Hampi: walking tour of the ruins

Strap on your shoes and get ready to see more temples than you ever thought possible in one day.

There are 2 areas of sights on the Hampi side of the river. One in Hampi heading northeast along the river and the other northwest of Kamalapura. It costs Rs. 500 for foreigners to get into the Elephant stables/Lotus Mahal and Vittala complex and I think the ticket is good for only one day.

We were out of cash as we didn't realize "pop" costs Rs. 220 and spent our last rupees on a few coldish ones to accompany a tasty pizza at the lovely Hema guest house while watching Darjeeling limited. This meant going first to Kamalapura to visit the State Bank of India ATM followed by breakfast next door. Beware, the scrambled eggs have sugar in them. From there we walked 1 km up the road to start out sighteeing tour.

1. Saraswvarti temple to Queen's bath
You can make a bit of a loop through a number of spots.

2. Rickshaw to Vittala complex
Negotiate on this. First guy asked Rs. 400 and said it was 10km, but only took 10-15mins.
Next guy stated at Rs. 200 and we talked him down to Rs. 100, which was still a bit much I'm guessing as it was just 5km. There is a cool gate on the way, so pop out for a photo.

3. Vittala complex

4. Walk back to Hampi along the river
Weekends seem to be laundry days, so a bunch of people are scrubbing away at the riverside. I asked one if I could take a photo and got a shake vs. bob of the head, so took that as a no.

5. Sunset on the island
In the center of the island is the sunset spot. If you like watching the sunset with throngs of people doing various activities from meditation to yoga to drinking beers to smoking joints to drinking chai or lemon juice trucked up the hill by children or gals strumming guitars singing hits such as "I loooovvvvee Indiaaaa" and "Do you have wi-fi?" then you are in the right spot.

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