Our Journey to The City of Victory-HAMPI
My Route:
23.01.2009 3.00 pm
This was another eagerly waiting for moment. Thanks to my boss Nadir, who gave us the permission to leave early, we left office at 3.30 pm and hit the road. On the way we took Santhosh luggage from his friend’s home and then commenced our move to Hampi - the City of
As is usual at the location, we got stuck in traffic at Powai-IIT. There is a sigh of relief as we cross the Gandhi Nagar flyover. Soon we were cruising towards Satara - our first halt. Even though there was heavy traffic right upto Panvel, we managed to reach Lonawala by 6.30 pm. Here we took a tea break. Lonawala, a hill station is a popular get-away with the Mumbai crowd.
We had to take the Pune by-pass as the Mumbai-Pune expressway is out of bounds for two wheelers. Unfortunately for us the by-pass was also jam packed. After Katraj tunnel we left all vehicles behind. It was a tiring stretch right upto Satara. On crossing Satara around 10.00 pm, we stopped for dinner. We had non-veg fare. Our day come to an end on reaching Karad., where we halted for the night. We got a room at reasonable rate.
Distance covered 322 Km.
24.01.2009 6.30 am.
We checked out from the hotel before sunrise and resumed our journey towards Belgaon. We had covered over 10 kms before the sun started its journey. We just had to stop to capture the breathtaking spectacle of the sunrise. In the emerging light we saw farmers huddled around bonfires – in an effort to drive away the chill. The rising sun symbolises new hopes of progress and prosperity.
Taking the NH4, we reached Belgaon at 10.00 a.m., The NH4 passes through Kolhapur.- the sugar bowl of
We took NH63B from Gadag to Hospet via Koppal. A word of caution, guys, if any of you plan to visit Karnataka. There are speed breakers on most of the roads. Damn it, then why do they make it this big and wide?
After Koppal with fully laden trucks fully occupying the road, our progress came down to a crawl. So to reach Hampi we had to ride along the edge of road. This isn’t new to us, as to do it every evening in Mumbai, on the ride back home from work, to beat the bumper-to-bumper traffic.
We reached Hampi at 4.30 pm. The stretch after Koppal was particularly tiring, but the first sight of Hampi rejuvenated us. Man, it was just amaz..z..z…ing man.
Here, instead of checking into a hotel, we decide to hire a room from local. It’s real value for money. We put our luggage there, had took a shower – our first in 20hrs. Then we moved out to take in the sights of the ‘city of victory’.
I’m not sure where to start with my description of the City. Let me start by saying that it was awe-inspiring. Hampi has an abundance of ancient monuments - gigantic temples, palaces, and aquatic structures. All these are linked by wide streets. Hugh fortifications surround the City. There are a lot of other ancient monuments also. Even in its ruined state the city is impressive. I don’t think I’d even be able to imagine the glory, wealth, and beauty of this City when the Vijaynagar empire was at its peak.. Little wonder someone said, "If dreams were made out of stone, it would be Hampi."
We’ve spent almost 26 hours in Hampi and each new sight didn’t fail to amaze me – whether ti was the
Hampi is the most beautiful place I have ever visited. I still don’t fully believe that these marvels are the works of men’s hands.
Brief History:
Hampi - the seat of the famed Vijayanagara empire, was the capital of the largest empire in pre-Mogul
25.01.2009 6.30 pm
We had bath in a canal at Kamalapura. With the sun going down, we too decided to leave Hampi and move toward our next halt - Hubli. Leaving Hampi we are happy having come here and having ‘experienced’ a part of our glorious history. Again from Hospet to Gadag, the heavy traffic of heavy vehicles, bad patches of road and ever-present speed brokers marred the ride. We reached Hubli around 10.30 pm. We hired a room in hotel and had heavy non-veg meal.
26.01.2009 6.30 am
We checked out from the hotel, and tanked-up our bikes. We are all ready to commence the return leg of our journey - to Mumbai. Giving it our best, within 3 hours we had crossed
We met our friends Shankar and Santosh near Karad, which is the latter’s native place. Santosh had an small accident there. However it were still able to move on till Satara, where we repaired the bike. At Bhuinj, a bath in the river rejuvenated us and we were soon looking forward to lunch. We were soon back on the road and reached Vashi (on the outskirts of Mumbai) around 8.30 pm after running a gauntlet of heavy traffic at both Pune and Panvel.
I would without reservation recommend a visit to Hampi once. You would need to spend at least 3 days to cover everything in Hampi.
A special thanks our friend Deepak Dongre for sharing his experience with us for being the inspiration for the trip and Samit for being in touch.
Total Expense: Around 4000 /- pre head (including fuel.)
Total Distance covered: 1705 km
Avg. Speed: 80 Km / Hr
PHOTOS : http://picasaweb.google.com/prasadmhatre12003/OurJourneyToTheCityOfVictoryHampi?authkey=2YPGjciKstI#
