Hampi

We didn't know what to expect from Hampi.. it was a place that was not in our initial plans and we hadn't done any type of research about it... we heard about Hampi from other travellers, everybody recommended us to visit it and so we did it...

As we said in the post before, it was a little hard to decide to leave the beach and the confort of Goa behind. We also ended up deciding not to go to Gokarna (another recommended place) but we felt like it was time to go back to crazy India as our time here is running short... we got our bus tickets and we went on another night journey... our beds were in the back of the bus so we had a lot of turbulence but we managed to sleep... the Bus arrived ealier than expected but not in the expected location... they dropped us on the other side of the river in the middle of some fields. As we left the bus we were attacked by tuk-tuk drivers trying to drive us to their guest houses so we ran out of there as fast as we could... we walk in the dark streets and under the stars trying to find the way to the boats to take us to the other side... 5 to 10 minutes later we arrived to the river and our jaws immediately dropped... we could see a small village with ruins and amazing temples surrounded by huge stones... we couldn't believe in our eyes... initially we were a little bit pissed because our bus didn't drop us in the right location but that vanished as soon as we saw that view... we were finally going to see a sunrise and the view couldn't be better...we had to wait for the boat for more or less 1h so we relaxed, ate the leftovers of the cake that we bought on the night before and simply enjoyed the moment... we were lucky to be there! At 7am we could see some movement on the other shore, people were waking up and some of them started to wash themselves and their clothes on the river... we could also see that the boats were about to start but they were not normal boats..  they were round and made by some type of wood and plastic.. we were excited about the ride it would be 6 people plus bags and the driver we were expecting the boat to turn around at any point but it ended up being a very stable ride.

Now in the right side of the river we had to find a room, Agata and Mateusz that came on another bus had already arrived and already got a cheap room but with no mobile service it was hard to communicate so we started our search around the village.. we checked almost 10 different places and ended up staying in one that was in front of them. It was a nice room, cheap but with Indian style toilet.. this time there was no way to run from it!

We slept for a couple of hours until we felt that we had the energy to explore the mysterious village full of temples... we started slowly but after a nice meal we started to explore... Since Agata and Mateusz had already visited the main temple (Virupaksha Temple) by the sunrise we decided to go to the opposite direction to the Nandi Temple and the Matanga Hill...

Walking in Hampi is an extraordinary experience, on our way to the Nandi Temple and the hill we were surrunded by the ruins of a bazaar, temples in front of us, ruins to the right and temples to the back.. we didn't know exactly where to look... we reached the Nandi Temple and started to climb the ruins and stones around it and after a few curves, on the back side of the hill our jaws dropped again... we couldn't believe in our eyes again... amazing ruins of the Achutya Bazaar and even more temples and ruins... some stones had ancient drawings and others were carved with gods and other shapes.. we could feel the history around this place that was once a Hindu capital.

Hampi was in its full power around the 14th century, even Portuguese traders come to Hampi in 1520 and "were astonished by its size and
wealth, telling tales of markets full of silk and precious gems, bejewelled courtesans, ornate palaces and fantastic festivities." The afternoon ended up being perfect and full of pictures... we finished for an amazing sunset by the river and again... temples... really beautiful.

On the second day, Kika wasn't feeling very well and the Indian toilet in our room wasn't helping at all so we didn't go with Agata and Mateusz to explore the temples that were far from the village.. instead, we went to the other side of the river to see if there was anything special but everything in a slow pace.. the other side is only a street full of guesthouses much more touristic than the village of Hampi... a lot of travellers stay on the other side but in our opinion it is better to stay on Hampi's side because the boats stop at 5h30pm so people can't enjoy the temples until the sunset... we checked some restaurants and they were all more expensive than the restaurants in Hampi so we ended up going back for lunch.

After a late lunch, Kika was feeling better and with enough energy to climb the Matanga Hill. The beginning was a little tough as the steps were a bit tall but as we went up the views got better and at one point the path was half steps, half stones so it became a nice little adventure.. the view was extraordinary! We arrived to the top earlier than expected so instead of staying there until dark we went down and explored some temples on the way to hampi... it was a really nice walk..  there was no proper path, we were following our intuition and at one point we had doubts if we would make it as it was getting dark and we weren't sure if we were in the right way but, as we said before, easier isn't always better... we felt like small adventurers... Pedro even marked the ground in case we had to go back (so smart!). The reward was great, we saw more ruins of bazaars and the Krishna temple and at the end a huge lighted statue of Ganesh. A day that seemed like it was going to be wasted ended up being relaxed and perfect.

On our third day in Hampi it was time to visit the surrounding area and it's temples. We rented two bicycles and started to move... the path was beautiful, with banana trees all over the place, very green views and of course more ruins. It was fantastic to be able to ride the bicycle in between temples, at the end we did more or less 15km and in some places we had to carry our bikes because the stones didn't allow us to passs... we were tired but it was worth it. We were so amazed by the place that we even found energy to climb the Matanga Hill again to watch the sunset with Agata and Mateusz, at the top we met a new friend, Isaac from New York City.

The fourth day was the day to say goodbye to Hampi, we had tickets to go to Mysore at 8pm. Tired from the day before we just used this day to relax in our favorite restaurant "Tibetan Kitchen", we stayed there for hours eating and talking with Isaac. He is one of those persons who can talk a little bit of everything... from astronomy to computer coding, from filosophy to the history of bananas (he actually studied it in Southeast Asia). At 4pm we decided that we needed to get tired so that we could sleep on the bus to Mysore so we walked next to the river and we almost reached the waterfalls but we didn't continue because we needed to catch the 6PM bus to Hospet... we were stupid to be in the restaurant for so long... half an hour less and we could have seen the waterfalls but it's ok...

At the end, we strongly recommend Hampi.. beautiful, mysterious, traditional, relaxed and cheap. The only "bad" thing was the Indian toilet for three days but we were lucky that Agata and Mateusz had a western toilet for emergencies...