Happy Hampi

After an amazing sleep we got out early and headed for the Vitthala temple, one of the many monuments that comprise the ruins of the Vijayanagara Empire, which sprawl all over the Hampi area. On the way we passed functioning temples, caves, gateways as we walked down the paths that would have once been roads of the old city. At its peak the city had half a million inhabitants, second only to Beijing in the 1500’s.

Since we were out early there was no one else around. We felt so lucky to have it all to ourselves! The temple was beautiful. By 10am we’d seen most of the stuff so headed back got breakfast at another rooftop cafe, and then slept through the hottest hours. We emerged in the afternoon, had some lassis, our new favourite yoghurty beverage and headed for Mantanga Hill for sunset. After a pretty sketchy final ascent on hot slippery rocks we made it to the top, a family of monkeys joining us there chomping away on an impressive array of food, fed by the local Indian pilgrims.

We then went for the sound and light show, which told the mythical story of how Hampi got its name. Basically lots of fighting between various gods with plenty of love and treachery in between. We were then walked down the road as they recreated a local festival through sound and light as drummers from a local village played for us. It was so cool! Ended the day with dinner. Kyri got a cashew curry and because my stomach is still feeling super weird went safe and got a pizza which was the strangest pizza I’ve ever eaten, totally uncooked dough with a mountain of paneer cheese on the top.Read more