The ride to Hampi holds a special place in my heart. You know what is the fun part of traveling? You learn. It is not just about the place or the food. Everything! You learn more about your motorcycle, the route taken, the route not taken, where to stay, places to visit, and the list goes on and on till you reach back home.
We knew we would not cover most of the places within the 2 days bracket which includes ride from and to Bangalore. But we still wanted a ride to Hampi!
We hit the road as early as 5 in the morning on Saturday. I usually like traveling solo, but if my friends come to know about it, ugh! let's not talk about it :( It was almost a ride worth 6 and half hours. Initially we had set the map to Hampi and had a wonderful ride all over to Chithradurga. We later understood that the hotel we had booked is on the other side of Hampi hence we had to deviate to Bellary route. And this was the messiest route one can ever think of. The more you reach Hampi, you feel like riding along the dangerous narrowest roads of Himalayas. You hold your breath and keep riding. Unlike the roads which are flanked by snow, in Himalayas obviously, here you have anything and literally everything on and off the road. Potholes, several big trucks and the traffic controllers or cows (because of their exalted status - not to forget the cow dung menace and the muckyness...) on road helped add special effects like dust and cement particles all throughout the air we breath. Bellary owes to the huge deposits of iron and manganese ores found in the nearby hill ranges - so by now you must have got a better picture. To breath and to still survive, I salute the people and the cows over there!
Bellary is in the north eastern region of Karnataka. And when you hear the word north with Karnataka, I'm telling you, you are going to get sunburn right now. We were sweltering throughout our ride there and sweating bullets. Our ride was slowing down because of all these antics on road but still managed to reach the hotel by 12-12.30 pm. Post check-in, we knew we had to start soon as we are losing our time. We were dead tired but still took off after having lunch from the hotel where we stayed.
Kicked-off my Royal Enfield Thunderbird, odometer from 404 kilometers and we started. We were on our way to Sri Virupaksha Temple which was approximately 28 kilometers from our place of stay. It took about 40 to 50 minutes for us to reach the temple. Unlike all the trouble we had on our way to Hampi from Bellary, the roads in Hampi were far far better. And that did save us time to cover the distance. When it comes to temples, Hampi is a land scattered with stupendous remains and relics of Vijayanagara empire. Sri Virupaksha Temple, Vijaya Vittala Temple, Laxmi Narasimha Temple, Hazara Ram Temple are few of the most known temples in Hampi. On our way to Virupaksha temple we saw several similar architecture frequently. We are not sure whether all of them were temples dating back to such historic eras.
Being a UNESCO world heritage site, this temple is a must visit for all history buffs. Located on the banks of river Thungabhadra, it is dedicated to Lord Shiva. It was actually a small temple which was built and expanded over different empires and eras starting from Vijayanagara kings followed by the Hoysala and Chalukyans adding more structures. I'm not planning to deep dive into each temple history as you can easily get them online! I share my travel experience and the photos add more beauty to it!
We spent time there till sunset. We knew starting off soon from this place to another is not at all sensible as it was already getting late. And being late here is not at all recommended as you don't find even ray of light on road.
Words and photos are not enough when it comes to Hampi. It should really be experienced. Architecture, art, culture have all got its own identity in Hampi. I will be covering a bit more of this historic place in my next article. Stay tuned!