[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by Ragul

One of the finest bull carvings I have seen!! Words are not enough to describe the impact and impression of all the pictures you have posted!!

Thanks Ragul. I hope these pictures inspire people to visit these places and appreciate our great heritage. I wanted to take more pictures of the bull carving. Again like you said, it was really beautiful. Unfortunately, there was a puja going on for the lady you see in one of those pictures. So I felt that it would be inappropriate to barge in to take photos. So I just took a couple of them from the ground without going in.

===============================================

More pictures from Pattadakal.











The different styles of windows carved out of stones




















We left Pattadakal and moved towards Aihole. A last look at the structures at Pattadakal


-Biju

To be contd.

[pjbiju]

From Pattadakal we moved to Aihole. It was late noon by the time we reached there. Again we spent a lot of time admiring the ancient structures. We also visited the museum.

Photos from Aihole


















































-Biju

To be contd.

[StarVegabond]

Biju,
I am yet to go to Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole
Whenever i do, i will refer to your travelogue along with Hari's (Luke)

Wonderful pictures, i would have liked few of "we were at this place" images as well. That makes it much better than catalog of images.

thanks,

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Biju,
I am yet to go to Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole
Whenever i do, i will refer to your travelogue along with Hari's (Luke)

Wonderful pictures, i would have liked few of "we were at this place" images as well. That makes it much better than catalog of images.

thanks,

Alright star. I shall post later on a few pictures of "us" in these places as well. In fact a colleague of mine asked me whether we actually went there after looking at these pictures.

-Biju

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Biju,
I am yet to go to Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole
Whenever i do, i will refer to your travelogue along with Hari's (Luke)
Wonderful pictures, i would have liked few of "we were at this place" images as well. That makes it much better than catalog of images.
thanks,

This thread is a one stop reference to this fabulous site. The best part is your dos and donts about the guides/ food/ hotels/ toilets etc.
I imagine your 'we were at this place' pics stay in your album while these were specifically shot for publishing in tbhp!
For those who may not be inclined to drive all the way from Pune (read yours truly) is there an option to take a train (which railhead is nearest) and then rent a car (to drive ourselves?)

[Ragul]

Hi Biju

These sculptures are made to some very precise rules and principles regarding angles and proportions. The wide angle distortion takes away some of the magic in the lines angles and curves. Please try and take as many shots of sculptures at 55mm zoom or with a portait lens only where ever possible.

Just my 2C

Cheers

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

This thread is a one stop reference to this fabulous site. The best part is your dos and donts about the guides/ food/ hotels/ toilets etc.
I imagine your 'we were at this place' pics stay in your album while these were specifically shot for publishing in tbhp!
For those who may not be inclined to drive all the way from Pune (read yours truly) is there an option to take a train (which railhead is nearest) and then rent a car (to drive ourselves?)

I am not sure about trains. But I think you can take a train from Pune to Dharwad/Hubli and then drive from Dharwad/Hubli to these places. I think very few travel agents may give you their car to drive yourself.

Yes, I do have a lot of pictures for the family album. Every time I clicked a picture without the family, they would say "Oh, that is for Team-Bhp". So I had to strike a balance.

Originally Posted by Ragul

Hi Biju

These sculptures are made to some very precise rules and principles regarding angles and proportions. The wide angle distortion takes away some of the magic in the lines angles and curves. Please try and take as many shots of sculptures at 55mm zoom or with a portait lens only where ever possible.

Just my 2C

Cheers

Ragul, you are right about the wide angle. The barrel distortion is visible in some of the pictures. But I had to use the wide angle to get the whole structure in one frame and also sometimes to avoid people and other structures from many of the photos. If not, I would have had to spend more time on my compositions. But time was at a premium. So if I do another trip, then I will try to do something different.

[pjbiju]

We finished admiring the structures on one side of the road and then also had a look at the structures on the other side of the road.







Finally we stopped at one more sunflower field on our way back.


-Biju

To be contd.

[hemanth.anand]

The main temple shown in your post below (I have pasted the link again)
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...l-p1010944.jpg

This building was the inspiration for our Parliament building construction in Delhi it seems.

[Fauji]

Excellent pictures!!

I would recommend visit these places iimmediately after rains and they are just beautiful. In fact, if you happen to visit Badami during rains you will find beautiful cascading waterfall as a backdrop to Bhoothanatha temple which is just out of the world. Also visit Mahakoota which is not as great as Badami - Aihole - Pattadakal architecturaly but the setting is interesting.

The Vittala temple in Hampi is the jewel in the crown in Hampi ruins. Hampi has to be savoured and not to be done in a hurry.

The complete circuit of Hampi - Badami - Bijapur - Gadag (for beautiful temples of Lakkundi) is a great Kaleidoscope of history and architecture.

Lakkundi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I happenned to visit Ellora during the Christmas break which are magnificent but found the sculptures in Badami are more sharp than the ones in Ellora.

Chandru in Badami is a good guide and he can be contacted @ 9448823161

[pjbiju]

Vehicle: Swift Vxi (1.3L engine)

Pune-Hospet
Pune-Satara-Kolhapur-Belgaum-Dharwad-Hubli-Gadag-Koppal-Hospet : 600.4 km

Good roads till Koppal. Koppal to Hospet has a lot of craters and truck traffic. Traffic jams before TB Dam circle is very common. Wait patiently till you come to the TB Dam circle.

Hospet-Badami
Hospet-Koppal-Kuknoor-Yelaburga-Sudi-Badami : 132.9 km

Through villages. Very scenic roads. Almost no traffic once you turn towards Kuknoor. Almost no facilities on the way. Roads are quite patchy at many places. Enjoy the scenery and drive slow.

Badami-Pune
Badami-Kulageri-Nargund-Navalgund-Hebsur-Dharwad-Pune : 542.9 km

Badami to Kulageri had patchy roads. Once you turn onto NH218 terrible road for the first couple of km. Fantastic roads after that. Hebsur to Dharwad also had good roads almost throughout with some patchy sections.

Mileage
Pune to Kolhapur : 18.05 kmpl
Kolhapur to Hospet (including trips to Hampi) : 15.68 kmpl
Hospet to Badami and Dharwad : 15.6 kmpl
Dharwad to Pune : Yet to fill fuel

A/C: 99% of the time
Passengers: 2 adults and one child
Luggage: Full

At Hospet we filled petrol from the Reliance Petrol pump on the TB Dam road. This is open 24 hours. Many of the Reliance pumps on NH4 has started functioning again.

-Biju

To be contd.

[roamingrao]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Every time I clicked a picture without the family, they would say "Oh, that is for Team-Bhp".

I know what it means !!

Excellent photographs, wonderful narration. Must be a trip to remember for you and your family. A 5 star rating for your efforts in sharing this with us !

[Fauji]

Biju,

Seems you just missed out visiting Lakkundi as you drove through Gadag to Hospet. Possibly next time around

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

The main temple shown in your post below (I have pasted the link again)
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attach...l-p1010944.jpg

This building was the inspiration for our Parliament building construction in Delhi it seems.

Oh! I did not know this. But it looks quite possible. Nice info there Hemanth.

Originally Posted by Fauji

Excellent pictures!!

I would recommend visit these places iimmediately after rains and they are just beautiful. In fact, if you happen to visit Badami during rains you will find beautiful cascading waterfall as a backdrop to Bhoothanatha temple which is just out of the world. Also visit Mahakoota which is not as great as Badami - Aihole - Pattadakal architecturaly but the setting is interesting.

The Vittala temple in Hampi is the jewel in the crown in Hampi ruins. Hampi has to be savoured and not to be done in a hurry.

The complete circuit of Hampi - Badami - Bijapur - Gadag (for beautiful temples of Lakkundi) is a great Kaleidoscope of history and architecture.

Lakkundi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I happenned to visit Ellora during the Christmas break which are magnificent but found the sculptures in Badami are more sharp than the ones in Ellora.

Chandru in Badami is a good guide and he can be contacted @ 9448823161

Thank you Fauji. I hope to visit these places sometime after the monsoon in the future. I have visited them many times during different seasons, but that was many years ago.

We did not get time to visit Mahakoota and Shivyog Mandir.

Also I did not know about Lakkundi. Thank you for the info. I plan to visit Gokak falls after the monsoon. So may be that time, I will try to visit this place as well.

Although I have passed through Ajanta many times, I am yet to visit Ajanta and Ellora.

Originally Posted by roamingrao

I know what it means !!

Excellent photographs, wonderful narration. Must be a trip to remember for you and your family. A 5 star rating for your efforts in sharing this with us !

I am planning to get one more camera. After that I should be fairly free to photograph anything I want. Thank you roamingrao for your appreciation.

[Fauji]

[quote=pjbiju;2210554]



Also I did not know about Lakkundi. Thank you for the info. I plan to visit Gokak falls after the monsoon. So may be that time, I will try to visit this place as well.




If you are planning a trip to see Gokak Falls, plan to include Bijapur - Koodalasangama - Alamatti/Narayanpur dam - Bijapur - Lakkundi. Suggest take this route if you are planning : Pune - Belgaum - Gokak falls ( a small deviation on SH 34 and an ahour is more than sufficient and dont have to stay) - Bijapur - Koodalsangama - Gadag (Lakkundi) - Hubli - Pune.

SH 34 between Belgaum and Bijapur is top class and is a nice drive.