So, we finally made it to grand Gandikota Gorge. Vihaan's school reopens on 6th June and we thought a short break would be a good way to get ready for a new routine which has been forgotten for last 2.5 months.
We decided to drive to Gandikota by ourselves. Started on Saturday morning at 6:30 AM.
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| Selfie before the start of the Drive |
The Bangalore Hyderabad Highway is a dream route, picturesque, flawless roads,beautiful mountains, windmills hoisted all along the route. With good music playing the distance seemed to be covered within no time.
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| Pictures taken from the moving car |
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| This picture is taken from the moving car with the window pane pulled up! |
We reached our destination Gandikota at around 12:00 PM
There is only one Hotel in this secluded place- Haritha Hotel by AP Tourism and they are pretty good for the price
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| Our room for a night! |
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| The Entrance- The Hotel is made like a fort! |
After resting for a while (read watching a movie which Nitin was carrying in his pendrive) and having lunch, we set out to explore the land of Gandikota
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| The Big Tank- The Kings are believed to have washed off their swords here after a war! |
Jamia Masjid:
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| The Mosque with two minarets |
Ranganathaswamy temple:
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| It was a cloudy afternoon |
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| Vihaan and I had climbed the fence of the Temple and took this picture of Nitin |
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| Granary,Masjid and Madhavarya Temple as seen from Raghunathaswamy Temple! |
Granary:-
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| The Granary is said to be used for storing grains. It looked so ordinary yet so beautiful- hard to ignore.. |
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| Vihaan and Mumma on the steps of Granary |
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| A bit of work for him- but he needs no help please |
Madhavaraya temple:
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| The Gopuram was indeed beautiful! |
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| Long Corridors with Windmills at the background |
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| The central Mandapa was dark and hence the house for bats |
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| This is one of his dance steps- believe me! |
The Penna River Gorge:
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| Beauty! |
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| The Hero had to be dragged to pose for a capture! |
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| Me again! |
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| The red stone, They say this is the Grand Canyon of India! |
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| Beautiful view, it was a dry season and hence the green patch |
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| We were lucky that it rained the night we stayed there and the early morning view next day was awesome |
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| "Zoom Zoom"- as Vihaan would call it! |
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| We were up in the morning at 4:30, all geared up for sunrise. However, because of rains and clouds we had to miss the sunrise! |
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| We! |
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| Captured unaware! |
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| Deep Thoughts! |
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| This required a bit of trekking to get a good, unrestricted view of the gorge- few boulders were loose too! |
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| The happiness of making it to the top |
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| Family picture! |
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Super Windy it was!
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We had expected that it would be hot at this time of the year, but we were pleasantly surprised as the weather changed on Saturday afternoon. We witnessed lightening and thunderstorm the whole evening and it rained crazy during the nights. The next morning was damp,cool and it drizzled throughout giving us respite from the heat. It was super windy all the time as well.
Belum Caves:
Is the largest tourist cave in Indian subcontinent and the longest caves in plains of Indian Subcontinent, known for its stalactite and stalagmite formations. It is a natural underground cave formed by the constant flow of underground water. The caves reach its deepest point (150 feet from entrance level) at the point known as Pataal Ganga. The cave is 1.5 Km long. Belum Caves are geologically and historically important caves. There are indications that Jains and Buddhists monks occupied these caves centuries ago. Many Buddhists relics were found inside the caves.
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| Our first visit to the cave and it was a long cave |
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| The Monk's Bed |
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| That is how they use flames to light the caves |
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| Those lines are due to river. The natural wonder! |
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| Vihaan was afraid initially but then he started enjoying! |
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| These are hard limestones and there are many formations made by river, open for interpretations |
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| Stalagmite and stalactite formation |
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| 150 feet below groundlevel- Pataal Ganga. They had good arrangement of oxygen blowers at very junction |
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| You had to bend really low to get into deeper sections |
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| Stalagmite and stalactite formation |
After the Belum Caves, we went to Tadipatri and saw the Twin Temple -Chintala Venkataramana Swamy Temple and Bugga Ramalingeswara Temple- the architectural marvel.
These 500 year old temples belonging to the Vijayanagar period are a perfect treat for those who love history, architecture and sculpture.
Chintala Venkataramana Swamy Temple
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| The Gopuram |
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| The Stone Chariot similar to Hampi,but much smaller, intricate work though |
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| Yali Pillar- Mythical creature seen in Vijayanagar architecture |
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| The story of Ramayana |
Bugga Ramalingeswara Temple
Less than a kilometre from Chintala Venkataramana Swamy Temple is its twin, the Bugga Ramalingeswara Swamy Temple. Both these temples were built around the same time period but were commissioned by two different chieftains. You could check the internet for interesting stories on how the temples got their names and some legends associated with them.
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| The entrance- beautiful black stones |
From Tadipatri we went to Anantpur to visit the Iskon Temple, but the temple was closed and we could not manage a darshan.
Iskon Temple, Anantpur:
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| The 4 huge horses is something we had never seen in any Iskon Temple we have visited so far |
From Anantpur we were back on the NH7 and the drive was as smooth as it could be. We reached our home by 7:30 PM on Sunday happy, contend with plans for our next road trip bubbling in our conversation ;)
