By
Pralay
It was Dec of 2018, my wife had a full week plan in the Christmas to go to Calcutta to meet her family. We usually travel together, be it for a trip or a visit to our hometown, Calcutta. But this time it was impossible for me to get a leave sanction of a week or 10 days, due to my office commitments. Without any other choice she booked her flight to Calcutta during Christmas.
At the same time I thought, I can get 4 days for a trip, 23rd to 26th , if I can manage 2 days leave. ( I have Saturday office).
Since long, two of the many things of my bucket list were:
1) A solo road trip in my car
2) A visit to Hampi
And this time I realised this is a perfect time to tick off both from my bucket list.
And as we travel together, my wife was quite upset about my plan. But as a good friend, we never stopped each other for doing anything. So yes, finally I managed to get the leave sanctioned and this is the tale of my journey to tick off the two things at a go, “A solo road trip to Hampi!”
There are lot of posts about Hampi in the internet; so, not posting about my stay details further. Hampi is having all sorts of hotels or stay options depending upon your budget & preferences. So just limiting my log to the route, photos I have taken and other small details.
I usually do my research on the route rather than what Google is suggesting. Google was suggesting the route via Raichur but I took this route:-
Hyderabad – Kurnool – Alur - Bellary – Kamalapur – Hampi.
Took numerous breaks for photos, food or stretching, so I had to drive nearly 10 hours before I reach Hampi, else I could have reached much earlier. So let’s get started..
Cranked the engine at exact 6 AM:-
Reached hill park restaurant, Jadcherla around 7.15 AM, to take the breakfast:-
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/CYntB9cfixQ2
Around 10 o’clock reached Pullur toll plaza, near Kurnool:-
Somewhere between Alur and Bellary:-
There are plenty of options available once you enter the Bellary town. I avoid rice at lunch during drive. So, had a Masala Dosa at one of the food joints. I observed that, food options at Bellary are more on the opposite side of the road while going to Hampi from Hyderabad,. So in case you want to explore the town while going to Hampi, park your car on your side, cross the road & explore. Plenty of options are available.
Finally around 4 O’clock in the evening I reached Hampi!
Now, let some snaps taken in and around Hampi do the talking:-
Next day morning, trekked all the way up to Anjana's Hill to experience this beautiful Sunrise:-
Again let some pictures do some talking..
Day 3:-
Near Tungabhdra River..
Evening of Day 3, once again I trekked all the way up to Matanga Hill to watch the Sunset, and the trek was quite tough than the Anajana’s Hill's..
But once I reached the top, the tough trek had paid off..
This view..
When you finally managed to get a selfie with the beautiful background, but someone photo-bombed it..
Found an interesting structure, once I get down from the top :-
The famous Virupaksha Temple at dusk..
Had a lovely dinner at Mango Tree:-
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/VsqAkovkBHz
It was the last day and I had to head back to Hyderabad. So had my breakfast at my hotel before I started off around 8.30 in the morning:-
Touched a magic figure in between.. 30000 & up!!
Had a decent lunch at Food pyramid:-
Location: https://goo.gl/maps/EiZQWDuuPeH2
Reached Home around 5 o’clock. “A solo road trip to Hampi!”, done & dusted!!
Untill next time, much love, my love..
Cheers!
Pralay
By sreeni
By Pralay
By SK01