[AjinkyaKartik]

Karnataka is a beautiful state and has a lot to offer. I remember doing a road trip with the friends from Kolhapur to Hampi just after a couple of weeks of buying my Honda WR-V! The trip was thoroughly satisfying! Most parts of NH4 and NH48 are well maintained and one can derive good driving pleasure out of it!
Later, i also managed to take a trip to Chikmagaluru and covering Belur and Halebidu! Was amazed with the stunning views and the pleasant atmosphere! The travelogue brough back memories from both my trips!

[Stribog]

Lovely pics, and I am now more and more tempted to do a Northern Karnataka Road trip myself. Have a drive to Sringeri (from Chennai) coming up in Jan, so might include some of these places.

Isn't the Serai expensive? I stayed there some 5-6 years ago and even back then a double occupancy room was like 9k incl of Breakfast.

And finally, as an aside, Hampi and "secularism" is a weird choice of words, the invading armies spent 3 months in disfiguring every single idol in that place just because it went against their ideology. My first though the first time i went to Hampi was, just how badly disfigured they all were, limbs, noses, entire faces missing, and to think an entire army spent months in this mostly pointless task (as VIjayanagara was defeated by then). Back on the subject of travelogues, did you get a chance to see the aqueduct systems on the outskirts of Hampi?

[Haque]

Thanks for sharing! This evoked memories of Bijapur district, where I spent few years close to 3 decades ago as a student. Veritable treasure trove of history and monuments.

We have sooo many places of tourist value and utterly failed to capitalise on the same. At times wonder why the policy makers who visit abroad don't get inspired enough to ensure proper upkeep of our heritage.

[satishchugh]

Originally Posted by Stribog

And finally, as an aside, Hampi and "secularism" is a weird choice of words, the invading armies spent 3 months in disfiguring every single idol in that place just because it went against their ideology.

That's the irony. Quoting from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijayanagara -
"Along with Hinduism, Vijayanagara accepted communities of other faiths such as Jainism and Islam, leading to multi-religious monuments and mutual influences."

Read this and you would be amazed at the power games - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliya_Rama_Raya
History tells us rulers have no religion except power and the wars are fought for money & Power (even annexation of land is for money). So what they did was not pointless, they wanted to extract every valuable even if it means destroying the temples for it. And then they also wanted to decimate the richest city on earth at that time so that the brother of the Emperor who ran away, doesn't come back and establish his rule again. They were successful as the new Emperor established his rule further down south and thus wasn't a threat to them.

There are videos from Dr. Ram Puniyani on youtube and he extensively talks about this topics. Ignore his political views and focus on history and you would realise rulers have no religion.

Anyway -

1. Yes 3 nights is The Serai were costlier than the remaining 10 nights put together but I hear they are running huge promotions these days.
2. Yes, we did see it on way to Sanapur but didn't knew its importance back then. It tells us their riches and engineering capabilities. Thanks for reminding.