pictures from Hampi:
We saw abandoned temples, some from the 1200s, in Belur and Halebid (though we prefer the better preservation and daily-life scenes in Somnathpur).
We also saw Hampi (1300s-1500s), which I liked; it's an incredibly huge site of abandoned stone buildings in ruins from invaders. However, to get there and back involved an overnight train ride, and though we had the very best they had (in a tiny compartment with an actual door and beds with cushions and air conditioning, one of only three such compartments on the entire very long train!), I am apparently a complete wimp and could not put up with the billowing dirt, smell of cigarette smoke from outside, urine-filled unisex bathroom with staring men standing outside, and especially the urine-soaked wet cushions and blankets. The hotel was the worst of the trip too, but they do their best and are clean enough. It also had a wonderful monkey population, as you can see. Overall, the Hampi trip was fascinating like all of India, but also like all of India you only seem to be able to either bask in amazing luxury at affordable prices or be bombarded with nauseating trauma!
We also toured Srirangapatna and saw Tipu Sultan's 1700s summer palace and fort and what remained of his normal home.
We toured 1900s palaces in Mysore. Here's a photo of part of a 1900s suite to which we were very surprised and thrilled to be upgraded to at Metropole hotel in Mysore (highly recommended even if you don't get upgraded); foreign guests of the maharaja were housed here! Though with different furniture in those days. The door you see leads to a nice verandah.
