Trip To Hampi

By Author: Deepa G
Total Articles: 29
Comment this article

Give them a beach and a swimming pool and my family is happy. That is their ideal holiday. So when I suggest Hampi, it was not received very enthusiastically. But I felt after staying in Bangalore for so many years, not going to a world heritage site in Karnataka is unforgivable. Convince some friends of ours to come along and the plan is made.

Started in the wee hours of the morning. Long car ride ahead of us. Fields and fields of sunflowers looking absolutely amazing. We stopped to take some photographs. And lots of windmills along the way. That was unexpected, didn’t know we had so many windmills around.

After a long car ride, we arrive at the resort. The resort is on the other side of Cauvery compared to the ruins. Usually you can easily cross the river and reach quickly. But it is monsoons and the river is overflowing, so no boats are available. Bad idea, in the monsoons atleast, stay closer to the ruins. There isn’t enough time to visit the ruins, so we decide to visit the Hanuman temples. Lots of monkeys around, a little scary. And a bit of a climb for our 4 year old. But he is a little trooper and climbs ...
... up happily. The view from the top is absolutely breath-taking. The overflowing Cauvery river, the ruins on the other side – what a sight !!

Next the early morning we head off to the ruins. Pass a Tungabhadra dam on the way. The kids are thrilled, they are learning about hydroelectric power. Takes a good two hours to reach the ruins.Again, bad idea. Next time stay closer to the ruins.

We head to Virupaksha temple. The only temple which is “active” and pooja is still done. Beautiful temple but too many people for my liking. I am vaguely disappointed, somehow I expected more. There is an elephant who will bless you if you give it one rupee. Kids think that is a good deal !! We look for an authorized guide at the tourist counter, but they are all busy. Would have made a difference.

Then we head to what I now know are the actual ruins. What a sight. This is not just some stones, just some buildings. This is a whole city from a long time ago preserved almost in a pristine state. Wandering around you can actual imagine how life must have been. Market stalls, Vijay Vithala, Public bath, Queen’s bath, and elephant stables are what we manage to cover with 4 kids and the sun beating down.

Not all the places are close to each other. There is significant distance between them. Even if we had taken a ferry from the hotel, I wonder how we could have commuted within. Autos are available. So are cycles if you don’t have very young kids.

Kids like the Queen’s bath and the Elephant stables. Somehow they can relate to it.

I promise myself I will go back maybe minus the kids and with a good 3 days to cover everything. For a history buff there is no place that can match this.

You can find a great Hampi Tour Package easily at Polama.com. You will also find details of many other tour packages here. You can know more at www.polama.com.

About Author :

During a chance holiday to Kumta, Deepa realised that nothing excited her more than a career in research of unexplored destinations. Her special interest is in leveraging the power of the internet to give greater value to holiday goers, such as the ability to easily find the right Hampi Tour Package. You can know more about comparing tour packages at her site www.polama.com.