North Karnataka Heritage Tour Part-4 - Back to Bangalore

Date: 31-Dec-06
Route: Badami – Banashankari – Ron – Gajendragad – Kushtagi take right to NH13 - Hospet - Kudligi - Jagalur - Chitraduga Take a left to NH 4 - Hiriyur – Sira – Tumkur - Banglaore

Next day morning we started back to Bangalore by 9:30am. Reached Chitradurga only by 2:00 pm (that is 220 kms in 4 and half hrs). In between we stopped at the watermelon farm and a sunflower farm – on request of my daughter.


Then we hit NH4 and that was a great drive – the remaining 220 kms in 2 hrs 15mins.

Lessons learnt:
1. Locals are willing to help and generally give very useful tips (not sure how non-Kannadigas find it).
2. Never ask direction from girls / ladies. When asked, twice we were shown the opposite direction with full confidence.
3. To know the place better – engage a guide. We spent just 5% of the trip amount on guide …. By doing this we are supporting a whole economy. Always ask for Approved Guides from Govt of Karnataka – Dept. of Tourism.

Points to ponder:
1. At Badami the Cave temples are made in sand stone – it is going to deteriorate. I didn’t see any thing the archeological dept has done to prevent this. Nor has the access to these priceless sculptures been restricted.

2. At Pattadakallu, the guide showed us a stone that has history etched into it. It is kept like a stone that we keep at our backyard. This is something we should preserve well. When will we wake up?