Photos taken at Gingee in Dec 2009. Stopped by while returning from Pondicherry to Bangalore.
I had expected that I will be able to see the Gingee “fort” in a couple of hours. From the road, it does not look much. But when I stopped I was in for a big surprise. It was not just one fort, but a complex of forts and citadels perched atop rocky heights overlooking what used to be the erstwhile royal city of Gingee.
And it goes without saying that I could barely cover one and a half of the several forts, I was thirsty and tired from the climbs and finally my camera ran out of juice. I do plan to go there again someday. For someone seriously interested in exploring forts, Gingee will be at least a 1 to 2 day affair.
In the past many years I had considered visiting Hampi on multiple occasions. People advised me that it was far, the roads were bad and there were not many good places to stay which dissuaded me in the past.
Every December our company has the annual shutdown. In December of 2012 I was resigned to the fate of lazing around in Bangalore. At work everyone had a plan to go somewhere, and I could not resist. Hampi was back in my radar, and with less than 24 hours to plan and prepare we were off to Hampi on 22nd December 6 AM.
When we returned 3 days later, this was the most memorable road trip every. I am going back again in a few years and this time at least for a couple of weeks.
The Planning
Decisions was made that we were going to Hampi next morning. Started with planning the route on Google Maps. With full circuit of Hampi, Aihole, Pattadakal and Badami the road trip with be roughly around 1200 KMs. Hospet appeared to be a good place to setup base.
Hotel
Started looking for decent hotels in Hospet and started calling up. Found that there was a Royal Orchid in Hospet and price was reasonable. Called them up, they said they were all full but will call back in couple of hours if they can accommodate. They never called back. On ClearTrip.com, I found rooms available on Royal Orchid, so booked it there.
When returning from work in the evening, topped up the fuel tank and check the tire pressure. Stopped at the neighboring Super Market to pick up some snacks, some chocolates and some canned drinks – left every thing in the car. Packing for the trip is easy, as wife took care of it. In the evening
Route
I needed to determine the route to take. Google maps gave three options. I read a few posts in Team-BHP.com, one recent post suggested we take the Hiriyur-Bellary-Hospet route and I decided this will be the route to take as the route through Chitradurga takes longer.
The Drive
Bangalore-Hiriyur – NH4
We started at 6 AM, road were clear. When we reached IISC the road was dug up and had to go through some inside streets. We had Google Maps navigation on the phone, it guided us easily through the diversion. We than took the Neelamangla expressway headed towards Tumkur. The road was pretty good – four lane high way and easy to maintain decent speed. Once after Tumkur there were multiple flyovers under construction on the highway where the traffic was diverted to the service lane. All through the highway we came across multiple loaded trucks tumble sideways. In all these years of driving on India highways, never saw so many trucks in that state in a short span of road.
Hiriyur-Bellary Bypass – AH47
Once you we got into Hiriyur, Google Navigation asked us to move into the service lane just before a flyover. I was skeptical as I saw no road sign anywhere. Nonetheless we turned into the service lane which was narrow and there was a big goat market by it. Literally I had to drive through the herds of goat.
After half a KM or so there was a board saying Bellary to the right. Had Google Navigation not told me, I would have never seen this board under the flyover and would have gone past it towards Chitradurga. At this point we were onto a 2 lane state highway towards Bellary. Within minutes of crossing Hiriyur, traffic became sparse. We came across multiple hers of goad as we drove along.
The road was in excellent state. Once in a while we came across slower vehicles but overtaking was easy. Throughout this leg we had a Baleno with large Hella lamps as company, at occasion the Baleno would be the pilot car and on others we would take the lead. Google Navigation guided us towards the Bellary bypass. So far roads were much better than our expectation, but the road beyond was altogether was different story.
Bellary Bypass-Hospet
As we got into the Bellary bypass the road became bad to worse. Adding salt to injury, they charged INR 10 as toll. There were gigantic speed breakers and potholed. The road continued to get worse till we cross the Jindal Steel Plant. After that road got better. All through the fellows in the Baleno kept company till just before Hospet. This is a good practice on the unpredictable India highways.
NH4 between Bangalore and Hiritur
Fort near Tumkur
Road sign on NH4
Excellent andscenic AH 47 between Hiriyur and Bellary
Herds of goat on the Hiriyur Bellary road
Smog from the powerplant
Bellary fort shrouded in smog
Beyond Bellary road gets progressively bad
Road near the Jindal Steel Plant
Heavy trucks on the road
Almost there
We stopped near here, road gets better once we are past the Jindal Steel Plant
Some 20 KMs before Hospet we finally stopped. I had been driving non stop since morning. We reached the hotel around 2 PM. We took the same route on the way back to Bangalore.
The seven hundred years old Keshava Temple at Somnathpura or Somnathpur, is a fine example of Hoysala stone temples. A very few such places exist. the craftsmanship of the stone workers, sculptors of the Hoysala period cannot be paralleled even today.
Also read the older post on the Somnathpura Temple (click here).
How to Get There ?
Somnathpura Temple is located in the south western direction from Bangalore, India. From Bangalore we can reach this place via Mysore Road or via Kanakapura Road. The Mysore Road would be the most recommended route to take.
Photo gallery follows, get to know what grandeur awaits you when you get there.
Srirangapatna is renowned as the island capital of Tipu Sultan during late 18th century. Srirangapatna has a lot of interesting places to see like the Darya Daulat Bagh, Tipu’s Mausoleum and of-course the famous island fortress of Srirangapatna. Srirangapatna is 140km southwest of Bangalore and 15 kms from Mysore.
The Srirangapatna Fort popularly associated with Tipu Sultan, however the fort predates Tipu Sultan by a few hundred years to the Hoysala Period
One of the many armory inside the Srirangapatna Fort.
Location where Tipu Sultan’s body was found after the Srirangapatna Fort fell to the British Army
Srirangapatna Fort – Water Gate : The secret gate to the fort that that betrayed the fort to the British Army in the last Mysore War.
Inside the dungeons, this part looks too bright and sunny for a dreaded dungeon
Crack on the Dungeon Roof, a heavy cannon had fallen through this.
Entrance to the dungeons
Dungeons from above
Cauvery River flowing behind the dungeons.
Remains of Tipu Sultan’s palace in the Srirangapatna Fort
More remains of the destroyed place of Tipu Sultan inside the fort complex.
Remains of Tipu Sultan’s palace, it was supposedly destroyed by the British after Srirangapatna Fort fell to them.
