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MY LIFE (After
the Navy)
IN A CONCH SHELL
William
(Biff) Hawke
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| Hampi |
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A Site Worth Seeing Before
Leaving Indai
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Linda and I had been hearing the latest tourism buzzword HAMPI for a couple of years and decide to investigate during the first week of January. Quite frankly, we expected to find a bunch of historic temples surrounded by barrenness rocks and dirt so imagine our delight when we encountered a site which, besides an impressive array of huge boulders and raw earth, included a sparkling river, temples and palaces fronted or surrounded by green lawns and manicured hedges, and lots of other greenery jungle and coconut & banana plantations. Besides that, we enjoyed glimpses of the simplicity of rural India, where young children waved at passing tourists from the doorways of their humble abodes, while singing out, Hello!
What we call Hampi today, was Vijayanagar in the 14th and 15th centuries and capital of the last great Hindu Kingdom a kingdom that covered the entire areas of the current states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Vijayanagar was conquered by the Deccan Muslim confederacy in 1565 and pillaged over a period of six months, and then abandoned. What remains today is a testimony to the glory and beauty of a by-gone era, spread over an area of 26 square kilometres.
We left Bangalore at 11:30 pm and arrived at the nearby town of Hospet after a seven-hour overnight trip on a Karantaka State Road Transport Corporation bus. We opted for the Hampi Express (train) for the return trip a much more comfortable ride at a slightly higher price. You can also get to and from Hampi by road from Hyderabad or Goa, but Im told that the best overland route is via Bangalore.
Most visitors will start their days (minimum of two recommended) of sightseeing at the Hampi Bazaar a strip of colourful curio shops, open-air restaurants and service providers that line a thoroughfare in front of the majestic Virupaksha Temple. There are several ways to get around the archaeological area and in order of cost these include shanks mare (foot), rented bicycle, cycle rickshaw, auto rickshaw and automobile, with the latter costing about Rs 700 per day. We chose auto rickshaw and invested a further (non-negotiable)
Rs 700 per day in the services of an official card-carrying guide. We were glad we did, given the hidden details that he revealed.
Hampi exceeded our expectations, but Ill say the remaining thousand words that I could write, in pictures. Learn more about Hampi at:
www.karnataka.com/tourism/hampi/.
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