It was a spur of the moment decision to spend a leisurely weekend, backpacking ishtyle among the ruins to of Hampi…’Worlds only Living heritage city’…or so the promotional advertisements say… We set out on Friday night taking one of the Luxury buses (booked 
on www.redbus.in) a great site for travelling across South India specially on a short notice and on our way back booked the Tatkal train tickets (www.irctc.co.in) on Hampi express (dep 19:55 Hospet) Whoa! So we were all set..with palmloads of printouts taken from the site (http://www.hampi.in/) which we felt was highly accurate and had most of the information one may need to cruise across Hampi. It was undoubtedly a lot of fun, to venture out without any of the mandatory preplanning and hoopla. We set foot in the Hospet bus station at around 7:30 AM. Buses ply from Hospet to Hampi every 30 minutes and the fare is Rs 10 pp, a convenient but high-priced alternative is hiring an Auto, the fare may vary between 50 to 100 depending on your negotiation skills, but they assure to drop you infront of your lodge and may suggest some staying options (albeit at an
escalated rate), if you venture into Hampi without proper homework.
The area around the Hampi market is dotted with lodges and other staying options. Most of them are a curious cross between home stays and guest houses sans the luxury. We picked up Sudha Lodge for a modest Rs 250 /day. The entry billboard also claimed that its been recommended by the Lonely Planet -2003. This claim caught us by surprise, as most of Hampi looked like a village to us…but it seems that IT awareness has spread its wings everywhere, these quotes, warm smiles with greetings in broken English, wide availibity of nutella pancakes and porridge -where idli -dosa is the norm -just goes on to explain how a novice and reluctant entrepreneur explores opportunities via networking and awareness at the grass-root level. Impressive.
After a quick bath and breakfast, at the terrace restaurant of Sudha Lodge , we set out to explore Hampi. We hired 2 cycles for a modest 30/- per cycle day, and cycled our way to the famous Virupaksha temple. Over there, we decided to leave the history narration to an
experienced guide(for Rs 50/-), while we basked in the glory of a 15th century creation. From there we moved on to the Ganesha temple, Shree Krishna temple…only stopping for a leisurely Lunch at the Mango restaurant which is around 500 meter from the Virupaksha temple towards west (along the riverside). . It is a small open air restaurant under a massive mango tree, overlooking the rocky mountains, Tungabhadra river and miles of nothingness…the food was a little customized to the firang taste , which made it so very lovely…I had a fluffy layered paratha stuffed with garden veggies and served with a generous dollop of sour cream..ummm..washed down with a glass of ginger mango lassi…so you get the idea, it’s a must try there.
After leaving the place, we went to take a coracle ride (50 pp one way) to the Vittahala temple complex (entry fee-Rs 10 pp), the last destination in the northern part. The main attraction besides the architecture, are the 56 Musical Pillars, which on tapping produce sounds of different musical instruments. Unfortunately, for us some construction work was going on , hence we could not test the claim, nevertheless, we believe. We walked our way back
, huffing and puffing reached the lodge, and took a lomgish siesta. Evening was leisurely, with local thali and dosai , with Rose Lassi for Desert. There is a lassi and Milshake shop in the Market, which sells one of the of most amazing and thick lassis I have ever tasted.its a must try.
Day 2, we set out to explore the royal ruins , following our very own route map. The sequence of events is as listed below. With this part of Hampi done by the noon, we took a chilled beer and lunch break at the Mayura bhuvneswari, before returning to Hospet by shared auto (Rs 8 pp).
Day 1
on www.redbus.in) a great site for travelling across South India specially on a short notice and on our way back booked the Tatkal train tickets (www.irctc.co.in) on Hampi express (dep 19:55 Hospet) Whoa! So we were all set..with palmloads of printouts taken from the site (http://www.hampi.in/) which we felt was highly accurate and had most of the information one may need to cruise across Hampi. It was undoubtedly a lot of fun, to venture out without any of the mandatory preplanning and hoopla. We set foot in the Hospet bus station at around 7:30 AM. Buses ply from Hospet to Hampi every 30 minutes and the fare is Rs 10 pp, a convenient but high-priced alternative is hiring an Auto, the fare may vary between 50 to 100 depending on your negotiation skills, but they assure to drop you infront of your lodge and may suggest some staying options (albeit at anescalated rate), if you venture into Hampi without proper homework.
The area around the Hampi market is dotted with lodges and other staying options. Most of them are a curious cross between home stays and guest houses sans the luxury. We picked up Sudha Lodge for a modest Rs 250 /day. The entry billboard also claimed that its been recommended by the Lonely Planet -2003. This claim caught us by surprise, as most of Hampi looked like a village to us…but it seems that IT awareness has spread its wings everywhere, these quotes, warm smiles with greetings in broken English, wide availibity of nutella pancakes and porridge -where idli -dosa is the norm -just goes on to explain how a novice and reluctant entrepreneur explores opportunities via networking and awareness at the grass-root level. Impressive.
After a quick bath and breakfast, at the terrace restaurant of Sudha Lodge , we set out to explore Hampi. We hired 2 cycles for a modest 30/- per cycle day, and cycled our way to the famous Virupaksha temple. Over there, we decided to leave the history narration to an
experienced guide(for Rs 50/-), while we basked in the glory of a 15th century creation. From there we moved on to the Ganesha temple, Shree Krishna temple…only stopping for a leisurely Lunch at the Mango restaurant which is around 500 meter from the Virupaksha temple towards west (along the riverside). . It is a small open air restaurant under a massive mango tree, overlooking the rocky mountains, Tungabhadra river and miles of nothingness…the food was a little customized to the firang taste , which made it so very lovely…I had a fluffy layered paratha stuffed with garden veggies and served with a generous dollop of sour cream..ummm..washed down with a glass of ginger mango lassi…so you get the idea, it’s a must try there.After leaving the place, we went to take a coracle ride (50 pp one way) to the Vittahala temple complex (entry fee-Rs 10 pp), the last destination in the northern part. The main attraction besides the architecture, are the 56 Musical Pillars, which on tapping produce sounds of different musical instruments. Unfortunately, for us some construction work was going on , hence we could not test the claim, nevertheless, we believe. We walked our way back
, huffing and puffing reached the lodge, and took a lomgish siesta. Evening was leisurely, with local thali and dosai , with Rose Lassi for Desert. There is a lassi and Milshake shop in the Market, which sells one of the of most amazing and thick lassis I have ever tasted.its a must try.Day 2, we set out to explore the royal ruins , following our very own route map. The sequence of events is as listed below. With this part of Hampi done by the noon, we took a chilled beer and lunch break at the Mayura bhuvneswari, before returning to Hospet by shared auto (Rs 8 pp).
Day 1
Hampi Bazar
Virupaksha Temple
Sasive Kalu Ganesha
Balakrishna Temple
Vittala temple
Monolithic bull
Achyutaraya Complex
Matanga Hill
Day 2
The Kings’ balance
Sugriva's Cave
Ugra Narasimha Badava Linga
The Underground Temple Guard’s quarters
Hazara Rama temple
Elephent Stables Royal enclosure
Mahanavami Dibba Mint Pushkarani or the Stepped Tank
Aqueducts and Canals lotus mahal Queens Bath
Saraswati Temple Octagonal bath
Octagonal Water pavilion
Bhima’s Gate
Gejjala Mandapa
Kamlapur museum
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