Heritage Hampi – Day 2

Read the first part here …

Day 2 – Began on a relaxed note. Got ready and spent some time at the dormitory, clicking pics and admiring the surroundings!

We started after having our breakfast.Most of us had no more enthu to walk. So, we moved from place to place in our vehicle. The heat felt really oppressive and we were happy to get into the vehicle and get moving …to get some wind in our hair! 🙂

The first stop was the Queen’s bath. Spent a good amount of time looking around and in photo sessions!

Queen’s bath

A view from inside of Queen’s bath..

Next was the Mahanavami dibba…

The door of the royal palace; made of granite..

The Mahanavami dibba.. the stage from where the royal family watched the festivities. Intricate carvings all around the stage – elephants, dancing figures, horses and women warriors..

A view from atop the Mahanavami dibba…

Sites marking the remains of the palaces and other buildings around the Mahanavami dibba…

The famed step well!

We then moved on to see the Lotus Mahal and the elephant stables..

Lotus mahal

The elephant stable

Next stop was the Hazara Rama temple…

The sthambha/ pillar in front of the Hazara Rama temple, Carvings on the outer wall,Carvings on the top and the temple entrance..

Inside the Hazara Rama temple complex… Carvings on the walls – depictions from the Ramayana

Followed by these famous temples..

Clockwise from top left – Jalakanteshwara temple, Ugra Narasimha temple, KadaleKaaLu Ganesha temple…the team in discussion with our guide.., view from there and the main deity Ganesha

A temple gopura seen from the Ganesha temple. The huge rocks and rocky terrain evident all around..

After this, we headed for lunch, we had a simple but very tasty local fare at one of the khanavalis!! Jolada rotti, chutney pudi, palya, mosaranna, majjige ; all typical items from the North Karnataka cuisine that I love!! 🙂 Was glad that everyone else enjoyed the food too, except for a couple of them, for whom the spice quotient was a bit too high.

Post lunch, we decided to take a break and headed to the bridge over the Tungabhadra river. While most enjoyed the view… few among us decided to go on a coracle ride. I decided to sit on the edge dipping my feet in the super cool waters !! It was thoroughly refreshing!

The Tungabhadra river

Relaxed and refreshed, we later headed to the Anjanadri parvatha, considered to be the birthplace of lord Hanuman. We climbed around 500 steps reach the temple atop the hill. I was the last one to reach! Nevertheless, I felt blessed to have been able to do that… quite an unthinkable feat for a person who has recovered from a debilitating case of rheumatoid arthritis!

The glorious sunset from atop Anjanadri parvatha

We then headed back to our dormitory, freshened up, packed and started on our journey back to Bengaluru. The trip was a memorable one for many reasons. And, I’m glad that I could make it!!

Now, super glad that I could write this all down, thanks to the ABC Wednesdays series and my resolve to participate as much as possible! It was tough to select a few pics among the whole lot, which was one of the reasons why I never got down to writing this post. Hope you all like the selection!

Linking this one also to the letter H at ABC Wednesdays.

Advertisement