We walked through the Hampi Bazaar, once famed for selling diamonds and rubies in the open. We found that some of the 500 year old structure are being reused as a police station and other shops. In one of the shops, I bought five old coins ( a Tipu sultan, a Jahangir, a Shivaji, a Chola and a Vijaynagar). The price about $22 or Rs. 1000 for all of them somehow does not allow me to believe that I have authentic ones.
At the end of the street, we took a right at the monolith of the bull and immediately hit ancient steps that take you up the Matanga hill. The hill is more of a sunrise point than a sunset. . The climb - about 110 meter, about 200 steps is extremely steep.
The view at the top is extremely worth it, especially the aerial view of the Achutaraya temple - second left at the bottom.
On the way down, we paused at a painted doorway, supposed to be cave that Sugriva hid in. I peeped in, did not look like much. I saw several dark corners that were invitation for exploration.
Though, by now, fatigue had taken over and I let them be for another day.
We went back to our hotel which we found pleasantly spruced up following Prathiba Patil's (current president of India) recent visit.
