Staying in Bangalore for all these years, I always wanted to visit the Hampi , the former capital of Vijaynagara Empire. After postponing the trip for N number of times as none of my friends were interested in my History inspired rendezvous, I finally decided to do what I always wanted to do-Travel solo to Hampi.
I booked my KSRTC sleeper coach ticket and was good to go. As I opened my eyes in the morning, I was surrounded by mystic beauty of the historic 14th century Vijaynagara empire and its ancient ruins. The township was far from the madding city crowd, chaos, frustrating work hours and was a breath of fresh air in my otherwise monotonous life.
It was my first nirvana trip and I had purposely not booked any accommodation as I wanted to explore what Hampi has to offer.The township didn’t disappointment me as I settle myself in Sunny Guest house run by an elderly woman and her son. After freshening up and having my breakfast of hot dosas, I started my exploration of the UNESCO world heritage site.
Hampi is a small village near the town Hospet, where all the monuments, temples and heritage sites can be covered by bikes or bicycles which are readily available on rent. If you are still not confident about your road sense, hire a guide; every auto driver in Hampi is a part time guide are quite knowledgeable about the places of historical importance.
1. My tryst with history came when I visited “Vithala Temple”, is one of Hampi's main attractions. Vithala is a form of lord Vishnu, after whom the temple is being named. The stone chariot inside the temple will remind you of your history books; the temple also houses the famous musical pillars known to produce the musical tone like vibe.
Stone Chariot at Vithala temple.
2. Dated to 15th century, this monolithic sculpture is known as “Kadlekalu Ganesha” because of its appearance of Lord Ganesha. The belly of ganesha is little bit damaged, may be to hide ornaments in the ancient times (as my guide tells me). The pillars of the temples have beautiful engravings of various god and goddesses.
Kadlekalu Ganesha
3. Krishna temple is another temple of historical importance. The temple was built in 1513 AD. By krishnadevaraya. It is built in Panchayatana style and is a classic example of fine Vijaynagara architecture.
Krishna Temple.
4. Royal Enclosure occupying an area of 59,000 SQ.M is by far the largest extant enclosures in the ancient vijaynagara empire.
5. It is extremely disheartening to see people proclaiming their love by scribbling on these walls and permanently damaging these precious monuments.
6. The beautiful roof top architecture at the royal bath.
7. Kids linned up for their dose of medival history.
8. The beautiful township of Hampi
The township is small and vibrant and have lots to offer to someone craving a little break from life. You can go for hiking amongst the rocks and boulders, boatride on the river Tungabhadra or just laze around doing nothing.
There are few restaurants worth mentioning as they serve yummy food and surpringly many cuisines one can think of(Indian, Chinese, Mexican, Continental, Israeli and lot more).
Its is also advisable to keep your folks informed about your whereabouts as the mobile network in Hampi is very docile and acts like a cranky girlfriend.
Do keep cash handy as the township doesn't have any ATM, the nearest one being 4 km away.
Getting to Hampi:
Hampi is easily accessible from Bangalore by KSRTC buses, the nearest railway station is Hospet (12 km), one can hire auto riskshaws to reach Hampi from Hospet.
