The planning took place a month in advance, and we booked Railway ticket for the entire journey. On May 21st evening, we boarded the Bijapur Express from Yashwantpur @ 9:15pm. We packed food for dinner. It was the first time that we colleagues were travelling together. The chaos of B'lore soon calmed down, as we started moving away from it. Sleep followed. When we woke up the next morning, train had passed Hubli and we were running 2 hours late. The Nice view was of the Almatti Dam. The scheduled Bijapur arrival of 10:30am got delayed to 1pm, effecting our whole plan. (712km from B'lore to Bijapur, train route, via Hubli)
22 May 2010 3:30pm
Nature was kind enough and the weather was cloudy due to the Cyclone effect, so we could bear the hot summer of Bijapur. The lodging was arranged at Godhavari, and we got fresh and engaged a rickshaw for site-seeing. Since the Gol Gumbaz was our main target, which had a closing time of 5:30pm, we had to see other monuments in a hurry.
We started with Ibrahim Rouza, were a tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah II and mosques is located in the middle of plush green garden.(Entrance Rs.5/head + Rs.25/Camera)
Malik-e-Maidan : Where the largest cannon in the world is located on a watch tower in the center of the city.
Bara Kaman & Asar Mahal : Which we could just see from road side due to time constraint.
Gol Gumbaz : Finally, we reached the Gol gumbaz, a mausoleum of Mohammed Adil Shah . As it was my second visit it didnt wow me much. It may appear to be a small structure, but it stands seven floor with largest dome in the world. In the center of a large hall, we could see the tomb of King and his family. We can use the staircase to reach the top, where we can reach the dome. The dome is designed in such a way that, if we whisper at one end, the voice will travel to the diagonnaly opposite end. Also it echoes the voices seven times. Truly, amazing architecture.
(Entrance Rs.5/head + Rs.25/Camera)
A museum, located in front of Gol Gumbaz had the historical information and other details about bijapur. (Entrance Rs.5/head , Camera Not allowed)
Jama Masjid : Located around 2-3 km from GolGumbaz.
We had our food in the evening at Kamath Hotel. The site seeing ended at 6:00pm and had to pay Rs. 350 for the auto rickshaw. At 6:30pm we caught bus to Athani, which will drop there us at 9:00pm.
Join the marriage party!
Athani, a small town located at 80km from Bijapur(140km from Belgaum), had strong Maharastrian influence. As it was night, we just attended the Varapooja of Sudin. There was abundance of food for the next 24 hrs. Stomach full, we settled in our room for a good sleep.
23 May 2010
Whole day we were part of the Sudin's marriage. It was nice to see the North Karnataka Brahmin marriage, with their authentic cuisine, which included bhasundi poori, pulav, mandige to name a few.
Evening 4:30pm we started our return journey from the Athani to Bijapur, in the same bus that marriage party was travelling.
Enroute, We visited Sri Laxmi Narasimha Temple, Toravi. Specialty of this temple being the Garba Gudi located in a small cave (But the cave is renovated with tiles and exhaust fans!)
Reached Bijapur at 7:00pm, and went to VRL office to catch the bus which will take us to our Karma Bhumi, B'lore. Bus arrived 45 minutes late and we boarded it at 8:30pm (Rs.460/head). (We had to cancel the Railway ticket as it would take more travel time). We had our dinner at 11:00pm @ Ilkal. The bus reached B'lore at 8:00am the following day. (Approximately 540km from Bijapur to B'lore, bus route, via Hospet)
22 May 2010 3:30pmNature was kind enough and the weather was cloudy due to the Cyclone effect, so we could bear the hot summer of Bijapur. The lodging was arranged at Godhavari, and we got fresh and engaged a rickshaw for site-seeing. Since the Gol Gumbaz was our main target, which had a closing time of 5:30pm, we had to see other monuments in a hurry.
We started with Ibrahim Rouza, were a tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah II and mosques is located in the middle of plush green garden.(Entrance Rs.5/head + Rs.25/Camera)
Malik-e-Maidan : Where the largest cannon in the world is located on a watch tower in the center of the city.
Bara Kaman & Asar Mahal : Which we could just see from road side due to time constraint.Gol Gumbaz : Finally, we reached the Gol gumbaz, a mausoleum of Mohammed Adil Shah . As it was my second visit it didnt wow me much. It may appear to be a small structure, but it stands seven floor with largest dome in the world. In the center of a large hall, we could see the tomb of King and his family. We can use the staircase to reach the top, where we can reach the dome. The dome is designed in such a way that, if we whisper at one end, the voice will travel to the diagonnaly opposite end. Also it echoes the voices seven times. Truly, amazing architecture.
(Entrance Rs.5/head + Rs.25/Camera)
A museum, located in front of Gol Gumbaz had the historical information and other details about bijapur. (Entrance Rs.5/head , Camera Not allowed)
Jama Masjid : Located around 2-3 km from GolGumbaz.
We had our food in the evening at Kamath Hotel. The site seeing ended at 6:00pm and had to pay Rs. 350 for the auto rickshaw. At 6:30pm we caught bus to Athani, which will drop there us at 9:00pm.
Join the marriage party!
Athani, a small town located at 80km from Bijapur(140km from Belgaum), had strong Maharastrian influence. As it was night, we just attended the Varapooja of Sudin. There was abundance of food for the next 24 hrs. Stomach full, we settled in our room for a good sleep.
23 May 2010
Whole day we were part of the Sudin's marriage. It was nice to see the North Karnataka Brahmin marriage, with their authentic cuisine, which included bhasundi poori, pulav, mandige to name a few.
Evening 4:30pm we started our return journey from the Athani to Bijapur, in the same bus that marriage party was travelling.
Enroute, We visited Sri Laxmi Narasimha Temple, Toravi. Specialty of this temple being the Garba Gudi located in a small cave (But the cave is renovated with tiles and exhaust fans!)
Reached Bijapur at 7:00pm, and went to VRL office to catch the bus which will take us to our Karma Bhumi, B'lore. Bus arrived 45 minutes late and we boarded it at 8:30pm (Rs.460/head). (We had to cancel the Railway ticket as it would take more travel time). We had our dinner at 11:00pm @ Ilkal. The bus reached B'lore at 8:00am the following day. (Approximately 540km from Bijapur to B'lore, bus route, via Hospet)
click here for more info about Bijapur
Maut se do pal maange uski jhalak pane ko,
gaye darr pe uske usse manane ko,
pata chala ki wo is kadar ruthe hai humse,
ki khud dua kar rhe the meri maut aane ko
-Unknown
Transport : Train, Bus, Auto
We : Kumar, Me and Sandy
Distance : Covered around 1300km
