The World Heritage City, Hampi
Post breakfast, We resumed our journey. Hampi was 120 kms from Gadag. After driving for 100 kms, we took a diversion towards Hampi. Suddenly, I started seeing different kind of Landscapes. It was made up with so many monolithic hills. Within few miles an up hill road came and as soon as we reached on top, we were amazed to see a gigantic Sanapur Lake. Unbelievable! No way, there could be a Lake in the middle of this barrain land. Instantly, we decided to spend our evening here.
We wanted to stay in Hippie island but due to New Year, we didn't get a room there. So, we had to stay few miles away from it. Anyways, it was evening and we knew where we wanted to spend it. We Started our bikes and went to Sanapur Lake and enjoyed sunset.
We were dissapointed when we reached back to our hotel because ambience was really dull. As much as we hated the crowd on this trip, we were missing them now. We knew our evening would be screwed if we would spend it here. So, we went out to find a better place for the dinner. In some time, we found Mango Tree Restaurant. It was few of the better ones, outside Hippie Island. And that's how we managed to save our evening. At 11 PM, we went back to our hotel and luckily found swings infront of our room. "bas ye ek hi achi baat thi uss place ki ;)" We laid there and did star gazing while talking about various things.
Next morning, We got ready and went to Hippie Island for breakfast. The place does proper justice to its name. We reached there at around 10 AM. Still, most of the restaurants were closed. And, Few opened ones were barely functioning. People around the places too looked hungover, probably from the last night’s Party. Everyone was living in their own world, one of the things, I loved about Hippie culture. Finally, we found a good restaurant and grabbed a corner place. The crowd, as well as restaurants in this part of the world, were generally in no hurry to eat or serve food. So, I ordered an Israeli breakfast and took a small nap. Post Breakfast, we started our journey to the other side of the river. It was just a five minutes boat ride from hippie island but because we had our bikes we drove 10+ Kilometers to reach there.
Upon reaching Hampi, We bought a map of the Vijayanagara city(Hampi). What I liked about the day was, we explored Hampi in a traditional way that is by following an actual map rather than google map. Like others, We too started with Virupaksha temple, the only unruined temple of the Hampi. A great piece of art especially, the room where you could see an inverted shadow of the top of the temple gate. It is still a mystery, how the shadow is inverting?
It is still a mystery, how shaddow of the Raja gopuram is inverting!
They carved various religious tales & their lifestyle back in their time on the walls & the ceilings of the temple. The majority of the paintings were 3D paintings painted with incredible colours. Indeed! Architecturally they were way ahead of us. If you ever visit it, please have a guide to learn more about the history of the Vijayanagara city.
Vijayanagara had seven markets. A few of them were as long as one kilometre. In each market, different things were sold like Horses, Grain, Jewels etc. Persians & Mongilans used to come with the horses and other stuff to sell and in return, they used to buy jewels or other goods. Wasn’t it amazing? These were a few of the many interesting facts about Hampi. They had multiple pushkarni(stepwell), lavish palaces one of them was an underground palace, an elephant stables and so many huge temples. Incredible! And all these in 15th Century. These ruins were less than 5% of the actual Vijayanagara city. How glorious would it be in 15th Century!
surrounding Pillars were ONE of the SEVEN Markets of Vijaya Nagara Empire!
At this perticular market, they used to Sale Wheet & Rice!
Walk through the Ruins of Hampi or explore it on Cycle.
Look for the hidden Ruins who knows you might find something which no else could have found so far!
It was impossible to beat VIJAYANAGARA in a single battle so surrounding Muslim Kingdoms untied and attacked the Vijayanagara city from three different fronts at the same time. Vijayanagara empire had One million soldiers and all of them fought bravely but it was too much even for the richest empire of the world! Eventually, they lost the battle at the main gate. which caused chaos at the remaining fronts and the great empire of Vijayanagara fall! It took six months for invaders to burn the city into the ashes which spoke a lot about the glory of Vijayanagar!
It was evening and Time to visit one last but greatest piece of art, Vijaya Vitthala Temple famously known as the temple with musical pillars. back in 15th-century, the king used to put on curtains around the temple and enjoyed the dance performed on the music generated by these pillars. the music was so loud that it could be heard 2 kilometres from the temple. Not just that, They carved tales of Ramayana, Mahabharata as well as their lifestyle including how Persians and Mongolians were looking, how they used to do business etc inside and outside the temple walls. Micro art was another interesting thing about the temple. We had a guide who told us the history about the place as well as explained us the tales which were carved on the walls. He also explained us the micro arts how to read/understand the micro art monuments. Fun fact - check 50 Rs new Indian currency, the Picture of “Rath!” on it was taken from the chariot of the Vijaya Vitthala temple. Definitely, It was one of the greatest Architectural work I had witnessed in my life.
Interesting Fact : Check out new 50 Rs Indian Currency & you will find it there :D
They have created an Animal which holds the best Qualities of Seven Different Animals...
Few of them can easily be found are Dragon, Horse, Lion, frog...
Find rest of Them and let me know in comments!
Hampi had really amazed me. And it was time to enjoy the Newyears eve. We knew the situation of our hotel. So, we went to hippie island but the atmosphere was very dull as the government had band liquor & hukka. So, after having dinner, we came back to our hotel where we talked till 12 and wished Happy New Years to the people around us. Who knew 2020 would be the year of COVID19.
Who though 2020 would have everything but the happiness :(
Toughest part of any trip would be the return journey. Even though, ride was boring, 350 kilometers long SIX Lane highways from HAMPI to Bangalore made it a comfortable one. In no time we started experiencing rackless driving and insane honking. Welcome to Bengaluru Travelers!
