On the heritage trail- Part 1

Uhmmm...errr....sorry peeps! I've been AWOL again, but what to do? The pen hasn't exactly been my best friend for some time now. That's not to say there hasn't been much going on. Oh, there is sirree. Did y'all know I'm home now? Yes, its home for Christmas and the holidays. I have to tell y'all about my first week here but that's another post.

For now, you've got to hear about our recent trip. Seren and I set off on the heritage trail along the Vijayanagar and Chalukyan empires. What that means is we visited Hampi, Badami, Aihole and Pattadakal.

Right at the onset, we were greatly impressed with our resort. We stayed at Hampi Boulders, and were assigned the executive cottage(that's the first pic on the left in the link above). The resort is scenically positioned amongst the hills and boulders around Hampi. There are about 20 cottages or so each with private walkways and provides ample privacy and seclusion to make it truly serene and picturesque. Cell phone coverage in the area is spotty and there is no intercom to the main gondola. There are also no TV's in the room or in the central dining area. The staff is pleasant, ever helpful and extremely prompt with service. What struck us was that the owner had a very good aesthetic sense and had put immense thought into making it a unique experience for his guests. The staff hold campfires every other evening and constantly encourage guests to mingle amongst each other. It makes for a very English setting with guests meeting in the common area for meals and inevitably chatting and exchanging notes about their day and visits around the area. A five star rating for sure from us and we'd recommend it to everyone. The place is rather pricey, be warned. But for the kind of amenities and service and serenity, it is well worth the money spent.








Day 1
We set off towards the ruins of Hampi, the historical nerve center of the Vijayanagar empire of 16th century. Krishnadevaraya is said to have been the most important monarch that encouraged sculpture and established trading ties with other countries during this regime. The stone chariot at the Vitthala temple is by far the biggest landmark of Hampi. Other important monuments include the Virupaksha temple and Zenana quarters that house the Lotus Mahal. Purandara Mantapa is a monument built for the singer-saint Purandaradasa right on the banks of the river Tungabhadra. King's Balance is a stone structure on which kings used to weigh themselves against gold and gems and donated for charities.














At the end of Day 1 we were exhausted, partly due to our own stupidity actually. We'd been warned to not take the Hampi ruins by foot since it covers about 25 kms. We started walking towards one set of monuments and by 1pm we were hungry and our feet were slowly beginning to kill us. Howoever, lunch at Mango Tree totally rejuvenated us. This restaurant was uniquely built around mango trees with unusual seating areas- low tables with floor seating. The restaurant is also located overlooking the wilderness and woods, so be prepared to catch some wildlife roaming around while you recharge your batteries. Being a pure vegetarian restaurant, the Mango Tree thali was scrumptious replete with thin, soft chapathis, a healthy sabji, a kootu, some rasam, sambar and rice. We coupled the thali with some refreshing lime juice.

This done, we decided to take on the next half of the Hampi trail by auto(which was by far the smartest decision we took). By around 5pm, we'd covered about 80% of monuments. See, there are two aspects to Hampi- one is the historical part, revolving around the Vijayanagar empire. The other is the mythological part- Hampi is also Kishkinda, Hanuman's birthplace is located right here.

More on this side of Hampi in the next post.