Hampi and Pattadakal (UNESCO)

Leaving gorgeous Goa, we caught a train to Hosapete, deep in the heart of Southern India. We were going to visit some UNESCO sites near there.

Brahma bulls seen from train to Hosapete

We settled in for the 7-hour train ride, which passed through or stopped, at many tiny agricultural villages. The scenery was varied, there was all sorts of livestock around, and people were busy at what they do. It was so interesting.

At one of the station stops, a young Indian medical student joined our carriage. We were soon chatting with her about many subjects, including medicine, culture, New Zealand's Christchurch Mosque disaster (which has been front page here), and India’s place in the world.

Getting on with business, as seen from train to Hosapete

As a 19-year-old, she saw herself as an independent woman, which meant travelling alone by overnight train to university, against family advice. She said her fate was to marry and have children, even though she did not want kids. In her words: "that’s India for you!"

As we neared Hosapete Station, a man leaped onto the moving train, landing right where we were waiting to get off. He was a tuktuk driver, taking risks to find passengers, so we hired him to take us to our accommodation.

Hosapete Junction station

We were at Hotel Malligi. It had clean rooms, a lovely garden, nice staff and a great restaurant.

Our tuktuk man said he could get us an air-conditioned taxi for day trips – it’s all ‘cuzzie-bro’ here and there is always is a commission involved…... but just how they work out their commission is still a mystery to us! Anyway, we got him to take us out the next day.

The Virupaksha Temple at Hampi (UNESCO)

Our destination was Hampi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Western Ghats (also UNESCO – see Goa blog). We wanted to see its ancient buildings, in particular, the Virupaksha Temple which is one of the oldest. It was built in 740 AD then modified during the Vijayanagar rule.

Hampi is an ancient ruined town of the Vijayanagar Empire who ruled from 1336 to 1565. This site is now known for its architecture and antiquity, but apparently it used to be one of the greatest Hindu kingdoms in India’s history.

Beautifully carved columns in a Vittala Temple pavilion

We walked around the huge Hampi site seeing many temples and ancient structures, all built out of stone. We especially liked the Vittala Temple which has several pavilions inside, each with beautifully carved pillars. The pavilions were apparently used for weddings and other celebrations.

There were many ancient and ruined structures, most with beautiful carvings in the stone. 

We really enjoyed it, notwithstanding the mid-30 temperatures. We were glad to have an air-conditioned taxi to take us between the various ruin sites, so we could cool off a little before hitting the heat again.

Aihole Temple

The next day we took the same taxi to see three other amazing sites. The first was Aihole, about 3 hours north of Hosapete. 

Aihole is a major archaeological site consisting of around 120 Buddhist, Hindu and Jain stone and cave temples. They were built from the 6th to 12th centuries, although most of the remaining ruins here now are from the 7th to 10th centuries. 

It's not as extensive as Hampi, so after a short time, the extreme heat encouraged us to get back into our air-conditioned taxi and move on.

Pattadakal group of monuments (UNESCO)

We then drove about 60 minutes west to the Pattadakal Group of Monuments that, like Hampi, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Pattadakal was at the heart of the Chalukya Empire. It is a complex of 4th to 8th century Hindu and Jain temples. Here we saw more beautiful, stone-carved buildings. We were amazed at their large size, and in awe of the skills that would have been used in their construction and artwork so long ago.

Pattadakal's Virupaksha temple is an active house of Hindu worship, and while we were there, we happened upon a religious event that was being held. 

Religious ceremony at Virupaksha temple, Pattadakal (UNESCO)

We were very careful not to interrupt, but felt privileged to see it, and found it very interesting. 

Our next stop was a further 40 minutes or so west, to view some cave temples at Badami. The temples have been carved into the sandstone, and date back to the 6th century.

According to what we read about the area, this group of temples is considered the “cradle of temple architecture that formed the model for later Hindu temples in the region”.

Badami Cave Temple

The caves are situated on a hill. There was some shade on the way up the many steps to the caves, so we managed to survive the climb without getting too hot. We also had to avoid the many lurking monkeys.

Each caves contain some incredible carvings that have survived the passage of time, to still look stunning today.

Amazing carvings in the rock caves at Badami

After a long day viewing so many amazing sights in the heat, we were glad to reach Hubli. A one-night-stop near an airport, so we could fly to Mumbai the next day.

We had an interesting experience when checking in to our hotel at Hubli. The receptionist tried to tell us that we owed money, despite having a voucher saying everything was paid online in advance of our visit. He then said he would upgrade our room at no extra cost, but that the money we owed would have to be paid in cash - to him - not to the online booking agency.

Marg inside Cave 1 at Badami

We did not accept the additional charges because we could see that he just wanted to get some cash out of us. So, after speaking nicely to him, and trying to talk our way out of a tricky situation without success, we sought help from the agency that we booked the room through.

In the end, we didn’t pay any extra, and the little chappie who tried to rip us off was very subdued in the morning. A wee downer after a great tour of the area.

But it was all good, as we were headed to Mumbai (aka Bombay), our next destination and were really looking forward to it.

The above blog is part of our 2-month tour of India. The first blog on this tour is called “Off to Delhi".