Orchha is the lost city of India. Lake in the center of Sharjah Medieval Indian cities abandoned in the jungle

Updated 06/14/2019

While traveling through this wonderful country, be sure to pay attention to the lost ancient cities of India. The ruins of these once majestic places are imbued with the energy of bygone times. In many ghost towns, architectural masterpieces and ancient temples have been preserved.

Fatehpur Sikri

In the 18th century, this city was the capital of the Great Mogul Empire. Fatehpur Sikri had many architectural masterpieces and its population was constantly growing.

However, the builders made a grave mistake when planning the water supply, which gradually led to an acute shortage of water in the city. People were forced to leave their homes. And in their place came monkeys. Now this city is a ghost, a real monkey paradise. .

Vijayanagara

This is the most famous of the abandoned cities. Until the mid-16th century, it was the capital of the Vijayanagar Empire. Beautiful Vijayanagara was captured and destroyed by Islamic warriors. Gradually, the remains of the former capital were overgrown with jungle. Today, among the ruins lies the small village of Hampi. This abandoned place is located seventy kilometers from Bellary.

Harappa

Ancient ruins of Harappa

It is the oldest known city in India. It was founded more than three thousand years BC. Just imagine - when the Egyptians were just starting to build their pyramids, this glorious city already existed.

Mandu

The ancient name of this city is Shadyabad, which literally means “city of joy”. It is located in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Now only ruins remain of it, but until the 17th century it was fairytale city with magnificent Islamic monuments. It was famous throughout Asia for its splendor. Although the city has long been abandoned, among its ruins overgrown with jungle, fortresses still remain. And his mausoleums, like palaces, are majestic and beautiful.

Read on our website:

Ancient temples of India

Lothal

The remains of this ancient city of Lothal is located in the state of Gujatat. It was discovered in 1954. Today it is a very important property of Indian archaeologists, since its age dates back to 2400 BC. It is believed that at one time it was a very large trading port.

Prayaga

The city of Prayaga has existed since the time of King Ashot, who reigned in the 3rd century BC. The city was founded at the junction of the Ganges and Jamin rivers and subsequently Allahabad appeared in its place. Ancient Hindus considered Prayag sacred. Unfortunately, history is silent about the reasons for its desolation.

Pataliputra

Pataliputra, India

Pataliputra was the capital and cultural center several empires. Under the rule of the Gupta Empire, the city fell into decline. Built here today big city Patna, however, on its outskirts you can touch the ruins of the glorious capital.

Ayodhya

At one time, Ayodhya was located in the Faizabad district and was the capital of Oudh. This ancient city was considered a center of pilgrimage, since legends announce it as the birthplace of the great Rama and the main city of the legendary Kosala. The remains of this city are considered one of the 7 sacred places Hinduism.

No one knows exactly how many lost cities there are on our planet. But those that archaeologists manage to discover invariably arouse great interest both among historians and ordinary lovers of everything unusual. Here are some of the largest lost cities.

(Total 20 photos)

1. Tikal, Guatemala

Tikal is one of the largest city-states of the Mayan Indians. It was built back in the 7th century BC, and during its heyday its population reached 200 thousand people. The history of Tikal was full of dramatic moments, and after numerous wars and uprisings, people finally abandoned it. This happened at the end of the 10th century, and since then Tikal has remained a ghost town.

2. Ctesiphon, Iraq

In the period from the 2nd to the 7th centuries, Ctesiphon was the capital of first the Parthian kingdom and then the Sasanian one. The brick buildings of Ctesiphon that have survived to this day amaze the imagination with their splendor and size.

3. Great Zimbabwe

Big or Great Zimbabwe is the name given to the ruins of an ancient city located on the territory of the South African state of Zimbabwe. According to archaeologists, this city appeared in 1130 and for three centuries was considered the main shrine of the Shona people. About 18,000 people could simultaneously live behind the high stone walls of the city. Today the city walls represent one of the most amazing monuments Great Zimbabwe. They are built without the use of any mortar, and their height reaches five meters.

4. Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan

A city belonging to the Indus civilization with the gloomy name of Mohenjo-Daro (which translates as “Hill of the Dead”) appeared in the Indus Valley in the territory of modern Pakistan more than four and a half thousand years ago. He is a contemporary Egyptian pyramids and one of the first cities in South Asia. The city flourished for almost a thousand years, but eventually its inhabitants abandoned it. Archaeologists suggest that the Aryan invasion was to blame.

5. Bagerhat, Bangladesh

This city, located at the confluence of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, was built in the 15th century. During its heyday, there were 360 mosques here. But after the death of the founder, Bagerhat fell into decay and was almost completely swallowed up by the jungle. Today, part of the city has been cleared, and excursions are held here for tourists.

6. Mesa Verde National Park, USA

IN national park Mesa Verde (Colorado) has many ruins of ancient cities that were built by the Anasazi Indians in the 6th-13th centuries. The largest building in the park is considered to be the magnificent “Rock Palace”, which attracts more than 700 thousand tourists every year. The city was abandoned by its inhabitants around 1300. The reasons why people abandoned their homes are still unclear, but it has been suggested that the prolonged drought is to blame.

7. Vijayanagar, India

Vijayanagar was once the capital of a powerful empire that occupied the entire south of the Indian subcontinent. Today, on the site of the City of Victory (as the name Vijayanagar is translated) is the village of Hampi. True, here today, in addition to the majestic ruins, there are also many active Hindu temples, including the famous Pampapathi temple, which is even older than Vijayanagara itself.

8. Ani city, Türkiye

Ani is the capital of the ancient Armenian kingdom, located on the territory modern Turkey. Once the population of this ancient city exceeded 100 thousand people, and due to the abundance of temples it was known as the city of 1001 churches. The ruins of many Armenian churches of the 11th-13th centuries and the Seljuk palace have survived to this day. But all these monuments are in terrible condition - homeless people live in them, and careless tourists have picnics on their territory. The authorities do not show due attention to the protection of this historical monument.

9. Thebes, Egypt

The first human settlements in the territory of this city date back to 3200 BC. In 2000 B.C. About 40,000 people lived in Thebes, making it the most big city of that time. Thebes retained its status as the largest city in the world until 1000 BC. Even today, the ruins remaining from its former splendor are amazing. The most famous monuments Thebes is the temple of Luxor, the Temple of Karnak (which is the largest temple complex Ancient Egypt) and the tomb of Tutankhamun.

10. Carthage, Tunisia

Throughout its long history, Carthage was the capital different states. At first it was a Phoenician state, which was also called Carthage. In 146 BC. both the state and the city were completely destroyed by the Romans, but pretty soon the Romans themselves rebuilt Carthage. After the fall of Rome, Carthage became the capital of the Vandal kingdom. The final fall of the great city occurred in the 7th century, when the city was destroyed by the Arabs. But still, many ruins, mainly from the Roman period, have survived to this day.

11. Persepolis, Iran

The founder of the magnificent city of Persepolis was the Persian king Cyrus the Great. The city was founded around 560 BC. Over the centuries, the city changed hands, while maintaining its status as a capital and great city. But during the Arab conquest, Persepolis was completely reduced to ruins. The most famous monument of the city is the huge Apadana Palace.

12. Ephesus, Türkiye

It was in this city in the 6th century BC. The legendary Temple of Artemis was built, one of the seven wonders of the world. The city flourished as long as the sea was nearby. But when it retreated far from the city walls, trade gradually died out, and with it the magnificent city, leaving behind only ruins.

13. Palenque, Mexico

In the III-VIII centuries Palenque had great political and cultural significance for the Mayan civilization. Many magnificent stone buildings dating back to 600-800 have survived to this day, including the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Cross and the Temple of the Inscriptions. The city fell into disrepair long before Columbus arrived, probably as a result of tribal wars.

14. Pompeii and Herculaneum, Italy

The two died as a result of the volcanic eruption. the cities are probably some of the most famous disappeared cities. When on August 24, 79 AD. a catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius began, most of the inhabitants of Pompeii died suddenly, and then the city was completely buried under a multi-meter layer volcanic ash. The residents of Herculaneum were luckier - many of them managed to leave the city before it disappeared under the hot ash.

15. Petra, Jordan

In ancient times, the city of Petra stood at the crossroads of important trade routes, which brought it untold wealth. But over time, the Romans mastered the waterway, which greatly weakened overland trade. Gradually, the inhabitants abandoned the city, and it was swallowed up by the sands of the Arabian Desert. Today you can see perfectly preserved magnificent ancient buildings here.

16. Angkor, Cambodia

Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire from the 9th to the 15th centuries. Today it is one of the largest historical landmarks in the world. The area of this temple city exceeds 400 sq. km, and the magnificence of the sculptures of its Hindu temples is absolutely stunning.

17. Ciudad Perdida, Colombia

The name Ciudad Perdida is translated from Spanish as " lost city" This city is almost 700 years older than the famous Machu Picchu. In 1972, Ciudad Perdida was discovered by chance by local tomb robbers. When the trade in archaeological treasures from this city became widespread, the Colombian authorities finally became interested, and the city was discovered after a full-scale exploration. In this area there is constant fighting between government troops and various armed groups, so tourists take quite a risk when going even along the officially proposed routes, which are guarded by the Colombian military. The road to Ciudad Perdida itself is also quite difficult and requires good physical preparation.

18. Machu Picchu, Peru

The ancient city of Machu Picchu received the title of New Wonder of the World in 2007. The city appeared around 1440 and flourished until the mysterious and sudden disappearance of all its inhabitants in 1532. The city escaped the attack of the conquistadors and destruction, but for some reason the inhabitants abandoned it.

19. Chichen Itza, Mexico

Chichen Itza is one of the largest cities of the Mayan civilization. It was founded in the 7th century, and in 1194 the inhabitants left it for unknown reasons. The Spanish conquerors destroyed huge amount Mayan manuscripts, so archaeologists are unable to find out the real reason for the decline of the great city.
Today, crowds of tourists are drawn to the beautifully preserved pyramids and temples of Chichen Itza.

20. Xanadu, Mongolia

Xanadu is summer residence the legendary Mongol Khan Kublai Khan, who in the West is better known as Kubla Khan. In 1275 Marco Polo described this place as magnificent marble palace, decorated with gold. But only ruins have survived to this day.

Fresh review

I will continue to publish photographs taken by a German tourist in Almaty in December 2013. There will be everything about the upper areas of the city (well, or almost everything - something will be included in the next review). And without any special details: all the beautiful multi-storey buildings, everything is clean and beautiful. In general, this is what our authorities want to show tourists. And of course the Independence Monument will be detailed.

The first photo is the Television Center on Mira-Timiryazeva. The building is really very beautiful.

Random entries

Of course, if you look at the map, in the center of Sharjah there is not a lake, but a bay, connected to the sea by a long and not very wide arm. But for some reason local guides call it “lake”. There’s not much to write about, just a lot of photographs and panoramas. I came out to him by chance. The heat was 45 degrees, so it was deserted - normal people They don’t go for walks in this weather.

The surprising thing is that with such heat, which lasts here not just one or two days, but almost all year round, everything around is quite green. Here is the first photo on this very topic.

According to excursion program, which we were provided with in Almaty, on the second day there should be an acquaintance with Tbilisi. But everything turned out wrong. The host party had its own considerations for organizing excursions. And on this day we went to the Borjomi Gorge. In principle, we didn’t care where to go first, so we weren’t upset. Moreover, we were not the only ones from our hotel on the excursion minibus. The guide warned that the excursion will be long and you need to have money in local currency with you, because lunch is not included in the price of this trip, and there may not be ATMs or exchangers on site. And our transport set off through the streets of Tbilisi, collecting tourists from other hotels. So our acquaintance with the city continued, at least from the bus window.

I've always wanted to see Switzerland. But after listening to friends who have already been there or even live there, and also after reading all sorts of ratings of the most expensive cities in the world (for example, according to the rating of the Swiss bank UBS in 2018, Zurich is in first place), Switzerland somehow scared me away. Well, mountains, well, architecture ... - In Almaty, there are also mountains, and in Germany, in any city - architecture. What if Switzerland is a mixture of Germany and Almaty, but for the price of an airplane? It's not interesting

But the company I work for has a contract with the University of Zurich - UZH, and since the beginning of 2018 I have been lucky enough to visit this city several times - mostly on business trips, but once I even went there as a tourist. When I started writing the article , there weren’t very many photos, because during business trips you don’t really walk around the city - from work to the hotel, and back in the morning. But over these several times they have accumulated enough for a couple of articles. So, article nummero uno.

One more thing remarkable place called nearby regional park Carbon Canyon. And it is notable for its grove; there is even a walking path leading to it, along which we actually walked. This park belongs to the neighboring town of Breya (that’s what it’s called in Russian). Google map, and in their name Brea). But I’ll start from the beginning, we were driven to this beginning of the trail by car, and then we set off on foot, although not everywhere it looked like a path.

I heard about it national park, or about the geological reserve, which is located near the town of Obzor, in the neighboring village of Byala, and which is called “White Rocks”. I rented a car and went to see what it was. Firstly, Byala turned out to be not a village, as everyone calls it in the Review, but a normal one tourist city, the size of the same Obzor, which became a city in 1984. Secondly, the name Byala is translated as “White” and this name, just like once, comes from this natural monument - “White Rocks”.

In this review I will tell you how to get there and what is there, beautiful or interesting. And in the next one - about the museum and about the rocks from a more scientific point of view.

In general, it is believed that Sharjah is such a not very cool emirate. Well compared to Dubai. But apparently recently Sharjah has become very smart in terms of building new beautiful skyscrapers.

Well, again, by the time we were driving around Sharjah, we had not yet been to Dubai and therefore Sharjah seemed to us quite cool in terms of development. I have seen enough multi-storey cities - this is both , and , and even the new one, but in terms of the density of skyscrapers, Sharjah wins. It may be comparable to it in this parameter, but in Urumqi the skyscrapers are quite simple - in architecture they look like single-color boxes, not all, but many. But here everything is different, modern, unique.

There's not much to write about. Therefore, basically, just photographs, the bulk of which were taken from a moving car, therefore with glare.

Giebichenstein Castle was built during the early Middle Ages, between 900 and 1000. At that time it had a very important strategic significance not only for the Magdeburg bishops, whose residence it was until the castle was built, but also played an important role in all imperial politics. The first written mention dates back to 961. Built on high cliff above the Saale River, approximately 90 meters above sea level, on the site where the main Roman road once passed. In the period from 1445 to 1464, the Lower Castle was built at the foot of the castle rock, which was intended to serve as a fortified courtyard. Since the transfer of the episcopal residence to Moritzburg, the so-called Upper Castle began to fall into decay. And after the Thirty Years' War, when it was captured by the Swedes and destroyed by fire, in which almost all the buildings were destroyed, it was completely abandoned and was never restored. In 1921, the castle was transferred to city ownership. But even in such ruined form it is very picturesque.

This review about the Review will be large, and perhaps not the most interesting, but I think it’s quite beautiful. And it will be about greens and flowers.

The Balkans in general and Bulgaria in particular are generally quite green areas. And the pastoral views here are gorgeous. But in the city of Obzor, greenery is mainly in parks, although there are also vegetable gardens, as you will see in the middle of this report. And at the end a little about wildlife in and around the city.

At the entrance to the city from Varna, there is a gorgeous flowerbed, which is very difficult to see while walking. But on foot it turns out that “Overview” is written there in flowers, and in some stylized Slavic font.

Tri-City Park is located in Placencia Township, bordering Fullerton and Brea Township. All these settlements are part of Orange County in southern California. For all the time we've been here, we haven't figured out where one city ends and another begins. And, probably, it’s not that important. They are not very different in architecture and their history is approximately the same, and parks are within easy reach. We also went to this one on foot.

In general, of course, at first I thought that Hampi would be the last city about which I would write a story from this trip, because... I really didn’t like a lot of things there. But now the emotional memories have faded, only the physical memory remains and it was damn beautiful there. Now just look at the photos, and we’ll see together :)

We went to Hampi immediately after Goa. Apparently the contrast of everything - the people, the situation and the weather - was so great that it all knocked me out. Of course, ordinary tourists are very happy to go there, because it’s really interesting to see the “real India”. Well, unfortunately, I didn’t see real India there. Neither the city, nor especially the people, are like ordinary Indians. Everywhere everything is captured, they do business on everything, there is no mercy for the traveler. At least that’s how it is in the center of the town, but in the nearby villages it’s probably better, but we didn’t get there, I’m afraid I’ll never set foot there again.

What is this small jungle town famous for? It’s impossible to reach it humanly; it’s located somewhere on the outskirts. Moreover, you can only go there on purpose, because... It’s not possible to drive past somewhere and drop in, because... The place is terribly inconvenient.

The first thing that catches your eye when approaching the city is the huge stones! They say that these are rocks, but they don’t remind me of them at all, maybe they were once and fell apart...

There are also rice fields everywhere. Juicy green color, a delight for the eyes!

The truth is not much joy for the body. Because of the heaps of swamps, there are millions of mosquitoes. In fact, definitely no less. Because in our tiny room there were several hundred of them. For the first time in my life, I checked out the mosquito net, built myself a wigwam, and God forbid even one crack, an attack could not be avoided. They simply dug their noses into this net and tried to reach our blood. We weren’t in the room at all; we even went to a nearby chill-out restaurant to just sit and relax.
And at night frogs came out to hunt and croaked at the top of their lungs, there were a lot of them too, but I liked this natural “music” :)

We stayed three days in Hampi. Already on the first day, I intended to make my way from there, but tickets had already been purchased to leave the neighboring city. I had to endure and get used to it; looking ahead, I’ll say that I got used to it.
We settled on the other side of the river. We went back and forth by boat for 10 rupees.

On the first day, early in the morning, when we swam to the main shore, we saw an elephant being washed very close by! Naturally, they rushed to where a whole horde of foreigners had already gathered.

It turns out that this is an elephant from a neighboring temple and they sniff her here every morning.

Indians take morning baths right there, a couple of meters away.

And Russians, damn it, don’t want to go into the river if a poodle has taken a swim nearby :)

There is a lot of activity on the main street.

If you don't get everything done early in the morning, then you'll just get fried in the sun. I still have a trace of burnt skin on the collar of the T-shirt I was wearing that day. We then decided to have time to get around a lot of everything at once, damn it, it just didn’t become a firebrand.

Near the temple, dressed-up characters are already walking around (so that you take pictures of them and pay them money for it) and a lively trade begins.

Mmmm, the bananas there are so delicious, I haven’t tried anything better yet. In Russia, there was once an attempt to buy a banana, but a couple of bites were enough to understand that it was a pathetic fake. And there was a whole bunch of bananas for 10 rupees, you could easily live on them.

And not only to live, but also to feed others. Cows, for example.

Lyubzik is in the photo:)

Well, the monkeys, of course, didn’t refuse :)

This one even abandoned her guard post near the statue of the Monkey God for the sake of a banana. And sometimes such giants would run right along our floor and snatch away our bunches of bananas.

And here is the very checkpoint guarded by these macaques.

I suggested that Hanuman, the monkey god, may have appeared due to mere chance. I once heard, perhaps from the island of Bali, that the main cool monkey helped win the war. The ancient empire of Vijayanagar, which once stood here, was the Indian center, the north was already occupied by the Mughals. The Indians were constantly at war with the Mughals. Therefore, the legend is quite suitable for this story. Only the legend said that the chief of the monkeys gathered the monkey army and went to fight the enemy. I thought it was a fairy tale. But in fact, the monkey really could have played some role. The first thing that came to mind was that some monkey accidentally jumped on the face of the elephant, on which the general of the militant army was sitting, or somewhere else. Because of this, the elephant got scared and made a fuss. The battle is lost, the monkey is held in high esteem :) Why not an option? The most interesting thing happened when I walked around this statue. Her face is that of a monkey, but her body is that of an elephant! Even the butt is big like an elephant and the tail too. In general, I liked my theory :) Maybe someone knows an intelligent point of view on why a half-monkey is half-elephant?
Cough cough, we digress.

There are just dozens of these primates sitting nearby, a lot of little ones running wild, jumping from boulder to boulder. Well, it’s not at all surprising that this particular place was described by Kipling; in reality, everything is still the same as in the story about Mowgli.

Suddenly the guards of their god began to make a brutal sound. I wouldn't even think that they could squeal like that. I looked at them with horror, who were they reacting to, maybe it was me, it turned out to be someone else’s dog running past. By the way, there were other dogs nearby, but they looked like “our own”.

The dudes are Akela's ancestors, no less, and that's why they deserve respect from the monkeys :) These definitely still have fresh wolf genes.

We decided that it was enough to hang around the monkey kingdom, it was time to move on
We climbed the mountain, from where a wonderful view opened up.

The stones themselves were no less impressive. These really remind me of the statues on Easter Island. It’s as if they’ve just been worn down by the wind and time.

A few more meters up the rocky paths and here it is - a lost city in the depths of the jungle, hidden among thousands of huge stones.

While we were climbing the mountain, two shabby, but apparently cunning, old women trudged along with us. They slightly overtook us and sat down near some ruins. When we approached, they, of course, began to urgently invite us inside the supposed Hanuman temple (in fact, they themselves erected the left altar in this hole). And then you pay grandma for the entrance. Damn, the locals here are terribly thoughtful, which makes me terribly sick.

But the whole city fortunately it was empty. You don’t have to pay for anything there, the entrance is everywhere, just as there are ruins in the jungle, they are worthless to anyone. It was there that I burst into terrible joy and admiration. Such incredible antiquity, there are gorgeous fluffy palm trees all around, and I was literally transported into some kind of fairy tale, because so much has been told about the great India, and here it is the heart of all these myths.

Many buildings and temples have been preserved. With all the drawings on the walls, columns and in some places even something like stone furniture.

Here, for example, is the most beautiful gate standing near the main entrance.

And outside these gates there is a huge platform for landing the plane of the royal procession, no less.

I have already gained some experience from my humanoid friends and climbed to the top of the colonnade myself :)

And now again a story from Masha, even a little scary.
In a dark, dark palace, there is a dark, dark corridor with dark, dark stairs.
I stood on one such staircase, without even seeing it, only feeling it. She began to back away, choosing an angle for the shot and almost fell back somewhere, what depth there was is not clear, a black abyss. I stopped at the edge, set the shutter speed for a few seconds and tried to hold my breath. Something even appeared to be quite bright; in fact, it was as dark as an eye-opener.

But from the too quiet silence, because I even stopped breathing, the surrounding sounds began to be heard. Some creaks, hissing, scratching. Considering that Lyubakha was wandering somewhere on the street and I was alone in the entire huge building, my nerves began to fail, I decided that it was a snake. I rushed out of the dark room. But damn it’s interesting. Or rather, I thought nearby that it might not be a snake, but bats, and immediately, as confirmation, I heard an almost ultrasonic squeak. There was only one way to check - take a photo with a flash, hoping that a herd of Batmans wouldn’t rush at me. I wandered into the darkness again and got ready to quickly take pictures and run :)
And then my theory was confirmed.

I know that the photo is not very attractive, but I wanted to tell you =)
The flash, by the way, did not wake them up. I even called Lyuba to do a photo shoot and she managed to take several close-up shots of a pair of mice “blindly”.

After wandering among the old choir of Indian rulers, we went wherever our eyes led us. After a while we came to the same river that we cross every morning, only downstream. Well, here we go again with washing and washing.

Fishermen first kill the fish by hitting the water with a stick, and then spread their nets.

A little further, the boys offered to take us a couple of meters away on the same “plate”, but they wanted many hundreds of rupees, so we sent them away.

By this time, our skulls were so baked that we could barely crawl and thought about the shortest way to get back to the center.

Having looked at these stones with modern art for the last time, we wanted to turn back...

But then we met white people on almost plasticine stones and said that we forgot to see the most interesting thing, and it seemed to be not far ahead. “Y-my!” – I thought, but there was nothing to do, it was impossible to leave it for another day, because... There is still a lot to see in Hampi.
The white people went ahead of us, and we were left thinking and dreaming of at least a Panama hat. Soon the goats galloped merrily over the stones.

Well, since even the goats are going in that direction, then okay, we’ll trample too.

We came out to some strange building, it seemed like there was a stupa on top.

There Indians washed their children. And it was only the children who did not get into the water themselves. Some local photographers with interesting ancient equipment (no, not made of stone :)) gathered together. We decided that there was some kind of event here. There were even thoughts that this could be some kind of rite, like baptism.

The grandmother sat with her youngest granddaughter on a nearby pebble and watched with pleasure water treatments the rest of the children.

Then we finally got to the most interesting thing that the white people promised us, but nothing impressed us there. I didn’t understand at all the difference between that free empty zone where you walk on your own as much as you want and this place where the main temples are closed and entry costs 250 rupees. Where heaps of annoying merchants and small children dressed as gods scurry around, in general a place for tourists. I didn’t get high, there are no photos from there.

On the way back we saw a stone that the locals were cutting to build something. The technology is simple: they make holes in a circular pattern with some kind of stake, and then the stone splits into two parts. Then one of the parts is holed again and so on.

There are many such “cut” stones in Hampi. Most likely, the materials are supplied even in neighboring cities, if not much further than not a bad business.

The next day we wanted to go to two different places. One is on the side of the famous elephant shelters, and the second is on a completely different side, but no less famous, the Hanuman Temple.

Since we need to go to Mount Hanuman at sunset, we went to the elephant stables at sunrise. And then they began to cheat us again. Firstly, the rickshaw driver asked for a maniacal amount - 50 rupees for a couple of kilometers. They broke down and agreed, having first made sure that it was for two. All the way he told us that it would be better for 300 rupees to show and tell us everything. Like a 4 hour excursion. We explain to him that for these 4 hours we will only be hanging around one ruin, because... We walk for a long time and in general I want to see everything for myself, so that no one is standing over my soul. No, he's still pushing his damn excursion. We arrived at the place, thanked him, said that the excursion was not needed, but we didn’t have any money without change, so I gave him a hundred rupees and waited... He happily put it in his pocket and didn’t even itch to give anything else there. I actually ask where the 50 rupees are. And he says that this was the price for one person. Since by this time I had already figured out Hampi and this bullshit was really annoying me, I told the rickshaw driver that it was okay, they agreed otherwise, because I clarified it, and he confirmed it. Let him go through the forest, I won’t get out of his cart, we’ll wait until the evening, I’m not in a hurry, and he’ll miss other clients.
The nasty little man finally couldn’t stand it after a few minutes and gave us the change, sending us off to say goodbye, and we thanked him in the same way.

My mood deteriorated and I walked around the antiquities upset.
However, it was surprising that there were Mughal buildings so close to the Indian Empire.

We climbed up to this turret. There was a padlock hanging on the grate, but it was not locked. We opened the door and walked up the old steps. All the walls, as usual, are covered with writings from tourists who wanted to add their name as a vandal to history.

It turns out the Muslims got closer than I expected. We lived literally next door.

And then another unsightly side of Hampi’s greed was revealed. Builders are working everywhere.

Do you think they are restoring ancient buildings or restoring something? No, they are building walls. Another couple of years and you won’t see anything for free in Hampi.

If now you can just take a walk somewhere, breathe in the atmosphere of real events of the past and feel the history, then very soon visitors will walk around as if in a museum with dinosaur skeletons. It seems like it happened, but it’s impossible to imagine.
Entrance to EACH fenced area costs 250 rupees. There can be dozens of them there, wouldn’t it be fat, eh? In general, here I again strengthened my point of view about the commercialism and disgust of the city.

To the detriment of all prohibitions, they brazenly climbed over the fence, pushing past the barbed wire. There was a green clearing and a beautiful temple. We went inside through some side door. We left through the main entrance, the guards did not torture us. It's beautiful there, but the photos are boring and lifeless.
It’s better to post an artist who was very serious and focused on his work.

It was not a painting seller, but a student. Apparently they came as a group for practice, because... There were a lot of people sitting there and everyone was drawing something in watercolors.
By the way, in his painting you can just see a Hindu temple, which we snuck into without asking. In reality it's even better.

Then we passed by some kind of stela, stone bathtubs of former rulers, some other ruins, and the road itself led us to the elephant sheds. Finally! They looked so beautiful in the pictures! But a security guard blocked the road, demanding a ticket. It’s so strange, it would be nice if there were some kind of gate, otherwise the road goes on and on to these elephant sheds. No cash register, no barriers. What kind of ticket are we asking? There weren’t even any ticket offices. He pointed in the opposite direction from where we had come, along the wall for almost half a kilometer. By this time, more tourists with a child and an Indian couple approached, they were also turned around. Taking advantage of the moment, I took a photo of the elephants, although the angle was weird, but they looked at them with one eye.

As expected, at the ticket office the ticket once again cost 250 rupees. We turned around and left from there, the Indians were shouting at us that we had to buy tickets here, and we answered something like choke, take it yourself for that price. As far as I understand, only rickshaws bring you to this ticket office; if you go by yourself, it turns out to be a completely different route. Not because it’s shorter, it’s more interesting, you can see what’s not closed yet. If you walk along this road, you only see dry grass and walls growing on the sides, while their height is not great, but this will not last long.
For example, the already finished wall along which we walked to the ticket office of the elephant shelters was about three meters long, only in a few places you could jump up and see the most boring, well-groomed clearings with a couple of ruins.
A rickshaw wanted to take us from there for a thousand rupees. Was it difficult to resist spitting in his face? No, it's not difficult. By this time, I had already scored, I knew that this would happen, so I decided to walk in the heat of 40 degrees in the direct sun. The main thing for us was to get to the road, and there it was already possible to catch a bus from Hospet that was passing by.

How long is it short, but we reached the very road, near which there were still buildings that looked quite decent, but with a free entrance. Lyubka galloped off to take pictures of the next walls, but I remained standing at the entrance, because I was already dying of boredom and was not in the mood. The Goans also froze at the entrance, also wondering if they should go or not and watch the same thing again. You can't confuse this outfit with anything else :)

We, of course, walked along the road; there was no point in waiting for the bus on the spot. It will go, it will go, no, no.

Soon a rickshaw full of Indians stopped and offered to take us for 10 rupees off the nose. This is not a spoiled real rickshaw puller, he probably already raised the price for a white man, but not hundreds of times!

Needless to say, after all the “adventures” I arrived at the guesthouse angry and in no mood. You can’t rest in the room, there are hundreds of mosquitoes rushing around and trying to torment you (the photo is off topic, but I like it).

The only salvation was our chill-out restaurant, it’s just some kind of paradise. By evening, everyone from the surrounding area flocked to it, because a more ideal place could not be imagined. You sit, even almost lie, covered in pillows at low tables. Relaxing music is playing, Shiva and Ram are on the walls, dim lights, delicious momos... In general, by sunset I was relaxed, good-natured and ready to storm Mount Hanuman :)

At 5 p.m. a rickshaw was supposed to arrive, with whom we agreed in the morning that for 300 rupees he would take us, wait and bring us. The guy was different, he left a normal impression, but that was even before we met the harmful rickshaws. At exactly 17.00 he was already waiting for us. We happily loaded ourselves into his cart and set off.

Mount Hanuman was on our shore, so there was no need to swim across. It turns out there was much more to the village here than it initially seemed. I don’t know if this also applies to Hampi or not, but here is a simple village Indian life and simple, not arrogant people. The impression was good.

You drive along and there are banana thickets and rice fields, and in the distance these huge stones are beautiful!

We've already climbed a bit.

The rickshaw stayed downstairs, we agreed that at 18.30 we would go down.

At the top of the mountain stands the temple of Hanuman, the god of monkeys.

The monkeys here are not as black-faced as we saw at the beginning near the ruins of the old city.

Those were treated only by us. And this brings food to everyone who is not too lazy. They're stuck here. They put bananas in their mouths for future use, look how much this fat belly has stuffed in its cheek :)

In the pre-sunset rays the flags on the temple flutter.

And then the action begins for which everyone climbed here - sunset.

Everyone sat comfortably on the stones that had been warmed up during the day and relaxed.

Here one Indian again bothered me, chatting at the top of his lungs on the phone. I seemed to endure it, but a whole crowd of young Indians came and made a fuss, like at a train station. I couldn’t stand it anymore, maybe they didn’t see how relaxed everyone was here, why they had to organize a market, and they didn’t even care about the sunset. I hit the stone with my hand so that all my Indian bracelets rang and shouted “shut up!” Some Russian chuckled cheerfully, the other tourists were also happy, apparently religion did not allow them to say anything, I was the only impudent goat on this most holy mountain. The Hindus, however, understood, at first they went somewhere and their chatter was almost inaudible, then they completely disappeared.

Finally, the long-awaited silent calm has begun, in our frenzied world you really want to stop for a minute, there were several whole minutes here, indescribable luxury.

The sun was slowly going down, not in a hurry at all, as it usually happens at sea, some pleasant music was flying over the whole world, clearly dedicated to Hanuman, which was turned on in the temple, lights were lit one after another in the village and the last low rays illuminated the rice fields and banana groves. It was worth coming here for this, yes.

After sunset everyone went down together. Black-faced monkeys sat immodestly on the rocks :)

I met this one. I took her paw gently. At this time, elderly Russian aunts were descending, obviously having come on a guided tour from Goa. The girl guide reproached me that I shouldn’t do this, these are wild animals, they will eat me, and in general, once I touched the infection, I’ll never get rid of it. Damn it, fuck off with your fucking theory! First I looked the monkey in the eyes, she also looked at me intently, at first I simply extended my hand, without touching, she did not remove her paw, then she carefully took her paw and, as it were, said hello, shaking her hand up and down, she held her paw for a few more seconds , and then carefully took it out of my handshakes. All. I didn’t touch her anymore, we understood each other more than well. You can read the eyes and gestures of not only people. If I lived according to the theory of these tourists, I would never go anywhere in my life, dying of correctness and boredom.

But the story is not over yet! I know that I got tired of it with my bikes, but, damn it, when we went downstairs, we didn’t find the rickshaws. He's gone! We're not late, no. It’s true that we haven’t paid him any money yet, we came to an agreement in the end. We decided to wait a little. Then one guy with a greasy face drove up and said that it was his brother and that he would take us for free. I'm sick of it, I know yours is free, for 10 rupees you'll hang yourself. They answered that we would not go anywhere with him. Then he started asking the second one, he said that he was a friend of him and would take us and there was no need to pay, and then unpleasant memories of the morning about the rickshaw surfaced. I stood up nervously and told everyone to get lost, and we would go on foot. Yes, damn it, through all the rice fields, banana groves and old village when it was already dark. As soon as we set off, a third man drove up and said that he was his younger brother and would take us. The “younger brother” almost got hit in the head and even his calls to our rickshaw driver didn’t convince us.
We walked for maybe 10 minutes when we met our rickshaw, who was hurrying in this direction; other rickshaws informed him about our action. It is unlikely that he came to save the poor lost sheep in the wild jungle, he forgot to skin the sheep for money, they must not be missed. We walked defiantly for a few more minutes without getting into his wreck. He ran after us, persuading us. We replied that since he cheated, we pay him not 300, but 200 rupees. He broke down, but agreed, because at least it was something. He ran after his tarantay and rolled up to us. We loaded up and drove off angry. All the way to the village he processed us on the account for 300 rupees, but then... If you thought that before that I was angry, nooo, I was just in a bad mood, but then I went wild. I didn’t let this rickshaw driver get a word in, I burst out so loud that everyone we passed by could hear me, I burst out at this already unfortunate man for everyone who has ever deceived me in India, even for those who did it back in my previous trip. In general, the guy received his 200 rupees without saying a word. There will be no more cheating on white-faced people and violating agreements. Otherwise, you smart-ass people, they think we’ll get scared and sit down with anyone, no matter how long it takes, just to get there! The wrong ones were attacked, urrrooods.

In general, this is how I finished my story about Hampi again, not very fun, but it really was exactly how I felt. At first, I couldn’t even remember this place without disgust. Now I haven’t forgotten anything, but I no longer take it to heart, it was and was, but it’s passed.

The place is generally beautiful and wonderful, it’s great to rent a scooter there and drive around on your own. Bicycles are very cheap, and modern comfortable European ones, not Indian ones with handlebars and pedals. You just have to be on time, soon everything will be built up with walls and there will be nothing left for the average traveler. They mainly focus on the price range for money tourists from Goa. It’s a shame that such a heritage will be distorted and turned into something similar to what the Egyptian authorities did with the pyramids :(

# India Travel Guide 3 to book any hotel with discount on Booking.com. It works like cashback - the money is returned to the card after leaving the hotel.

Updated 06/14/2019

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