Amidst the Ruins of Hampi

It had been a while since I was planning a trip to Hampi, the famed ruins of Vijayanagar Empire. After reading a number of blogs on Monuments, Boulders and Hills of Hampi, finally on last weekend I visited the land of this great world heritage site with my wife Seema and my in-laws. We started with a comfortable journey by train which suits most for visiting this place. We had a car from Hospet railway station to Hampi riverside where we had a ferry boat to cross the river to reach our resort ‘Kiskindha Heritage’. I booked this resort based on suggestion of one of my colleague and we found it a true gem. Our cottages were very clean, spacious and comfortable. The resort has privately held park, lake and pools which make it worth of money. I believe this is the best resort of Hampi, little far from town but a relaxed and calm place to stay.

Before starting for a trip, we had a good lunch in the resort. As we had a plan for few hours only for the first day we have an auto only to roam around. We started with Pampa sarovara, Durga temple and other places on another side of river Tungabhadra and reached to Hanuman temple. This is the place which believed to be the birthplace of god Hanumana. We went up to the top of the hill with five hundred and seventy steps. After reaching there we all were tired but view from there was a breath-taking including the Hampi ruins. Somehow we came down and returned to our resort with tired muscles. Then we had enjoyed the water-park and swimming pool in the resort. Before going to sleep, we had a birthday party with the help of resort guys. 

Next day was a big one. We hired a Tavera for roaming in Hampi and a guide to help us in knowing the ruins. Day started with Virupaksha temple, the only temple of Hampi where still worship happens and nearby Ganesha images. Everywhere there are ruins or boulders in Hampi, the guide can explain some story and tell you that how rich the Hampi was before Mughals destroyed it. From there we went to other sites where important structures and ruins are located. We visited Lotus palace, Elephant stables, Queens’s bath, Vijay Vithala temple and many more. It was also astounding to see the Stone Chariot and Musical Pillars. Going inside the base of Musical pillars was not allowed but guide claimed that if you hit the pillars it will create music around. After roaming around for a long, it was late for lunch and so we went to the famous Mango Tree Restaurant. Ambience was cool and food was good. We again visited few places like ruins of Lakshminarsimha temple before departing for Hospet. In evening we reached to Tungabhadra dam, roamed in the beautiful garden and left before the musical fountain show got start as we had to catch our train to reach Bangalore and go to the office on next morning.