We thought to try something different for our 2nd anniversary and here we go... A road trip to visit the group of monuments at the UNESCO World Heritage Site - HAMPI.
Started from Hyderabad in car 🚗 around 8 AM in the morning via Raichur and reached Hampi by 7 PM. We haven't rushed on the speed so it took us long.. you know on the way multiple stops for breakfast and lunch. We haven't booked any room for the 1st day, however we got one at the Virupakashi temple. We are so tired 🥺 so took some rest and came out to explore the night life. Don't expect much as everything will be closed by 10 PM. Picked up few clothes at the Hampi Baazar which is not too big but okay okay and the price is reasonable. Looked out for a few dine out places. Guess what, most of the restaurants near the temple had a unique way of seating... Cots placed on the floor with few wodden tables, dim lantern lights with creative arts on the walls... Pretty impressive ambience. We dined at one of the restaurant and the food is tasty and not expensive. Don't expect non veg or liquor in the restaurants nearby to the temple. We had a walk in the lanes near to temple and left to room.
We checked out the hotel room and left to Virupakashi temple for Shivji darshan. Virupaksha Temple is the main center of pilgrimage at Hampi, and had been considered the most sacred sanctuary over the centuries. It is intact among the surrounding ruins and is still used in worship . The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva, known here as Virupaksha, as the consort of the local goddess Pampadevi who is associated with the Tungabhadra River.
After darshan, we spent most of the time taking pics and visited most of the famous places and it is a huge list..
Hemakunta Hill temple
Matanga Hill
Lotus Mahal
Elephant stables
Nava Brindavan
Sanapur lake
Later, we went to the main city in Hampi and checked in a hotel.. though it is winter it was a sunny day☀ so decided to take some rest. We enjoyed the food and drinks in the hotel room and in the later evening started to explore the city... Unfortunately, all the tourist places are nearby to the temple which is actually Hampi Village and there is nothing eye attraction in the main city. So, we drove back 30 kms back to Hampi village and visited the Hippe island, small remote place on the other side of the lake and temple. We could see people enjoying the music and food in the restaurants and that actually is the party place 🎉🍻. Shivji trans music is played in the restaurant which we visited, ordered drinks 🍻 and food 🍴🍕🍛🍜 spent good time walking in the lanes of Hippi Island and drove back to hotel by 1 AM. You could hardly see people on road and is a dark night... Reached the hotel and had few more drinks before we could sleep and end the day..
We tried the explore the city but couldn't find much.. Droved back 🚗 to Hampi to cover the rest of the places... We could see a huge crowd this time and had to park the car outside the temple premises a bit far to walk for the surrounding places.. We took a boat ride boat 🚣 in the Tungabhadra river and it was very pleasant.. Following are the places visited:
Queens Bath
Stepped Tank
Vijaya Vittala Temple
Vali's cave
Kishkinda Hanuman Temple
Vijaya Vittla Temple is the iconic temple that has an amazing stone structures such as the incomparable stone chariot and the fascinating musical pillars.It was built during the reign of King Devaraya II (1422 – 1446 A.D.), one of the rulers of the Vijayanagara Empire.
The monkey kingdom monkey monkey🐒🐒🐒, Kishkinda, is portrayed as the region around Hampi. Anjaneya Hill, located across the river Tungabhadra, is believed to be the birth place of Hanuman. You need to climb 575 steps 👣 to reach the top of the hill 🗻 and to view the beautiful sunset and take Lords blessings 👼🙏.
It was 8 PM by the time we completed all these and were very tired 😣.. We left to the hotel room and tried food at the nearby restaurant.. The restaurant is crowded so as the service.. We started with few drinks 🍻 and snacks and completed the main course by 11 PM.. As the hotel is beside the restaurant, we quickly walked up and had a good sleep.. 😴
We checked out the hotel by 9 AM and started our way back to home car 🚗 .. On the way we had breakfast and stopped at a nice water bridge to capture few pics 😉😜 Seriously, we drove very slowly enjoying the music🎤🎼🎹🎶 and the surrounding locations on the way.... On the way we stopped at a restaurant for lunch 🍝🍜.. By the time, we reached home it was 7 PM ⏰ and that was one of our best memorable road trip.. 🥰
