Badaami Hampi Trip- November 4th to 7th, 2016

How can I not take a trip on my birthday, when I love traveling so much? What else can be a better gift for me, from me? I thus decided to go Badami, Pattadakal, Aihole and Bijapur. I initially thought of going solo, but then Akshata and Shreya also wanted to come along. Akshata insisted to add even Hampi in the list, thus extending it to a 4 day trip, which initially was planned for 3. Shreya couldn't join us for first two days due to some personal work, and thus Akshata and I boarded the GolGumbaz express from Bengaluru at 7 PM on 3rd Nov.

Day 1, 4th November: (Full day Bijapur trip)

We got down in Alamatti station, and walked towards the highway and booked a room in Ashoka Hotel. The rooms were decent and we got ready quickly. After having breakfast, we inquired and found out that we would get buses right in front of the hotel to Bijapur. We thus waited for not more than 10 minutes, and we boarded a bus.

It was 10:45 AM when we started, and it was already very hot. This part of Karnataka is too dry and hot compared to the south. We reached Bijapur at 12:30 PM and we walked towards Barah Kamaan, which took just 10 minutes. This was an unfinished building, just with the basement being done. We went to the watchman there and asked him to explain about the significance about this place. He said us the story about this and Gol Gumbaz, and how the king who constructed the Gol Gumbaz killed his own son, who had started building this monument. The reason why it's called Barah Kamaan was that it was supposed to have 12 floors, and this building was designed to such a height, that its shadow would touch the foot of Gol Gumbaz during sunset. (Distance between Barah Kamaan and Gol Gumbaz is about a km). The father was jealous that his son's monument, if completed, will gain much more publicity and fame than the one built by him (Gol Gumbaz) and thus he killed him when the construction was just being started. There is also a tomb of his queen in the same place.

Barah Kamaan entrance

Tomb inside the monument

Barah Kamaan

We took a lot of pics here and spent altogether an hour, and then started to walk towards Gol Gumbaz. It was hot and we had cane juice on the way, and we reached Gumbaz in 15 minutes. There were many people here than in Barah Kamaan.

We entered and climbed those 7 floors to reach the highest floor, where people were shouting to hear the echo. This was particularly nuisance and it was unbearable. They were all acting like uncivilized people, shouting at top of voice and making weird sounds. Without able to bear it, we climbed down quickly and came out of the compound. We went to the hotel just opposite to the monument and had our lunch. We then took an auto to the bus stand, since we were tired to walk and also, it was too hot. We thus reached the bus stand and boarded the bus at 3 PM.

Gol Gumbaz

A monument next to Gol Gumbaz

We got down near our hotel at 4:30 PM. The entrance to Alamatti dam was next to our hotel, and having nothing to do sitting in the room, we chose to go to the dam. We went to those parks there, and it was not very attractive. We came out quickly and went near the huge building complex near Mughal gardens, and sat there, watching the sun go behind the dam gates. It was a huge dam, and the water level was full.

A well constructed building near the dam

Red sky behind the dam vbidge

It was getting dark, and we had a few chats. We inquired people around there about visiting Badami and other places. From what they said, it was clear that the public transport was not to be relied on, for it's frequency was too less, and it's impossible to cover all those places in one day.  They suggested that it's better to hire a car, but that was going out of our budget. Seeing our confusion, one uncle there got us an auto driver for 1200 Rs for the full day trip. We thought it was a better option than all other and we agreed. We said him to come near the hotel at 5:30 AM and we started to walk back to hotel. We had dinner and went to sleep, since we had to get up very early the next day.

Day 2, 5th November: (Badaami, Banashankari, Mahakoota,  Aihole, Pattadakallu and Sangama)

We were ready by 5:30 AM as promised to the auto driver, but he was late by half an hour. We started the journey at 6 AM, and it took 2 hours to reach Badaami. He went through a shortcut, and it was a countryside journey which was pleasing to our eyes. We reached Badaami at 8:15 AM.

There are 4 caves, and only the first one has some carvings and structure, while the rest are mostly empty. The lake next to it was looking good, and we didn't have much time to go around and explore. Also, it was already sunny and we were too hungry. We left there at 9:15 AM and asked the driver to stop at a hotel for breakfast. He drove to Banashankari temple, where there were quiet a few hotels, and we had our breakfast there.

Badaami caves

One of the structures in badaami caves

Man made lake next to Badaami caves

Temple in the lake

This one is an old temple, and was nice too. There were quiet a few people, and we finished the darshan in 10 minutes. We then started again to stop at Mahakoota after a few minutes. This was a relatively big temple, with a Kalyani as well. There were no much people here. We were done with darshan quickly, took a few pics, had some guava and started the journey back, now towards Pattadakallu.

The roads were not that good here, and they were being constructed in a few places. It was thus very dusty, adding to the uncomfortability of the hot sun. We were glad that we did not come here depending on the local or public transport. In 30 minutes, we reached Pattadakallu.

This was very well maintained by the government, and it was a group of temples. The green grass all around accentuates the beauty of the red stoned structures. It was only 11:15 PM and it was very hot. We visited all the temples, though few of them were empty. All structures look mostly alike, but the minute designs are different from one another. We took quiet a lot of pics and spent more than an hour. We then left there by 12:30 PM. We were hungry, and we decided to have lunch and then resume the journey. We thus went to KSTDC hotel, and the lunch served was good.

Pattadakallu

One of the structures in Pattadakallu

Pattadakallu

Pattadakallu

Pattadakallu

Pattadakallu

We started the journey at 1 PM and reached Aihole in another half an hour. The structures here also looked very similar to Pattadakallu. We spent an hour here, visited all the temples and started again.

Aihole

We now headed to Kudala Sangama, and it was a little far. It took us 90 minutes in all, and we went directly to the temple. Here River Malaprabha confluences with Krishna, and this is also the sacred place where Basavanna gave up his life. Though the river was huge, it looked calm and the view was pleasant, since the sun was making its way to sign off for the day. We visited the temple and got the darshan, and then went to the Basaveshwara Aikya Mantapa, to see the place where Lord Basavanna breath his last while meditating. From this point, the view of the river looked beautiful.

Koodala Sangama temple

Aikya sthala inside the river

Krishna river

From here, it was only an hour's journey back to our hotel. We thus relaxed for a while near the river before starting the journey again. We had ice cream and started the journey back. We asked the driver if we can somehow reach the backwaters of Alamatti dam, and he said he will take us there.

It was 5:30 PM when he took us to the backwaters. Since the dam was full, it looked like a sea, with no land seen beyond the waters of the dam. The sun was almost near the horizon, and the sky was a beautiful orange color, with it's reflection in water. We took a few pics, and asked the auto guy to drop us back to the dam. He did so, and we paid him and thanked him for the day's trip.

Alamatti dam back waters

Sun setting behind the dam bridge

We went and sat near the complex again, for the evening was getting cool and we needed some relaxation as well. Sun had not set yet, and we waited till he went down and then the lights of the dam were on. We didn't have any interest in Musical fountain that was to happen at around 7:30 PM, and thus we walked back to hotel after having a round of chats and dinner in the hotel. We watched TV for a while and then slept.

Day 3, 6th November: (Reach Hospete and Visit Hampi)

We got up and got ready quickly, to leave for our next destination. We had found out that it will take about 4 hrs to reach Hospete from Alamatti, by bus. Shreya would join us in Hospete, taking a bus from Harihar.

It was almost 12 noon when we met her at the bus stop. From there, IB was a km's walk. We walked in the hot sun, and settled in the room. We thought of going out for lunch, and planned to have dinner in the IB and thus freshened up quickly and left for Hampi, which was about 20 minutes by bus.

We reached Hospete bus stand, had lunch and took a bus to Hampi. We first went to Virupaksha temple. It is a very huge temple and when we went, it was closed. We were informed that it will open in a while, and thus we took a small tour around the temple. We saw the inverted reflection of the gopura of the temple, which was shown by a pandit there. We also clicked a few pics, and then got the darshan of the god. It was around 2:30 PM, and we made a deal with an auto driver to cover important places before evening. He thus took us to some 8-10 places, which included Ugra Narasimha temple, Kadlekalu Ganesha, Lotus Mahal, Stepped tank, among which the last one was Vittala temple. It was almost dark when we were dropeed back to bus stand, and we took a bus back to Hospete.

Virupaksha temple

Akka Tangiyara Bande

Lotus Mahal

Queen's bath

Stone chariot in Vittala temple

Near bus stand, we went in search of rotti's, since the IB caretaker asked us to get just the rottis and he will take care of the rest of the things. We then took another bus and then an auto to reach IB. Food was ready, and Yennagayi palya was too good. We ate to our full and settled on our beds. We were tired and thus slept quickly.

At 12 AM, both of them woke me up with a cake and gifts!! Shreya had made a card for me and Akshata gifted a couple books. We were tired, and thus slept again within half an hour.

Awesome and tasty food @ IB

Birthday celebration! :)

Day 4, 7th November: (Full day at Hospete)

We didn't really have much to do today since we had covered Hampi the previous day. None of us were really interested in architecture and temples and thus we decided to spend time resting. Shreya's dad's friend was a government official (with whose influence we had got to stay at IB) and he visited us in morning around 9, and he took us in his car for Hospete dam visit. We got a chance to go till the other end of the dam, where there was another IB. From here we could get a bird's view of the whole dam and it was worth a sight. We thanked him for taking us there, which otherwise wouldn't have been possible for us to go there. He dropped us back to IB around 12 noon.

Hospete dam, as seen from Vaikunta Guest House

We then took bath, and these girls had plans of dressing me up in a suit and click pictures!! A terrible idea, and I was feeling a little too awkward in the suit, wearing the heavy jhumka and all that. Well, I had to listen to them and I was glad that it all got over in 30 minutes. We then spent next few hours lying lazily on bed and chatting.

Shreya had to leave around 6 PM, and our train was at 9 PM. We went to the bus stop and sent her off. While walking back to IB, we decided to spend some time near the dam, and when it was about to get dark, we went to the IB, and packed our things and got ready to leave after dinner. After a simple meal provided by IB caretaker, we thanked him for his hospitality and left to the station. After an overnight journey, we reached Bengaluru at 7 AM next morning.

Sun set seen from dam

Dam waters, and IB also seen upon the small hillock

Another birthday was spent well in a new place, and a long waited destination on my list was thus striked off! :)