temple - Ladkhan temple - Lot of temples around Aihole - Pattadakal -->; Kadasiddeshwara Temple - Jambulinga Temple - ChandraSekhara Temple - Sangameshwara Temple - Monolithic Stone Pillar - Virupaksha Temple - Mallikarjuna Temple - Badami -->; 4 Caves - Cave1 (Shiva) - cave 2 & 3(Vishnu) - cave 4 (Jain) - Banashankari Temple
Dec22nd 2019: Day4:
Tunga Bhadra River - Temple Elephant Bath time - TungaBhadra Dam - Chitradurga Fort - Bangalore
Hampi is a fantastic place for the history lovers and who won't feel bored of visiting lot of similar places and can walk for a longer distances. If you are not any one of these places then Hampi may not be a place where we can spend much of the time. Even after spending 4 days we still have lot more places to visit that we have planned and couldn't visit due to time constraint such as Anegunde - Anjaneya Hills - Hippie Island etc. As you all know the hampi is the place of Vijayanagara empire ruled between 14th 15th century. Historically between 14th-1565. There are around 8 famous Vijayanagara rulers and Krishandevaraya is the famous one among them. Let's cut the history here and get into the details.
Some Tips from our learnings:
1. I suggest to stay in Hospete as it will be more convenient for stay as well as journey. Second option is Kamalapura. As our booking is in the last minute we couldn't get any places to stay. So we have booked in Hampi.
2. The Homestays in Hampi are extremely basic and the roads are full of dust and cow dung all around. So be prepared if you are allergic to them.
3. Be prepared for lot of heat (even in winter) and walking around the rocky places. So I suggest to wear the comfortable clothing and footware.
4. There are around 100+ places in and around Hampi so you may plan the places that you want to visit in advance based on your interest, time and comfort.
5. There won't even be medical store in Hampi, so if you need anything please carry them with you or else you may need to travel till Kamalapur.
6. Food will be more or less average in Hampi there are some famous places (mango Tree, Funky Monky) but I didn't find them that great. Fans of those places please excuse me. ????????
7. 99% of the temples in and around hampi will not have any idols in the temples. So if you are a truly devotional then be prepared to visit them as archaeological wonders rather than temples. People will be roaming in the temples with footwear as there will be no idols or the idols will be broken and no puja rituals for the idols.
8. I suggest you to hire a guide to know more details on the places, we couldn't do it as we are already short of time and need to cover lot of places. Whatever the info that I am providing the in the blog is from wikipedia and the info provided infront of the temples.
9. The weather will be super hot even in winters so be prepared with lot of fluids which will recharge you.
10. You can also view lot of birds around the area.
On 21stDec 2019 Saturday, We have started at 7 AM from Bangalore (As ususal planned to start at 5:30-6AM) and we have stopped for Breakfast at Kamath Upahar after Dabbaspet the maintenance and service is bad and food is average. Then we have started from there and drove to Hampi with some photo shoot breaks.
After that we went on to visit Hemakunta Group of Temples right next to the temple, which has double storied, single storied, fallend Mataps, triple shrine temple and rock cut lingas are few of the highlights. Then we went on and visited the monolithic bull and achutaraya temple right opposite to the Virupaksha temple and Veerabhadra temple. Then we went on to for a shopping aroung the hampi street bazaar. After sunset you hardly have anything to do in Hampi, and we are already super tired so we dived to deep sleep.
Then we went on to visit Krishna temple was constructed with an icon in Balakrishna by krishnadevaraya and opposite to that we have street bazaar and pushkarini. There is also a open hundi for the collection of money made out of stone and it also has a lock mechanism that time it self. They used to open once in an year and send the offerings to Tirupati.
The next stop is for Lakshmi Narasimha temple which is of hight 6.7mts and is the finest examples of vijayanagara sculptures. In the same compund we have badavalinga temple the lord shiva in 3mts high shiva linga is also a monolith similar to Lakshmi Narasimha. The next halt is at akka tangi gundu the famoust sister stones, the legend says when two sisters made fun of the vijayanagara shrine a saint gave them a curse to be rocks and around 7 years ago one of the rock was naturally got cut due to heavy rain and lightening otherwise they look exactly same.
The next spot is underground shiva (prasana virupaksha)temple, as the roof of the temple is with the present ground level and the temple is in the low lying area. There is a garden out side of the temple, so we took a small break there for some photo shoots and some lemonades and got recharged and then marched to the next destination that is zanna enclosure, which is in indo islamic architecture.
It has the queens residence, a watch tower, famous two storied lotus mahal, a tank.
The next spots are elephant stable which has 11 chambers interconnected with large arched openings. There are also Parashwanta Temple, Srinagarada Habbigalu, Ranga Temple in the same compound. The ranga temple has a 16 pillared matapa which is used for the dance, vocal and instrumental music concerts in the temple.
The next halt is for hazare rama temple, is known for its sculpted frizes depicting the ramayana running all around the main shrine, lava kusha on devi shrine and also the bhagavadgita.
The next spot is the royal enclosure which is the nucleus of the capital city of vijayanagara occupying 59,000 sQ.M includes the courtyard where there used to hear the cases and give judgements, a kings residence with nine chambers with puja room and place for homa mantapa and also queens palaces and the famous so-called public bath. We still can see the way they constructed to supply water to all around the area. It also has structures for the people who work in the palaces. Mahanavami dibba is a place where the Dasarra celebrations used to happen at a grand scale and later it moved to Mysore. (Was told by some one not sure how far it is true).
The next spot is queens bath, the place exclusively for the queens and the water is moved from near by lake in kamalapura to here which is around 2Kms from that place and later the water is moved to the palace and other public areas, you will be amazed to see how meticulously they have planned all these at that time.
Then we moved to the next destination Vittala temple, is the highest mark of vijayanagara style of art and architecture. Vittal is the krishna aspect of lord vishnu. The temple has the famous stone chariot depicting the processional wooden chariot is perhaps the most stunning achievement, it houses an image of garuda. Some of the pillars of the main mantapa when they are tapped gently produce musical notes. (which are not allowed to touch now). The temple complex also has narasimha mantapa, kalyana matapa (marriage hall) and utstava mantapa (Festival hall) and devi shrines complete the resemblance of the temple complex.
Out side the temple, is a huge bazaar measuring 945 mts in length and 40 mts in width leading to a sacred tank known as lokapavani. Vehicles are not allowed till the temple complex and we may need to walk around 1-1.5kms from the parking place. Or we may even hire a battery car which they will charge Rs.20 for to and fro. You may miss the bazaar and pushkarini if you go by batter car. Next to the Vittal temple we also have Vishnu Temple - King's balance - Inscribed Vishnu temple.
Then we moved on to the last stop of the day that is Mathunga Hill and Sun set which is just awestruck. After completing all these places we are super tired and our legs are not ready to move a bit. We moved to the home stay freshen up and gulped some street food and went to hibernate mode. It was a strong sound sleep as we slept by 8:00 PM itself.
It's Day3 23rd Dec 2019, we planned to visit 3 near by places to hampi: Aihole-Pattadakal-Badami. So we woke up around 6AM and went on to see the sunrise at Hemakunta Hills which is just amazing and then we saw the temple elephant lakshmi's bath in the tungabhadra river.
The last visit of the day is Banashankari temple in Badami, which is a different architecture compared to other temples. We had a pleasant visit at the temple. The day3 comes to an end and so we had some lemonades and got recharged and start our drive back to Hampi and we reached around 9:10PM. We had our dinner and dived to deep sleep.
Many of the fort buildings were constructed using the locally available stone and quarried using the serrated edge technology the cutting edge technology which used even today. The temple compounds also used as a devotional as well as entertainment place where people used to play Ludo kind of games. Fort also has the builds made with muds which is still standing tall even after lot of rains, it is carefully constructed to resist the water damage and used as a mint once.
To our surprise the temple also has the carefully planned and sophisticated water harvesing system ensured that chitradurga's inhabitants will never run out of water. When Hyder Ali contemplated conquring, he made enquiries about the fort's supplies, the fort has enough water supplies for 12 years.
We finished visiting exploring the fort around 6 PM and then we had couple of breaks and then drove all the way to Bangalore and we reached home around 10PM. Total distance covered in the trip is 1200Kms. It was an awesome trip and we explored most of the spots in and around hampi and had a great kick start to year end vacations. We completely recharged and ready for the next year challenges. 2020 Here we come, bring them on. ????????
Here are some of the Random clicks on this trip.
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