[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

no, no, i was thinking in the same line of srini.
but, srini has asked everyone to guess.

@snaronikar: your sign fits current scenerio.

OT: Oh c'mon man...we all are men and our thinking should be alike (most of the times).

Regarding the signature...I had put this long time back as I liked the wordings...but it is true to the current situation we are facing. I will take this as compliments, thanks.

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by smsrini

Whaat bored already ? I'm still in 1500AD and have to travel another 1000yrs back in time !

@snaronikar, stay tuned some more to come... Hampi, Badami, Patadkal, Aihole.

cheers!

Nope not bored...was just clarifying with you whether we have some more treat in store and thanks for the same. I'am ready to travel another 1000 yrs back now.

[kbalii]

Originally Posted by smsrini

Whaat bored already ? I'm still in 1500AD and have to travel another 1000yrs back in time !

@snaronikar, stay tuned some more to come... Hampi, Badami, Patadkal, Aihole.

cheers!

Perfect!

Why dont you title each thread on how much of time travel you have done. That would make a classic travelogue.

Adore the way you have done the travelogue till now. Keep em coming

[snaronikar]

@Srini we are waiting for this to continue as you have promised to take us to 400 AD. Do post pics. Wouldlove to see our piece of history.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

@Srini we are waiting for this to continue as you have promised to take us to 400 AD. Do post pics. Wouldlove to see our piece of history.

31st dec hangover man.
just kidding.
post the rest of pics.

[nnandi]

Hi Srini,

Thanks for travelogue, lovely pictures to augment the writing. I plan to do a Bangalore-Hampi-Badami-Bangalore trip with family. My bro-in-law is coming down to stay with us for a couple of weeks and I plan to do it on 24-25-26 Jan weekend.

A few things I wanted to know from you:
1. Are 3D/2N enough for this trip?
2. I plan to stay one night in Hampi and the next in badami. Is that a right thing to do?
3. Hotel recommendations in badami? (Hampi you mentioned about Malligi hotel)
4. Which are the bad road sections in the entire stretch, if I travel mainly on NH4 and NH13?

Thanks,
-Nandi

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by nnandi

1. Are 3D/2N enough for this trip?
2. I plan to stay one night in Hampi and the next in badami. Is that a right thing to do?
3. Hotel recommendations in badami? (Hampi you mentioned about Malligi hotel)
4. Which are the bad road sections in the entire stretch, if I travel mainly on NH4 and NH13?

Thanks,
-Nandi

1. I would suggest 4D/3N due to this suggested itinerary:

2. Day 1: Chitradurga Fort (enroute), TB Dam (sunset view), Hospet.
Day 2: Hampi. Take the 6 hour guided tour. Guides are expensive but with the site spread across 25 kms, they do enrich quality of the sightseeing.
Day 3: Depart Hospet. Visit the following in the mentioned sequence to ensure no unnecessary doubling-back: Aihole, Pattadkal, Banashankari (optional), Badami (last). Stay overnight in Badami
Day 4: Depart Badami to BLR.

3. Accomodation:

Hampi: Stay at Malligi in Hospet - 12 kms away. This is the best hotel there. Their rooms are from Rs 500- Rs 2500+. Other options include the KSTDC Mayura chain at Kamalapura - although they give preferential booking to KSTDC group tour tourists first
Badami: VFM options are Hotel Anand Deluxe and Rajsangam - next to and opposite to the main KSRTC bus stand respectively. Rooms start at Rs 600. The more expensive and bigger Badami Court is not VFM at all by any means..

4. Route query:

Forward route:

NH4: Gorgeous till you turn off right at Chitradurga onto NH13. In BLR, till Nelamangala/1st toll gate, its condition is atrocious.
NH13: Chitradurga-Sholapur route. This NH is a combination of bad, good and excellent. No ugly a.k.a NH48(Shiradi Ghats)/NH17, fortunately. From Chitradurga till roughly Kudligi, its corroded; from Kudligi to around Koppal its a nice new stretch, from Koppal till you reach the SH left turn off towards Hungund, its average. The SH from Hungund to Amingarh is a dream.
Bottomline, most of NH13 is either rough or below-average, with only some stretches average, and fewer others excellent.

Return route:

Option 1: Retrace the above route back. To do this, a shorter way out of Badami to NH13 is to continue via Banshankari till a place called Belur, and take a left there towards Gajendragarh. The Belur-Ganjendragarh route is extremely below par and a pucca village road, until you hit the beautiful SH left to Gajendragarh. From there its a straight blast to Kushtagi and the NH13

Option 2: Come via Hubli/Haveri back to Chitradurga.

[smsrini]

Originally Posted by nnandi

Hi Srini,

Thanks for travelogue, lovely pictures to augment the writing. I plan to do a Bangalore-Hampi-Badami-Bangalore trip with family. My bro-in-law is coming down to stay with us for a couple of weeks and I plan to do it on 24-25-26 Jan weekend.

A few things I wanted to know from you:
1. Are 3D/2N enough for this trip?
2. I plan to stay one night in Hampi and the next in badami. Is that a right thing to do?
3. Hotel recommendations in badami? (Hampi you mentioned about Malligi hotel)
4. Which are the bad road sections in the entire stretch, if I travel mainly on NH4 and NH13?

Thanks,
-Nandi

Depends on how and when you travel. If you take a train to Hampi from Blr, then a 3d/2n may be sufficient.

If driving, it takes about 6hrs to reach Hospet, so a 3d/2n may not be sufficient. It also depends on how interested are you in seeing Hampi, and in what detail. You can cover Hampi's major attractions in 1 day - Virupaksha temple, Vijaya Vittala temple, Royal quarters, 2 ganeshas, Hemakuta hill in 1 day and head to Badami the next day.

There is only 1 hotel i found in Badami- badami court, which is expensive for the facilities. Unless you have plans to drive towards Bijapur, stick to hotels in Hampi/Hospet.

2nd day you can cover Badami-->Pattadkal--Aihole and return to Hospet.

I've given the Road conditions in another thread in the Street/Road queries section.

@snarorikar and others: Boss time travel takes well... time. Stay tuned rest of the pics should be in by tomorrow from my vintage film slr.

cheers

[nnandi]

1. I would suggest 4D/3N due to this suggested itinerary:

[Nandi]: yes, this way, it would be a more relaxed a trip! So would change it to 4D/3N, as you suggested.

2. Day 1: Chitradurga Fort (enroute), TB Dam (sunset view), Hospet.
Day 2: Hampi. Take the 6 hour guided tour. Guides are expensive but with the site spread across 25 kms, they do enrich quality of the sightseeing.

[Nandi]: I have a 3.5 year old kid, who is super active and loves to run all the time. So, this quided tour might be a little too much for him, though I would love to do this. I think I would stick to the places which srini pointed out to me.

Day 3: Depart Hospet. Visit the following in the mentioned sequence to ensure no unnecessary doubling-back: Aihole, Pattadkal, Banashankari (optional), Badami (last). Stay overnight in Badami
Day 4: Depart Badami to BLR.

3. Accomodation:

Hampi: Stay at Malligi in Hospet - 12 kms away. This is the best hotel there. Their rooms are from Rs 500- Rs 2500+. Other options include the KSTDC Mayura chain at Kamalapura - although they give preferential booking to KSTDC group tour tourists first

[Nandi]: Called up Hotel Malligi, seems like all there rooms are fully booked on the 24-26 Jan weekend. Found another hotel on the Net, Shanbhag Towers International, Rs. 1250 for a double occupancy room. They have vacancy, so booked one. Any idea how the hotel is?

Badami: VFM options are Hotel Anand Deluxe and Rajsangam - next to and opposite to the main KSRTC bus stand respectively. Rooms start at Rs 600. The more expensive and bigger Badami Court is not VFM at all by any means..

[Nandi]: Yet to book any hotel at this place.

4. Route query:

Forward route:

NH4: Gorgeous till you turn off right at Chitradurga onto NH13. In BLR, till Nelamangala/1st toll gate, its condition is atrocious.
NH13: Chitradurga-Sholapur route. This NH is a combination of bad, good and excellent. No ugly a.k.a NH48(Shiradi Ghats)/NH17, fortunately. From Chitradurga till roughly Kudligi, its corroded; from Kudligi to around Koppal its a nice new stretch, from Koppal till you reach the SH left turn off towards Hungund, its average. The SH from Hungund to Amingarh is a dream.
Bottomline, most of NH13 is either rough or below-average, with only some stretches average, and fewer others excellent.

Return route:

Option 1: Retrace the above route back. To do this, a shorter way out of Badami to NH13 is to continue via Banshankari till a place called Belur, and take a left there towards Gajendragarh. The Belur-Ganjendragarh route is extremely below par and a pucca village road, until you hit the beautiful SH left to Gajendragarh. From there its a straight blast to Kushtagi and the NH13

Option 2: Come via Hubli/Haveri back to Chitradurga.[/quote]


[Nandi]:
Thanks for the detailed route description, its brilliant and would surely help a lot. (Was wondering how you know it so well though!).

Finally, thanks "theMAG" and Srini for your help, I am sure I am going to enjoy this journey!

BR,
Nandi

[smsrini]

Here are some more pictures of the main Hampi attractions, taken with my vintage Nikon F65 film slr.

The main entrance of Vijay Vittala temple


The stone chariot


The Ranga Mandapa


Stone carvings found on the sabha mandapa adjacent to the ranga mandapa. You can see some vegetable dye colors on one pillar.



The Tulabharam - Kings Balance.


The Temple tank, filled via gravity from the temple sanctum.


The marketplace



Next stop the Royal quarters......

[smsrini]

As you enter the royal quarters, you come across the Queen's bath on the right and the Hazaara Rama Temple on the right.

An interesting point about the Queen's bath and all of the Queen's palace is the influence of the Islamic architecture style on the buildings, as seen in these windows & arches.

[smsrini]

Next to the queens bath at the begining of the Royal quarters is the Hazaara Rama temple. The name comes from the fact that the entire Ramayana is sculpted on the temple walls. As you do the pradakshina around the temples, view the Ramayana unfold from the top layer to the bottom. The characteristic of the temple is the very intricate carvings and the fineese of the statues on the temple.

[smsrini]

Next stop is the Royal Quarters, starting with the 'Mahanavami Dibba', a grand stage from where the royal family viewed the Dusshera celebrations and gave an audience to the public. This is a huge monolithic structure, with intricate carvings on its walls, and a panaromic view of the royal quarters.






Most of what's left of the other structures in this part of the royal quarters are just foundations. One interesting structure excavated as late as the '80s is a secret underground discussion room where secret matters of the state related to war, finance or other strategic decisions were made.

The other very intruiging structure in this part is the stepped tank and aquaduct that fed the tank. If you see closely the tank has pyramid shaped steps each of an odd number, with increasing number of such pyramids at each layer.

The AquaDuct


The stepped tank.

[smsrini]

From the Dibba, we steered our way towards the Queen's palace. This area is a walled enclosure, consisting of the queen's palace, the Lotus Mahal or Hawa Mahal and the Elephant stables where 11 ( again odd no. ) royal elephants that did special ceremonial duties were housed.

Only the basement of the Queen's palace still stands, with the watch tower behind. All structures in the royal quarters had stone foundations and wooden structures, which got destroyed when the invaders from Bijapur ( forget the name ) raided Hampi.



The lotus mahal. What is told is that the queens rested in the lotus mahal during summer to enjoy the cool breeze. The mahal was cooled with water running thru pipes in the ceiling, and wind blowing thru holes as seen here.



See the water cooler holes here.


Some intricate carvings on the arches.


The elephant stables. the openings look small for an elephant when seen from far, but you get dwarfed by the size when you go in.


Dont miss the museum in the Queen's treasury when you visit the Queen's palace.


There is an interesting Octagonal bath some distance away from the queen's bath. This area is easily missed as its not in the list of prime attractions. This bath was supposedly used by the lesser mortals, the noblemen, and warriors who lived in the Royal Quarters.



Now before we depart from 1500AD, here are some misc snaps of the Virupaksha Temple and some roof paintings in the temple.






We depart from Hampi enroute to circa 400AD - to Aihole, Pattadkal and Badami. On the way you see this interesting rock formation. The legend says that two sisters came to Hampi, were cursed for some reasons, and collapsed on this spot, resting their heads against each other, and turned to stone - voila!



Our chariot parked near the 2-sisters rock.

[snaronikar]

Good pics...how much time one will take for finishing the whole tour of Hampi?