Chitradurga fort

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Hampi to Hassan

If you are thinking of driving from Hampi to Hassan, be aware that the roads are pretty awful in places. One can see why this is a less well trodden route, most people jacking out of Karnataka at Hampi and taking the train to Goa. Not us though, we were off to see the great temples at Belur and Halebid, which necessitates this drive south. On the way we stopped at Chitradurga, to see the fort situated atop seven adjacent boulder strewn hills. The hill has seemingly been fortified for millennia and fell to Hyder Ali of Mysore in 1780 who lopped off the defeated king's head and stole all his treasure in time honoured Indian fashion. He was then succeeded by his son Tipu Sultan who further fortified the place and was in turn killed by the British at the battle of Seringapatam in 1799, of which more on a later day.

Clearly not many foreigners come here, as we had to wait five minutes as the ticket man rummaged around in his drawers to find the foreigner tickets wrapped in a dusty plastic bag. The fort walls are built of massive stone blocks pieced together without mortar and for some reason it reminded me of the walls of Mycenae. We were trailed round continually by locals and were stopped more than once for the “please one photo” routine. All very friendly though, handshakes all round with me (not with Sara though, women don’t shake hands in India it seems). We got as high as we could in the heat as of course it was midday and sweltering, then admitted defeat and descended, trailed for a white by nasty mangy little macaque monkeys who seemed to specialise in stealing water bottles.



Back to the car, four hours bouncing over roads that were not so much pot-holed as cratered, and here we are in Hassan. Rarely has a three star hotel felt so luxurious.

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