Hampi- the landscape

I wonder if there have been travellers who have travelled the length and breadth of this country and said YUP seen that, done it all - we have been here four year and there is still so much to see and what is even more amazing is how spectacular it all is !

Our recent adventure was to Hampi in Karnataka, a massive complex of some 27 square kilometres of an ancient sprawling city. The scene unfolds on this ancient city and there is no way you can dismiss it as another set of interesting ruins -

Let me start by describing the country side in which this site it found. Well I for one have never seen anything like it. It is quite dry and hot even in the cooler times and there are flat plains with occasional hillocks on which rest the most amazing boulders. They rest precariously one on top of another or propping each other up in the most bizarre fashion. To me it looked as if a giant had taken a walk through the country side and picked up these boulders and then placed them higgledy piggledy here and there and on top of one another. I am not entirely sure what the geological answer to this phenomenon is other than perhaps that they may have resulted from volcanic eruptions but even that I am not sure about. It is said that they are among the oldest rock formations in the world and these huge lumps of granite, because that is what they are, were thrown up by movements in the earths crusts and then eroded by the sun, wind and rain over millions of years to the forms they are today. So that sets the scene for you which in itself is a staggering landscape to behold.  More on the ancient city soon.