[jeetaman]

Hello all, I was in Hampi from Thu August 15th - August 18th. This is my third visit to the UNESCO World Heritage site. Earlier, I had been to Hampi in December 2001 and September 2009. This place mesmerizes me every time I visited - A Story Created (crafted) in Stones - 600 years ago. A beautiful sheer spread and magnitude of structures amongst the hillocks full of rocks and trees. Architectural magnificence in every structure built around the then capital of Vijayanagara. Every crafted stone has a story to tell. I admire watching the exquisite design, craftsmanship, size, aesthetic, symmetry, and surroundings - an attempt to visualize the beauty of the city during the glorious days.

I drove from Hyderabad - Hospet. I drove my i20 diesel. Mobike008 and I started at 5:30am from Hyderabad. Mobike008 was heading to Goa for the long weekend. We decided to drive together until the common stretch between Hyderabad - Raichur until a junction where I took diversion to head to Hampi and Mobike008 continued his journey towards Bagalkot. We were welcomed by heavy rain fall right from Hyderabad until Bhuthpur - 95 km stretch. It was fun driving to NH7 stretch in the rain.

The Route:
Onwards: Hyderabad - Bhuthpur - Mahabubnagar - Raichur - Sindhanur - Gangawati - Hospet.
Return: Hospet - Gangawati - Sindhanur - Raichur - Mahabubnagar - Jadcherla - Hyderabad.

My companion:


Hyderabad - Hospet Route:


Distance: Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad - Hospet Station Road: 410km

Duration:
Started at 5:30am from Hyderabad and reached Tungabhadra Dam (T B Dam) @12:30pm with around an hour breaks for food, nature-calls, and of course, field photography - in the beautiful Sunflower fields between Sindhanur - Gangawati stretch.

Road Conditions:
Hyderabad - Bhuthpur is 95km on Hyd - Bangalore NH7. It is always fun driving on this stretch. In the process of enjoying the ride and heavy rainfall with visibility not more than 100 meters, forgot to take the diversion at Jadcherla leading to Mahabubnagar, crossed Bhuthpur too by 15km. Finally, went back to the basics - "ask-when-in-doubt" mode and a auto driver helped in getting back to the right direction.

Bhuthpur - Mahabubnagar: Good road condition on SH20. Drove 8 kms to reach Mahabubnagar city limit. Took the left turn diversion towards Raichur Road after driving 1.5 kms passing Govt High School on right side.

Mahabubnagar - Raichur: Good road condition on SH18 except too many speed breakers (of various sizes, impact, and patterns - single hump, double humps etc.) in 10 km stretch between KPCL Raichur Thermal Power Plant and Raichur bypass Road.

Raichur Bypass Road: After taking right, there is another EASY-To-MISS-RIGHT-TURN just 50 meters. The 3.8 km stretch between this point and actual Raichur Bypass road is bad - to the extent, you land up searching for road in the dense jungle of potholes. With rains, this search game becomes a nightmare. Once you hit the upcoming Raichur Bypass road (it would connect on SH18 around 2 km ahead of the current right turn in Raichur) - you feel like back to heaven. It is a stretch of smooth 4.5 km road to hit a deadend - left take you to the Raichar City and right to Sindhanur / Bagalkot.

Drive 6.5 km to take LEFT to Sindhanur direction.

Raichur - Sindhanur - Gangawati - Hotspet: State Highway. No surprises on speed breakers around the villages / towns areas by design. Enjoy good stretches of straight roads, helps you maintain a good average speed.

I stopped over few places to take photographs of the fields, landscape, and sunflowers.



On speed Breakers: Towns and Villages grew beyond the original limits and speed breakers now find themselves in the center of the town/village stretches. Authorities, continue to maintain them as is instead of shifting to the new town/village limits. It makes your guesses to wrong in predicting speed breakers

The last 29 km stretch on the new highway NH13 to Hospet is a heartening change over what I witnessed 4 years back. You would enjoy a beautiful view of Tungabhadra Dam.



Food: Generally the food quality in Hospet is very decent. Don't miss out to dine in Maligi restaurant.

About Hampi:
Please feel free to visit the following sites:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampi
2. http://hampionline.com/attractions/index.php

Hospet/Hampi Day-1:

Checked in the hotel, got freshen up, and ordered the lunch. The food quality in Hospet in general is decent. Post lunch I decided to spent time around

T B Dam. Since, I landed in Hospet on August 15th, all 33 gates of T B Dam were open as an annual ritual. People from surrounding villages were pouring

in to view the scene. Of course, the traffic on the Hospet town road leading to T B Dam was overly crowded with huge number of bikers. I was surprised

to see so many bikes in the town. Looks like prosperity due to good farming helping people grow economically. Good for people and the region. I was

told that getting farm land around Hospet and the stretches of Tungbhadra river is almost impossible.

Since the garden area of T B Dam site was overcrowded, I spent some time taking side view of the dam.

Tungabhadra Dam: Side view from the dam site garden:


Then moved on to the highway stretch to take straight view pictures of the T B Dam and the downstream river.

Tungabhadra Dam: Straight view from the highway:


Rest of evening chilled at the hotel and hit the bed to catch up with good sleep. Wanted to hit the road early.

Hospet/Hampi Day-2:

A very pleasant day for site seeing. I decided to reach Hampi - the farthest ruin site Vijaya Vittal Temple - by 8:30 a.m. This site is 19km from Hampi Station Road. My friend had arranged a local contact for me to help navigate through the Hampi site. We both left the hotel by 8:00 a.m. post breakfast.

Moving around Hampi on two-wheers/bike/bicycle are other option.

The Hampi Site Map:


The timing was perfect as the temple site had only couple of other groups. It gave me enough opportunity for photography.

The following are in Vijaya Vittal Temple:
1. Stone chariot (trademark of Hampi)


2. Vitthala temple with Musical Pillars (when I first visited Hampi in year 2001, the guide used to actually play the music with a stroke of a spoon on
these pillars; the access to the temple is banned for past few years).


3. Other Mandapas in the temple premises


4. Kings Balance


5. Submerged Temple (you have access to Tungabhadra River at the backyard of the temple premise)


6. Pushkarani



After spending an hour around the Vijaya Vittal temple, I drove back to other sights.

1. Jain temple (time needed: around 15 min)


2. Underground Virupaksha Temple (time needed to walk around the temple and the garden: around 30 min)


3. Royal Enclosure - places to see - the Mahanavami Dibba (large square structure), Stepped Tank, Stone Doors (I will post the picture in the subsequent post)




4. Zanana Enclosure (Lotus Temple, Elephant Stable, Watch Tower)







5. Sasivekalu (mustard seed) Ganesha (12 ft tall crafted in monolithic stone)


6. Kadalekalu (Bengal gram) Ganesha (12 ft tall crafted in monolithic stone)


7. Hemakuta Hill (My favorite. Best view of the Hampi site; plan to spend at least an hour walking around the hill. It provides you a beatiful views of
the Vi Make sure you are geared up to walk on rough terrain and slippery rock surface.)


8. Badavi Linga


9. Ugra Narasimha


10. Hazari Ram Temple


11. Virupaksha Temple:


12. Rocks


Recommendation: Best time to visit Hampi is during winters (Oct - Feb) - I was lucky to get pleasant weather conditions during my visit in August. Please get well prepared for long stretches of walk. The ruins are wide spread. Carry light snacks and enough water along. In order to really enjoy this beautiful story written on stones, keep dedicated two days. There is a long of information available online. Carry ready reference for each site to enjoy the history and purpose of each of this place.

I will post few more pictures in my subsequent post.

Cheers

[ampere]

Nicely framed. The fact that you have been there more than once speaks about how much you like the place. Vijayanagar has a rich history esp its battles with Bahamani empire (and its pieces of governance from Nagar/Bijapur/Bidar/Berar and Golconda).

And not forget the famous battle of Talikota in 1565.

[jeetaman]

Stone Chariot:




Ruins and View from Hemakuta Hill:





























Ruins around Tungabhadra River Side:







<< More to follow >>

[jeetaman]

Originally Posted by ampere

Nicely framed. The fact that you have been there more than once speaks about how much you like the place. Vijayanagar has a rich history esp its battles with Bahamani empire (and its pieces of governance from Nagar/Bijapur/Bidar/Berar and Golconda).

And not forget the famous battle of Talikota in 1565.

Absolutely Amp. I love this place. This time the purpose was to capture the history in photographs. I spent time walking around spread. However, I left out the views from the surrounding hills. Next time

Cheers

[ampere]

Originally Posted by jeetaman

Absolutely Amp. I love this place. This time the purpose was to capture the history in photographs. I spent time walking around spread. However, I left out the views from the surrounding hills. Next time

Cheers

Do they still have cycles for rent ? Once I back packed to the place with my friend and we stayed in a room at Hampi for 200/- a night. Then we rented 2 cycles for two days at 200/- per day and went around Hampi. But sadly, I had no camera with me then and it was not the era of cell phones!

So going once again is definitely again on cards for me too!

[a_myth]

I have heard a lot about this place..but never had the opportunity to visit. I must say my better half needs to look at these photos to get convinced. As mentioned by ampere, are there any bicycles available on rent to move around. That would certainly make things a lot easier in the hot sun i guess.

[mnrvokk]

I am glad I did not end up visiting Hampi this weekend as I had originally planned to. I would have spent too little time experiencing everything this place has to offer. I will for sure reschedule my trip to later in the year and spend a couple of days soaking in the history here.

Thanks again for the concise yet excellent post!!

[vidyanand]

Thanks jeetaman for sharing the wonderful pictures of this amazing place.
I had Hampi visit on my plans for quite some time now but it never materialized. This post brought it back to discussions. Hopefully I will finish this visit very soon.

[Samurai]

Excellent composition. You have really brought out the beauty of Hampi. Thanks for sharing these photographs.

[ghodlur]

@jeetaman,

Fantastic pics, brought out the place in absolutely stunning pics. The last time when I visited Hampi was when I was in schoolduring the annual tour.

Its pity to see that such beautiful monuments are crumbling with every passing day.

[venkatt1800]

Jeetaman, fabulous pics man ! Very timely post for me since i am planning a trip to Hampi with family around Diwali. Can you provide the details of the Hotel where you stayed- the cost, the service and the facilities etc. My budget is around 1.5k, though being Diwali it won't be reasonable to expect any place for <2,000 per night.

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by jeetaman

...
12. Rocks
Attachment 1132470
...

Is this picture taken this year? One of these sister stones had cracked in 2011 with a part of it falling off - see here. So have they rebuilt it? I was very sad to see that broken then. Loved your pictures.

[jeetaman]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Is this picture taken this year? One of these sister stones had cracked in 2011 with a part of it falling off - see here. So have they rebuilt it? I was very sad to see that broken then. Loved your pictures.

You are spot on. Good catch. I posted a wrong picture from the folder were I kept these photographs to upload. In fact, I wanted to post the new (broken one) and the old one to express the same view as yours - sad to see the broken rock. I took the posted picture in September 2009.

I am glad you liked the pictures. I shall post few more in next couple of days.

Cheers

Originally Posted by venkatt1800

Jeetaman, fabulous pics man ! Very timely post for me since i am planning a trip to Hampi with family around Diwali. Can you provide the details of the Hotel where you stayed- the cost, the service and the facilities etc. My budget is around 1.5k, though being Diwali it won't be reasonable to expect any place for <2,000 per night.

Thank you Venkat.

About the hotel - since, I went during the peak time - long weekend, I could not get accommodation in Hotel Maligi (had stayed in 2009 for Rs1500/-). I stayed in Priyadarshini. It is on the station road - very well known. It is a neat hotel. Not luxurious, but very comfortable. Great room service. Reasonably good food with options - veg and non-veg - different kitchen. Morning breakfast starts at 6:30 am. You can try other places - like resto in Maligi - for food. The tariff was Rs 1000/- plus ST for AC room with double bed. There are few other options around the place. A new one had come up right opposite to Priyadarshini. Not sure about the price though.

I am sure you would enjoy the visit.

Cheers

Originally Posted by ghodlur

@jeetaman,

Fantastic pics, brought out the place in absolutely stunning pics. The last time when I visited Hampi was when I was in schoolduring the annual tour.

Its pity to see that such beautiful monuments are crumbling with every passing day.

Glad you like the pictures ghodlur. The very purpose of this visit to capture these monuments in camera. I had great time.

Originally Posted by ampere

Do they still have cycles for rent ? Once I back packed to the place with my friend and we stayed in a room at Hampi for 200/- a night. Then we rented 2 cycles for two days at 200/- per day and went around Hampi. But sadly, I had no camera with me then and it was not the era of cell phones!

So going once again is definitely again on cards for me too!

Yes ampere - they still rent the cycles. In fact the quality to these cycles are improved - you would see cycles with gears etc.

Most of the foreign nationals - they enjoy the ruin sight seeing in Hampi either on cycles or mobike (I think they are TVS-50 kind - my bad I didn't pay attention) or simply walk around.

I am sure you would enjoy the trip.

Cheers

Originally Posted by a_myth

I have heard a lot about this place..but never had the opportunity to visit. I must say my better half needs to look at these photos to get convinced. As mentioned by ampere, are there any bicycles available on rent to move around. That would certainly make things a lot easier in the hot sun i guess.

It is a great place to visit a_myth for its sheer architectural beauty, spread, engineering, art, and location - green fields, hillocks, river.

Bicycles are available on rent. Even bikes are available.

Cheers

Note from Support - Please use the Multi-Quote feature to reply to multiple posts instead of submitting back to back posts.

[RROD]

Very nice photos man.
Really liked them

[Fordmanchau]

Jeet,

Awesome photos of Hampi. I knew you were a good photographer but didn't get the opportunity to see your pictures. But I am glad, I didn't.

These pics of Hampi are fantastic.
As mentioned before, in this thread, composition is very good and each photo looks very neat.

Any more to post ?


P.s : Reported your post for back to back posting.