Hampi & Old Goa

Hampi, located in Karnataka province is home to the old city of Vijayanagar, one of the largest Hindu empires in Indian History. This place is huge! About 43 sq km. Most of the city was destroyed by the Deccan sultanates but a handful of spaced out ruins remain. It took us about 2h walking to see a single monument out in the northern section. This place would give Petra some competition in terms of layout. Whereas the old middle eastern city had some natural protection in the form of mountains, this city is fairly flat with 7 lines of fortification(tall stone walls).

Elephant quarters
Inner courtyard of dance hall
The Queens bath
Hard at work
I ran into Tamara at Arambol and we were headed in the same direction so well be traveling the south together!

Vitanna Its easy to veg out here for a week or two, but were goning to head out tomorrow on a sleeper train for Bangalore.

Had to get another shot of the "Immaculate" in Goa


White washed chappel on a hill overlooking Old Goa center

Reminds me of Mykonos

Ran into two pastors from Hyderabad. One runs a school in the city and invited me up there to check it out. I might take him up on the offer if I find myself in the area.

Interior (Church of St. Cajetan)
Interior (Church of St. Cajetan)
Outside
Hindi text sur slab
Everybody was too busy at Bom Jesus to notice 4 other great churches in the area. This one has two cool belfry's
St Francis Xavier initiated christian first contact with the Japanese and was known to have converted over 30,000 people. He worked in Goa and in Malaysia. When he died in a voyage off the coast of China, his body, which, miraculously stopped decomposing, was brought back to Goa.
Picture of Bom Jesus church(Good Jesus)