Bijapur

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Saturday morning. With eager anticipation we descend to the food bizarre for breakfast. “I say my good man, where is the buffet spread?” “Very sorry mister sir, for you bread toast jam tea coffee you want sugar milk?” Possibly the dullest breakfast ever appears, but at least they managed to serve tea without a tablespoon of sugar in it.

Off to see Bijapur town, the medieval remains are truly impressive, but if one more youth comes up to me and says “hello meester what is your country?” I may punch him. I know they are only being curious seeing the two whities in town but it can become a bit much. By now we have already posed at least half a dozen times for photos with locals who wnat a souvenir shot with the foreigners and it’s one request too many. The temperature is starting to climb too, and the heat is getting to us a bit.

We visit a Muslim shrine which is teeming with people and stalls as apparently it is a festival day for a Sufi saint. Another obligatory photo call is followed by a visit to the shrine for David while Sara guards his sandals, as women are not allowed in. The photos suggest whatever he saw did not agree with David!

The most impressive sight of the day was the Gol Gumbaz, a tomb topped by the biggest dome in the world after St Peter’s in Rome. The whispering gallery has an impressive echo, but we passed on the option of climbing 600 very steep stairs to reach it, not least because everyone up there was testing the echo with their loudest screams.



By mid-afternoon it is back to the Shashinag Sh*ithole Residence as it has now been renamed. Time to relax amongst our palatial surroundings, but at least we are off tomorrow. We are driving down to Badami, visiting Pattadakal and Aihole on the way (yes it really is called Aihole, no sniggering please). We have used the afternoon checking out Tripadvisor reviews of the remaining hotels on our trip. Most seem OK but we are busy lining up a possible replacement for Mysore.

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Comments

[Keep Smiling]

Does this blog finish "...lining up a possible replacement for Mysore."?
There seems to be a lot of nonsense after that! Put it down to Indian Wi-fi perhaps?