Trip members: Karthik, Tirthankar Pal
Trip date: 28 - 30 Dec 2018
Trip Plan : Chennai - Hubli (Hubbali) - Badami - Banashankari - Pattadakal - Aihole - Kudala Sangama - Bijapur (Vijayapura) - Hubli
Day-1
The plan was to reach Hubli and stay overnight at Badami and cover rest of the places on the way to Bijapur the next day.
We started from Chennai by flight to Hubli (Hubbali) by 15:30 and reached by 17:00. We had booked our cab through online (savaari) and the cab was ready for us. We had some local snacks - Mirchi Bhajji, Vada Pav and tea in Hubli and started towards Badami. Badami is around 105 kms from Hubli and we reached in 2 hours time. We booked rooms in Hotel Rajsangham International. The room was clean and spacious. The hotel is quite old fashioned but was comfortable. The people in reception were very helpful with local information and suggestions. We had dinner - masala dosa at the restaurant in front of the hotel.
Day-2
We started the day at 6:45, check out of the hotel and went to Banashankari (Shakambhari) temple. The temple is around 6 kms from Badami. The temple pooja was on the way when we went at 7 AM and had a good dharshan of the Goddess as the abhisekhams happened. It took around 15-20 minutes to complete the dharshan and come out. Old mantapas are all around the lake of the temple and a good opportunity for shutterbugs.
Reached back Badami and had breakfast at Udupi Hotel Anand. Idlies, vada, dosa, upma - typical Karnatak breakfast and all were good. By 8 AM, we entered the Badami main caves. Badami, known as Vatapi was a capital of the Chalukyas. There are 2 areas to cover in Badami. First, it is the 4 caves which are full of sculptures. Secondly, the place all around the artificial lake - various temples around the lake and on top of the hillock. The Badami set of monuments are located on top and inside the horse shoe shaped hill. The monument can be visited from 6 AM to 6 PM for an entry fee of Rs.25 per person and Rs.25 per camera. Out of the 4 caves, first 3 are dedicated to Hinduism and last one for Jainism. Each cave is at a higher elevation that the earlier one; with paved steps - which are quite difficult to climb for elders. Each of the cave are sculpted with amazing skill and imagination. The big sculptures of various avathars of Lord Vishnu, Mahishashura Mardhini, Lord Siva - Parvathy and much more ornamental pillars create an awe!
Cave-1
Cave-1 has a hall and pillared mandapam. The sides of the cave have beautiful sculptures of Lord Shiva, Dwarfs, Nagaraja and historical/mythical sculptures.
Cave-2
Cave-2 hosts Lord Vishnu in different avatars, Brahma, Durga and aquatic creatures.
Cave-3
Cave-3 hosts sculptures of Lord Vishnu in multiple avatars sculpted big and massive and is more ornamental. The hall pillars are also ornamental inside as well as those on cave entrance.
Cave-4
Cave-4 is dedicated for Jainism. They have sculptures of Bahubali and Tirthankaras.
After completing the 4 caves, we decided to go around the lake to site the other important monuments of Badmai - namely, the stepped Agastya lake, Bhutanatha temple, a small cave on the other side of lake hosting Lord Vishnu, the massive hillock hosting couple of pillared structures, lower and upper Shivalayas. We spent the next couple of hours walking around.
The Bhutanatha temple was very artistic with steps leading to the lake as well as few mantapams all around. This Rashtrakuta shrine is made of sandstone in the 8th century. The main deity was to be a Linga. The temple has had extension of mantapas with further Chalukya kings. We also spotted a small cave behind the temple hosting a person in meditating posture and Sage Agasthya nearby.
There is also a small temple by the banks of the lake next to Bhutanatha temple hosting Lord Vishnu in reclining position.
We then went around the hillock and sited few more sculptures on the way. We climbed up the unlaid path way, leading to Hanuman temple and then above for the view of the whole place of Badami. Continuing the walk, we reached Upper Shivalaya - a small Shiva temple atop of the hillock. The temple had ornamental windows and deprived of the sculptures because of time.
We started the descent and spotted granaries, beautiful walkways amidst the hillock, a fort like structure, lower Shivalaya temple and few more sculptures. The path led us down to ASI museum which we did not visit citing time and moved to parking area by walk.
We started from Badami and next reached Pattadakal. Pattadakal is 22 kms from Badami and we reached in 30-40 minutes. At Pattadakal, there is group of monuments - a number of temples following Nagara, Diravidian and an amalgamation of both architectures and is an UNESCO heritage site. The Chalukyas of Badami built this massive complex of sculpted temples to register it in history for royal ceremonies and coronation in Pattadakal. Aihole was the capital of Chalukyas before Badami and Pattadakal was developed when Aihole was the capital town. All temples built in Pattadakal are dedicated to Lord Shiva while the sculptures are dedicated to all Hindu Gods - Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Mahisasurmardini, Ganesha, Nagarja and much more. The temples are mainly built during 8th century.
The list of temples at this site as as below:
The main complex of monument hosting all the above temples is open from 6 AM to 6 PM. The Virupaksha and Mallikarjuna temples had been built after their victories over Pallavas at Kanchipuram. The Kadasiddheshwara temple is based on Nagara style and is small in size. The temple hosts Lord Shiva and Parvathi.
The Jambulinga Temple is small hosting a Nandi platform and truncated tower. Sculpture of Lord Nataraja is predominant on the tower. The Nandi platform is also quite ruined.
The Galaganatha temple is quite big compared to the first two temples. The temple hosts sculptures of Ganga, Yamuna, Lord Shiva killing a demon and Nataraja. The curved tower has artistic carvings and is built in Nagara style. This temple is one of those which still has Kalasa at the top with a complete tower.
The Chandrasekhara temple is quite small and is just a square mantapa. Rest of the shrine pieces are missing or mutilated.
The Sangamesvara temple is one of the biggest in the complex and said to be the earliest in the Pattadakal group of temples. The temple is complete with outer mantapa, main sanctum and a Nandhi pedestal outside; based on Dravidian style. The temple has excellent stone windows but with semi finished sculptures on the pillars. There are several small pedestals outside the temple as well.
The Virupaksha temple is the biggest in the group of monuments. The temple has a big Nandhi on a pedestal - worshipped even now. The temple is maintained active with Poojas to the big Linga inside. The pillars inside the temple are very ornamental depicting scenes of Ramayana, Mahabharatha and mythical events. There is an internal prakaram in this temple as well. The temple is said to be built after Chalukyas victory over Pallavas depicting the grand Kailasanatha temple of Kanchipuram.
Close to Virupaksha temple, is Mallikarjuna temple. The Mallikarjuna temple has also got beautifully depicted epics on the pillars and seems to be constructed at the same time of Virupaksha temple. This temple is more of Nagara style hosting various sculptures of Hindu gods.
The Papanatha temple situated outside the main complex hosts magnificent sculptures of Gods, demi-Gods and humans. The temple needs to be reached by a lane by the lake opposite to Virupaksha temple. This 8th century temple is a mix of architectures and hosts beautiful sculptures on all sides of the temple. The ceiling inside the main mantapa is also well sculpted.
We then left to Aihole. Aihole is around 35 kms from Badami and 14 kms from Pattadakal and was the first capital of Chalukyas. Aihole is an active town with archaeological sites spread across the town all over. There are several important places and we visited only few. Aihole hosts Hindu, Jain and Budhhist sites across caves and temples. Prominent places in Aihole to visit are:
The Suryanarayana temple is located next to Durga temple. The temple hosts Lord Surya, Ganga, Yamuna and few other demi-Gods.
Ladkhan temple - one of the biggest in this complex was seen as a Surya temple as well as Shiva temple. It has a Nandi mantapa, several ornamental pillars, hosting various human poses, Chalukya symbols, beautiful windows and such. The temple seems to be named after Adil Shahi who stayed here for sometime.
Gaudargudi temple is next to the Ladkhan temple, looks like Ladkhan temple but lesser architectural and sculptural work. It is built with long stones stacked over each other and hosts a figure of Gajalakshmi at the entrance.
Also located in the complex are Chakragudi temple, a large stepped well and Ambigere Gudi complex. Ambigere Gudi complex hosts temples of Nagara style hosting few sculptures and are small in size.
The Jyothirlinga complex of temples is located around 1 km from the Durga temple complex. The Jyothirlinga complex has around 16 temples and almost all of them are ruined and not maintained. Along with Shiva temples, there are temples of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahishasuramardini in the temple complex along with a stepped well.
We then visited Ravanaphadi. Ravanaphadi is a rock cut cave temple hosting amazingly beautiful sculptures. The sculptures are in the interiors hosting a tall sculpture of Lord Shiva in dancing pose and avatars of Lord Vishnu - Varaha and few more. The sculptures are tall in size and very intrinsic. This is must visit place in Aihole after the group of monuments.
500m from Ravanaphadi caves is Huchchimalli Temple complex. This Shiva temple is a complete temple with complete Gopuram and sculpted surroundings. The ceilings as well have nice sculptures.
We started from Aihole towards Bijapur (Vijayapura) by the highway. The driver suggested to complete Kudal Sangama on the way. Kudalasangama has a temple - Sangameshwara temple of Lord Shiva at the confluence of the Krishna and the Malaprabha rivers. The place is well maintained with proper parking area, shops all around and the temple too maintained well. There is a walk way into the river through an elevated corridor at a fee of Rs.5 per person and one gets to get down in a Helix stair case and a Shivalinga down under. After spending almost 1 hour at the Kudalasangama, we started to Bijapur. We could not visit Alamatti dam, due to time constraints as it was dark already.
We reached Bijapur by 7:30 PM. Bijapur is 110 kms from Aihole and takes around 120-150 minutes. We stayed at Hotel IROOMz Sagar Deluxe. Good budget stay at the heart of the town. 1 min walk to Bara Kaman and rest of the places to visit are all within 2 kms radius. The hotel does not have restaurant and there are few around - at walk-able distance. This hotel is no frills and just for basic amenities. We had dinner at Hotel Bangalore - poori and masala dosas. The food was very simple and tasty.
Day-3
Bijapur city, an ancient city, is known for the numerable historical and highly architectural monuments built during the Adil Shahi dynasty as a part of Bahmani Sultanate. Bijapur, historically, is said to be one of richest princely states in India. The city hosts lots of mahals, gates, fortress walls across, tombs and much more; amidst Ibrahim Rouza and the Gol Gumbaz !
We started the day around 7:30 AM. Bara Kaman was just 50m from the place we stayed and we visited it first. It is said that Adil Shah II had built this with 12 arches, in 12 rows and 12 columns across 12 storeys, but the monument was never completed and looks ruins now. Good place for photographs. We spent around 15 minutes here.
We then had breakfast at Hotel Bangalore - Idlies, Vada, Kara bath, poori and Sheera. The food was all fresh and good, though the hotel was quite loud and noisy. We checked out of the hotel and the plan was to visit all prominent monuments of Bijapur by noon and drive back to Hubli.
Upali Buruj is a tall structure - 80 feet tall mounted with cannons! The steep large steps are a challenge for elders to climb, but, worth the climb to see the 2 large cannons and the view from the top - able to see several monuments around.
Malik E Maidan is close by to Upali Buruj - few hundreds of metres. This is an elevated place hosting one of the biggest cannons made of five metals. This cannon was used effectively for the war against Vijayanagar, which ultimately helped Bijapur to win. Quite a big one!
Ibrahim Rouza is one of the top monuments to visit in Bijapur. This place is an architectural beauty hosting tombs of Adil Shahi II and his wife. The monument has tall minarets and beautiful tombs. The entry of Rs.5 is collected. We spent around 45 minutes here walking around to enjoy the massive views the place gave across the entrance and the 2 tombs with minarets.
Next, we stopped by Taj Boudi. Taj Boudi is located by narrow lanes and hosts a water tank and arch shaped walkways. The place was closed for public when we went and not accessible.
We then visited, Jod Gumbaz. Jod Gumbaz refers to twin tombs of Khan Muhammad and Abdul Razzaq Qadiri and are active Dargahs now. We spent time from outside take few photos before moving on to next place.
We then stopped by Gagan Mahal. Gagan Mahal was built by Adil Shahi I and referred as Sky palace. The Gagan mahal is one of the tallest mahals constructed in Bijapur and was used as Durbar hall. The open place in front of the mahal sets up the place like an opera.
The Mithari and Asar Mahals are also present in few 100m from the Gagan mahal. Mithari Mahal also hosts a citadel in the same premises and is a two-storeyed mansion. Anand mahal is also nearby. The Anand Mahal presently is being used by the State for Government offices.
Jama Masjid - The mosque was built by Adil Shahi I as one of the largest mosques in India. The king built this mosque after the victory over Vijayanagara empire. The central place holds verses of Koran in gold where several artisans worked for several days to complete it along with the massive arches the structure has. The place has 12 arches. It can accommodate 60 thousand people at max. We spent around 15 minutes in the masjid.
The last point was the best place to see in Vijayapura - Gol Gumbaz. Gol Gumbaz is the tomb of Adil Shahi. The square building with a massive hemisphere over it is one of the biggest non supported roofs in India. The structure has 4 minarets on 4 edges of the square and gives a grand view. One can reach out to the tomb through the curved steep staircase in either of the minarets - need to climb upto 6 levels to reach the roof and enter the dome area. The height of the square walls are each 47.5 m and the diameter of the dome is 44 m (144 ft). The tomb was one the largest in the world during historical days. The place is open for tourists from 10 AM to 5 PM on all days. The day we went was too crowded because the thousands of stupid students who were shouting all over and made the place a very unpleasant one. It took almost more than 1 hour for us to complete the visit. Any other normal day would be lesser time and more peace.
We completed the Bijapur citing with Gol Gumbaz and travelled to Hubli. Enroute, we stopped at Hotel Shri Gurudev on the highway. The meal we had was just ok - average food enough to fill the stomach after a long day. We reached Hubli around 6:30 PM. At Hubli, we checked in Hotel Metropolis. Hotel Metropolis is located in the shopping area. The rooms are very spacious, very good service, nice reception people and excellent food. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner at this hotel and everything was excellent. Overall, a very satisfactory stay at this hotel.
We spent 31st Dec 2018 and 1st Jan 2019 at Goa - 199 kms from Hubli for the new year and left to Chennai by 1st Jan evening by flight from Hubli to Chennai.
Trip date: 28 - 30 Dec 2018
Trip Plan : Chennai - Hubli (Hubbali) - Badami - Banashankari - Pattadakal - Aihole - Kudala Sangama - Bijapur (Vijayapura) - Hubli
- Hubli – Badami – 105 kms (2 - 2.5 hours)
- Badami - Pattadakal– 22 kms (30 - 45 mins)
- Pattadakal – Aihole – 14 kms (25 - 35 mins)
- Aihole - Kudala Sangama – 44 kms (1 hour)
- Hubli – Bijapur – 197 kms (5 hours)
- Bijapur – Bagalkot – 84 kms (2.5 hours)
Day-1
The plan was to reach Hubli and stay overnight at Badami and cover rest of the places on the way to Bijapur the next day.
We started from Chennai by flight to Hubli (Hubbali) by 15:30 and reached by 17:00. We had booked our cab through online (savaari) and the cab was ready for us. We had some local snacks - Mirchi Bhajji, Vada Pav and tea in Hubli and started towards Badami. Badami is around 105 kms from Hubli and we reached in 2 hours time. We booked rooms in Hotel Rajsangham International. The room was clean and spacious. The hotel is quite old fashioned but was comfortable. The people in reception were very helpful with local information and suggestions. We had dinner - masala dosa at the restaurant in front of the hotel.
Day-2
We started the day at 6:45, check out of the hotel and went to Banashankari (Shakambhari) temple. The temple is around 6 kms from Badami. The temple pooja was on the way when we went at 7 AM and had a good dharshan of the Goddess as the abhisekhams happened. It took around 15-20 minutes to complete the dharshan and come out. Old mantapas are all around the lake of the temple and a good opportunity for shutterbugs.
Reached back Badami and had breakfast at Udupi Hotel Anand. Idlies, vada, dosa, upma - typical Karnatak breakfast and all were good. By 8 AM, we entered the Badami main caves. Badami, known as Vatapi was a capital of the Chalukyas. There are 2 areas to cover in Badami. First, it is the 4 caves which are full of sculptures. Secondly, the place all around the artificial lake - various temples around the lake and on top of the hillock. The Badami set of monuments are located on top and inside the horse shoe shaped hill. The monument can be visited from 6 AM to 6 PM for an entry fee of Rs.25 per person and Rs.25 per camera. Out of the 4 caves, first 3 are dedicated to Hinduism and last one for Jainism. Each cave is at a higher elevation that the earlier one; with paved steps - which are quite difficult to climb for elders. Each of the cave are sculpted with amazing skill and imagination. The big sculptures of various avathars of Lord Vishnu, Mahishashura Mardhini, Lord Siva - Parvathy and much more ornamental pillars create an awe!
Cave-1
Cave-1 has a hall and pillared mandapam. The sides of the cave have beautiful sculptures of Lord Shiva, Dwarfs, Nagaraja and historical/mythical sculptures.
Cave-2
Cave-2 hosts Lord Vishnu in different avatars, Brahma, Durga and aquatic creatures.
Cave-3 hosts sculptures of Lord Vishnu in multiple avatars sculpted big and massive and is more ornamental. The hall pillars are also ornamental inside as well as those on cave entrance.
Cave-4
Cave-4 is dedicated for Jainism. They have sculptures of Bahubali and Tirthankaras.
After completing the 4 caves, we decided to go around the lake to site the other important monuments of Badmai - namely, the stepped Agastya lake, Bhutanatha temple, a small cave on the other side of lake hosting Lord Vishnu, the massive hillock hosting couple of pillared structures, lower and upper Shivalayas. We spent the next couple of hours walking around.
The Bhutanatha temple was very artistic with steps leading to the lake as well as few mantapams all around. This Rashtrakuta shrine is made of sandstone in the 8th century. The main deity was to be a Linga. The temple has had extension of mantapas with further Chalukya kings. We also spotted a small cave behind the temple hosting a person in meditating posture and Sage Agasthya nearby.
There is also a small temple by the banks of the lake next to Bhutanatha temple hosting Lord Vishnu in reclining position.
We then went around the hillock and sited few more sculptures on the way. We climbed up the unlaid path way, leading to Hanuman temple and then above for the view of the whole place of Badami. Continuing the walk, we reached Upper Shivalaya - a small Shiva temple atop of the hillock. The temple had ornamental windows and deprived of the sculptures because of time.
We started the descent and spotted granaries, beautiful walkways amidst the hillock, a fort like structure, lower Shivalaya temple and few more sculptures. The path led us down to ASI museum which we did not visit citing time and moved to parking area by walk.
We started from Badami and next reached Pattadakal. Pattadakal is 22 kms from Badami and we reached in 30-40 minutes. At Pattadakal, there is group of monuments - a number of temples following Nagara, Diravidian and an amalgamation of both architectures and is an UNESCO heritage site. The Chalukyas of Badami built this massive complex of sculpted temples to register it in history for royal ceremonies and coronation in Pattadakal. Aihole was the capital of Chalukyas before Badami and Pattadakal was developed when Aihole was the capital town. All temples built in Pattadakal are dedicated to Lord Shiva while the sculptures are dedicated to all Hindu Gods - Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Mahisasurmardini, Ganesha, Nagarja and much more. The temples are mainly built during 8th century.
The list of temples at this site as as below:
- Virupaksha Temple
- Mallikarjuna temple
- Sangameswara Temple
- Kadasiddheshwara temple
- Jambulingeshwara temple
- Galaganatha Temple
- Chandrashekhara Temple
- Kashi Vishwanatha Temple
- Papanatha temple
- Jaina Temple
The main complex of monument hosting all the above temples is open from 6 AM to 6 PM. The Virupaksha and Mallikarjuna temples had been built after their victories over Pallavas at Kanchipuram. The Kadasiddheshwara temple is based on Nagara style and is small in size. The temple hosts Lord Shiva and Parvathi.
The Jambulinga Temple is small hosting a Nandi platform and truncated tower. Sculpture of Lord Nataraja is predominant on the tower. The Nandi platform is also quite ruined.
The Galaganatha temple is quite big compared to the first two temples. The temple hosts sculptures of Ganga, Yamuna, Lord Shiva killing a demon and Nataraja. The curved tower has artistic carvings and is built in Nagara style. This temple is one of those which still has Kalasa at the top with a complete tower.
The Chandrasekhara temple is quite small and is just a square mantapa. Rest of the shrine pieces are missing or mutilated.
The Sangamesvara temple is one of the biggest in the complex and said to be the earliest in the Pattadakal group of temples. The temple is complete with outer mantapa, main sanctum and a Nandhi pedestal outside; based on Dravidian style. The temple has excellent stone windows but with semi finished sculptures on the pillars. There are several small pedestals outside the temple as well.
The Virupaksha temple is the biggest in the group of monuments. The temple has a big Nandhi on a pedestal - worshipped even now. The temple is maintained active with Poojas to the big Linga inside. The pillars inside the temple are very ornamental depicting scenes of Ramayana, Mahabharatha and mythical events. There is an internal prakaram in this temple as well. The temple is said to be built after Chalukyas victory over Pallavas depicting the grand Kailasanatha temple of Kanchipuram.
Close to Virupaksha temple, is Mallikarjuna temple. The Mallikarjuna temple has also got beautifully depicted epics on the pillars and seems to be constructed at the same time of Virupaksha temple. This temple is more of Nagara style hosting various sculptures of Hindu gods.
The Papanatha temple situated outside the main complex hosts magnificent sculptures of Gods, demi-Gods and humans. The temple needs to be reached by a lane by the lake opposite to Virupaksha temple. This 8th century temple is a mix of architectures and hosts beautiful sculptures on all sides of the temple. The ceiling inside the main mantapa is also well sculpted.
We then left to Aihole. Aihole is around 35 kms from Badami and 14 kms from Pattadakal and was the first capital of Chalukyas. Aihole is an active town with archaeological sites spread across the town all over. There are several important places and we visited only few. Aihole hosts Hindu, Jain and Budhhist sites across caves and temples. Prominent places in Aihole to visit are:
- Durga temple complex
- Ravana Phadi cave
- Hucchappayya matha
- Hucchappayya gudi
- Ambigergudi temples complex
- Jyotirlinga temples complex
- Mallikarjuna temples complex
- Ramalinga temples group
- Veniyar shrines complex
- Galaganatha temples group
- Kuntigudi complex
- Meguti hill
The Suryanarayana temple is located next to Durga temple. The temple hosts Lord Surya, Ganga, Yamuna and few other demi-Gods.
Ladkhan temple - one of the biggest in this complex was seen as a Surya temple as well as Shiva temple. It has a Nandi mantapa, several ornamental pillars, hosting various human poses, Chalukya symbols, beautiful windows and such. The temple seems to be named after Adil Shahi who stayed here for sometime.
Gaudargudi temple is next to the Ladkhan temple, looks like Ladkhan temple but lesser architectural and sculptural work. It is built with long stones stacked over each other and hosts a figure of Gajalakshmi at the entrance.
Also located in the complex are Chakragudi temple, a large stepped well and Ambigere Gudi complex. Ambigere Gudi complex hosts temples of Nagara style hosting few sculptures and are small in size.
The Jyothirlinga complex of temples is located around 1 km from the Durga temple complex. The Jyothirlinga complex has around 16 temples and almost all of them are ruined and not maintained. Along with Shiva temples, there are temples of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahishasuramardini in the temple complex along with a stepped well.
We then visited Ravanaphadi. Ravanaphadi is a rock cut cave temple hosting amazingly beautiful sculptures. The sculptures are in the interiors hosting a tall sculpture of Lord Shiva in dancing pose and avatars of Lord Vishnu - Varaha and few more. The sculptures are tall in size and very intrinsic. This is must visit place in Aihole after the group of monuments.
500m from Ravanaphadi caves is Huchchimalli Temple complex. This Shiva temple is a complete temple with complete Gopuram and sculpted surroundings. The ceilings as well have nice sculptures.
We started from Aihole towards Bijapur (Vijayapura) by the highway. The driver suggested to complete Kudal Sangama on the way. Kudalasangama has a temple - Sangameshwara temple of Lord Shiva at the confluence of the Krishna and the Malaprabha rivers. The place is well maintained with proper parking area, shops all around and the temple too maintained well. There is a walk way into the river through an elevated corridor at a fee of Rs.5 per person and one gets to get down in a Helix stair case and a Shivalinga down under. After spending almost 1 hour at the Kudalasangama, we started to Bijapur. We could not visit Alamatti dam, due to time constraints as it was dark already.
We reached Bijapur by 7:30 PM. Bijapur is 110 kms from Aihole and takes around 120-150 minutes. We stayed at Hotel IROOMz Sagar Deluxe. Good budget stay at the heart of the town. 1 min walk to Bara Kaman and rest of the places to visit are all within 2 kms radius. The hotel does not have restaurant and there are few around - at walk-able distance. This hotel is no frills and just for basic amenities. We had dinner at Hotel Bangalore - poori and masala dosas. The food was very simple and tasty.
Day-3
Bijapur city, an ancient city, is known for the numerable historical and highly architectural monuments built during the Adil Shahi dynasty as a part of Bahmani Sultanate. Bijapur, historically, is said to be one of richest princely states in India. The city hosts lots of mahals, gates, fortress walls across, tombs and much more; amidst Ibrahim Rouza and the Gol Gumbaz !
We started the day around 7:30 AM. Bara Kaman was just 50m from the place we stayed and we visited it first. It is said that Adil Shah II had built this with 12 arches, in 12 rows and 12 columns across 12 storeys, but the monument was never completed and looks ruins now. Good place for photographs. We spent around 15 minutes here.
We then had breakfast at Hotel Bangalore - Idlies, Vada, Kara bath, poori and Sheera. The food was all fresh and good, though the hotel was quite loud and noisy. We checked out of the hotel and the plan was to visit all prominent monuments of Bijapur by noon and drive back to Hubli.
Upali Buruj is a tall structure - 80 feet tall mounted with cannons! The steep large steps are a challenge for elders to climb, but, worth the climb to see the 2 large cannons and the view from the top - able to see several monuments around.
Malik E Maidan is close by to Upali Buruj - few hundreds of metres. This is an elevated place hosting one of the biggest cannons made of five metals. This cannon was used effectively for the war against Vijayanagar, which ultimately helped Bijapur to win. Quite a big one!
Ibrahim Rouza is one of the top monuments to visit in Bijapur. This place is an architectural beauty hosting tombs of Adil Shahi II and his wife. The monument has tall minarets and beautiful tombs. The entry of Rs.5 is collected. We spent around 45 minutes here walking around to enjoy the massive views the place gave across the entrance and the 2 tombs with minarets.
Next, we stopped by Taj Boudi. Taj Boudi is located by narrow lanes and hosts a water tank and arch shaped walkways. The place was closed for public when we went and not accessible.
We then visited, Jod Gumbaz. Jod Gumbaz refers to twin tombs of Khan Muhammad and Abdul Razzaq Qadiri and are active Dargahs now. We spent time from outside take few photos before moving on to next place.
We then stopped by Gagan Mahal. Gagan Mahal was built by Adil Shahi I and referred as Sky palace. The Gagan mahal is one of the tallest mahals constructed in Bijapur and was used as Durbar hall. The open place in front of the mahal sets up the place like an opera.
The Mithari and Asar Mahals are also present in few 100m from the Gagan mahal. Mithari Mahal also hosts a citadel in the same premises and is a two-storeyed mansion. Anand mahal is also nearby. The Anand Mahal presently is being used by the State for Government offices.
Jama Masjid - The mosque was built by Adil Shahi I as one of the largest mosques in India. The king built this mosque after the victory over Vijayanagara empire. The central place holds verses of Koran in gold where several artisans worked for several days to complete it along with the massive arches the structure has. The place has 12 arches. It can accommodate 60 thousand people at max. We spent around 15 minutes in the masjid.
The last point was the best place to see in Vijayapura - Gol Gumbaz. Gol Gumbaz is the tomb of Adil Shahi. The square building with a massive hemisphere over it is one of the biggest non supported roofs in India. The structure has 4 minarets on 4 edges of the square and gives a grand view. One can reach out to the tomb through the curved steep staircase in either of the minarets - need to climb upto 6 levels to reach the roof and enter the dome area. The height of the square walls are each 47.5 m and the diameter of the dome is 44 m (144 ft). The tomb was one the largest in the world during historical days. The place is open for tourists from 10 AM to 5 PM on all days. The day we went was too crowded because the thousands of stupid students who were shouting all over and made the place a very unpleasant one. It took almost more than 1 hour for us to complete the visit. Any other normal day would be lesser time and more peace.
We completed the Bijapur citing with Gol Gumbaz and travelled to Hubli. Enroute, we stopped at Hotel Shri Gurudev on the highway. The meal we had was just ok - average food enough to fill the stomach after a long day. We reached Hubli around 6:30 PM. At Hubli, we checked in Hotel Metropolis. Hotel Metropolis is located in the shopping area. The rooms are very spacious, very good service, nice reception people and excellent food. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner at this hotel and everything was excellent. Overall, a very satisfactory stay at this hotel.
We spent 31st Dec 2018 and 1st Jan 2019 at Goa - 199 kms from Hubli for the new year and left to Chennai by 1st Jan evening by flight from Hubli to Chennai.
