Hampi - you blew me away, my second visit was even better

Stay close to the Virupaksha! I booked myself a room in the Ranjhana Guest house which is a stone's throw from the tallest and the oldest temple shrine that mesmerizes you with its beauty.

The Sun rise from the top of the Matunga hill.

 

View from the top of the Sun rise point - the Matunga hill. I trekked it at 5.30 AM (It was December 2016) and it was pretty dark. I was among the first 4-5 trekkers to reach the top. The scary experience though was trekking the hill in the dark- it was my first time trekking alone in the night. While the trek was short and simple, doing it alone without an idea about the route left me with an accomplished feeling. The sun however didn't decide to show up early. The brightest star had kept us waiting till 7 AM or longer, but the wait was totally worth it. It is beautiful to see him rise from the corner of the Earth, the deepest point you can only see from the highest vantages. He appears like an orange toffee, round, small and sweet :) Never saw a sun before that looked like moon, but only in different color!

The Lotus Palace for the queen which had an air conditioning system built inside. Aquaducts were used to run cool water round the rooms on the first floor and vents were available to suck out (not sure how) the hot air

The other side of the river is an entirely different setup reminiscing Goa like shacks minus the beaches. There is dried up Tungabhadra that runs behind these shacks but what stops your beat is the large lush green paddy fields, all the joints and cafes face. The streets offer a lot for shoppers - local musical instruments, brass memorabilia, t-shirts, Indo-ethnic-contemporary clothing and lot more for the 'high' seekers

Hanuman temple atop the Anjanadri hill. Hanuman is believed to have born on this hill and lived in the surrounding areas. The temple also has an idol of Anjana Devi, the mother of Hanuman who is also worshiped as a deity.

'Mango tree' near the Virupaksha temple market is one of the most popular eateries in the old Hampi area. It serves a vast variety of items across cuisines, and the taste is above average.