North Karnataka - The Rome of India - Part 4

In my previous post, I narrated what fun it was to see the beautiful caves of Badami, Pattadakal and Aihole.  In this post we will experience, how mesmerising it was to visit the crown jewel of all these places -- Hampi!

Day - 4 - Hampi

As usual, we started early and we decided start our day by visiting the Stone Chariot at Vittala Temple Campus.  Boy, was it amazing to see this temple!  We took the services of a professional guide and struck a deal with him to show us all major monuments at Hampi during the day (highly recommended).

The architecture and history behind the Vittala Temple is magnificent.  Even after so many years, so many part of the temple are intact!

Stone Chariot @ Hampi

We also saw the musical pillars in the complex and the guide actually played music using only the stone pillars!

Musical Pillars @ Hampi

Next we went to Virupaksha Temple

Virupaksha Temple @ Hampi

Some of the sculptures still had their natural colors intact!

Natural Colors on sculptures @ Hampi

Close by is the Statue of Ugra Narsimha.

Ugra Narsimha @ Hampi

Next, we saw the beautiful Lotus Palace

Lotus Palace @ Hampi

and Elephant Stable

Elephant Stable @ Hampi

We saw many other places, what I have presented here are not even the highlights.  The history and monuments of Hampi have a lot to offer for everyone.

The rich history of Hampi and the sheer fact that there are so many ancient monuments (in great shape) at Hampi, makes it the Rome of India!  This whole trip filled our hearts with happiness and unforgettable memories of these fantastic places.  Next day, although very reluctantly, we had to go back to Bangalore and continue with our boring lives!

I hope you have enjoyed seeing the glimpse of these places as much as I have enjoyed visiting them! Here are the links (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) to my previous posts that cover the entire series of North Karnataka - The Rome of India.

North Karnataka - The Rome of India - Part 3

In my previous post, I described what we saw at the historic city of Bijapur.

In this post, I will narrate what fun it was to see the beautiful caves of Badami Pattadakal and Aihole.

Day - 3 - Badami

We woke up early and decided to visit the famous cave temples of Badami since, it would be much easier to climb up during the early hours of the day.  There are 4 cave temples at Badami.

The idols and carvings are superb, it takes you back in the time when they were actually made.  So much effort would have been put to carve these beautiful sculptures out of rocky mountains.

Beautiful idols at Badami Cave Temples

Beautiful idols at Badami Cave Temples

Beautiful idols at Badami Cave Temples

 On the other side of the cave temples there is a beautiful lake.  On one edge of the lake you can see beautiful Shiva temple standing in all its glory.

Superb lake on the other side of Badami Cave Temples

Shiva Temple at the edge of the lake

Visiting the cave temples was an enchanting experience.  We then headed towards Pattadakal Temples.

Pattadakal & Aihole

You got to see this to believe it, this temple complex has many ancient temples which are very well kept.  Services of a guide are highly recommended here.

Temple Complex at Pattadakal

There are many stories carved out into these temples.  Entire Ramayana and Mahabharata have been carved on some stones.

Ramayana carved on stone

After Pattadakal, we marched on and reached Aihole to see the famous horseshoe shaped Durga temple.

Horseshoe shaped Durga temple at Aihole

The places we covered today were simply mind blowing, each one had rich history behind them.  The fact that they are all in this great shape after so many centuries, is just amazing.

Finally at about 1930 hrs we reached our hotel near Hampi.  After yet another amazing day, we were all very excited to see what Hampi has to offer us the next day!

North Karnataka - The Rome of India - Part 2

In my previous post, I narrated how we started our trip to explore North Karnataka and visited Almatti Dam on our way towards Bijapur.

In this post, I will describe what we was at the historic city of Bijapur.

Day - 2 - Bijapur

It was fully packed eventful day ahead of us.  We started at about 1030 hrs and reached Gol Gumbaz.  There we got into conversation with local "horse cart - cab drivers".  They seemed to offer us a good deal,

• They would take us to all the famous places in Bijapur in their horse cart 
• Tell us a bit of history about these places.  
• All this for some 800-1000 Rs.  
• That sounded great because, I would not have to drive the big car in city traffic and look for parking all the time!

We almost instantly decided to take the deal and start off.  The first place we visited was the Bijapur Jama Masjid.  It was an humongous mosque where nearly 20000 people could offer prayers!  The building was beautiful and well maintained.

Jama Masjid - Bijapur

Next they took us to Jod Gumbaz, Ibrahim Roza, Malik-e-Maidan and Bara Kaman.  Ibrahim Roza was the crown jewel of all these places.  Its a beautiful monument built on a single rock bed, it is noted for the symmetry of its features. It is said that the design for the Ibrahim Roza served as an inspiration for that of the famous Taj Mahal.

Ibrahim Roza - Bijapur

Finally, they dropped us to Gol Gumbaz and we could hardly wait to see the biggest dome ever built in India, next in size only to St Peter's Basilica in Rome.

We hired a professional guide (highly recommended) to see this monument in detail.  He showed us the central chamber, where every sound is echoed seven times!  

Then he took us to the top of the monument to see the Whispering Gallery.  There are around 7 stories in this monument.  The cross ventilation (or whatever you want to call it) is so well designed that even at 45 C summer heat, the constant flow of cool breeze through the windows keeps you cool!

Once at top, we obviously wanted to witness and experience the Whispering Gallery.  Its said that even minute sounds can be heard clearly 37 meters away!  

The guide made us stand at one spot and he went and stood diagonally opposite (some 37 meters away) to where we were standing.  Amazingly, we could hear even the most minute sounds he was making at the other end - like lighting of a match stick!

Gol Gumbaz - Bijapur

All the monuments we saw at Bijapur where very well maintained.  By the time we finished visiting the Gol Gumbaz it was already 1500 hrs.  We decided to grab some quick lunch and then started our journey towards Badami.  We reached our hotel, had some nice dinner and crashed into bed.  Next morning we had to see the beautiful cave temples of Badami and much more!

In the next post, will describe what we saw at Badami. 

North Karnataka - The Rome of India - Part 1

It was Diwali of 2015 and we decided to take some time off and do 5 day road trip to North Karnataka.  Decided to visit these cities in particular Bijapur, Badami and Hampi.  I booked a nice and comfortable XUV W6 ZoomCar for this trip.

Before the trip, I had very low expectations from the places we were visiting.  I thought, mostly we will see almost destroyed and not well kept monuments.  But, was I in for a pleasant surprise!  The places were extremely well kept and monuments were beautiful and showing off their glorious past!

The route we had taken can be found here, round trip of around 1200 KM in 5 days and I was very much looking forward to have a nice time on the road!

Day - 1 - Bangalore to Bijapur

First day was mostly driving from Bangalore to Bjiapur, around 550 KM.  We started at about 0730 hrs, it was only 1630 hrs and we were only 70 KM away from Bijapur.  We took a slight detour and visited the Almatti Dam.  Its a beautiful dam with easy access to the dam's reservoir.  One could take a dip into clean dam waters and have some fun.  Were luck to see a beautiful sunset at the reservoir!

The dam also has a beautiful and super well kept garden with lots of fountain and lights and stuff.

Spent the evening there and we resumed our journey towards Bijapur.

It was Diwali day, all restaurants were closed by the time reached Bijapur - at about 2030.  We had tough time finding dinner, but eventually we did find one Restaurant who was ready to cook something for us.  It seems there is some tradition, all restaurants close their kitchens after the Diwali Puja is done - obviously I didn't know about it :P.

We crashed into the bed soon after dinner, next day was all jam packed and we were very much looking fwd for it!

In the next post, will describe what we saw at Bijapur.