We've broken the rules a little with this blog as we actually stayed in Hospet for 2 nights and Hampi for only one but all the activities were in Hampi so only one blog. Hampi is a slightly surreal place, there are miles and miles of ancient monuments, temples and other ruins that you could spend weeks looking round and still not see them all. In Greece or Rome they'd be fenced off and you'd probably pay for the privilege but here some are used as shops, others police stations and the bulk are spread around all over the place with no maps or guidebooks to find your way around. This really added to the appeal as you have it mostly to yourself, we spent a day wandering down by the river and mooching around a couple of ruins and then the next day we hired bikes and went out around the wider area visiting ancient palaces and then climbing up to the Hannuman (monkey god) temple. From the temple you get a view of the strange boulders that form most of the landscape as well as the rice fields that are farmed in and aroud the ruins. A really unique place and another that we are privileged to have had the opportunity to visit.

It was a nice couple of days before we take our final train to Goa. We also stayed in the plushest hotel we have for a while which was a welcdome treat.