Shipping up to Boston!!

“Journeys are the midwives of thought” ~ Alain de Botton

With the last weekend of the American summer and a couple of hundred dollars to spare, I decided to take a weekend trip from New York to Boston. Only armed with the knowledge that the city is known for the best university in the world, I landed up unaware, waiting to be wowed and yes Boston did wow me and how!

Packed with ample doses of history, all of which can be covered on foot, a charming combination of the old and the new and almost predominantly a student atmosphere, Boston is the perfect cocktail of a city!

With less than 48 hours at hand to discover the city, I mentally prepared myself to torture my limbs and enthrall my mind and following are some of the most enjoyable parts of the Boston weekend!

 Freedom Trail: The walk able size of the city and one of America’s first historic walking tours makes Boston a history-loving-budget-traveler's paradise! A red brick lined path connects 16 historical sites and guides one through two and a half centuries of America’s most significant past. Among my favorites were the USS Constitution and the Charlestown Navy Yard, Faneuil Hall and the Granary Burial Ground.

The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world and it lives up to every word spoken about its grandeur and strength! The Faneuil Halll started as a marketplace and a hall for meetings where several patriots made inspirational speeches. The hall still houses a bustling market place.

The USS Constitution in all its glory

                                                   

At the Charleston Navy Yard

      Quincy Market: Just the word ‘market’ makes me feel what a bee feels as it get drawn towards a flower’s nectar (!) and with that strong inclination I stopped by at Quincy market to check what it had to offer. The market is a gigantic food court with several small eateries, kiosks selling jewelry and souvenirs and magicians and gymnasts performing tricks and acts to entertain the forever swelling crowd.

One of the many eateries at Quincy Market

 Samuel Adams Brewery Tour: A beer sampling tour makes any trip worth the visit and the one at Sam Adams surely did not disappoint! The tour involves a comprehensive overview of the different ingredient used, the whole process of brewing a beer and all the details involved, culminating into a beer sampling session where visitors get to sample different kinds of beers brewed and concocted at the brewery. We were lucky enough to also sample the Sam Adams beer for the 2013 Oktoberfest! 

The heady tour!

      Harvard Yard: Taking a stroll around the premises of the most storied institution of the country helps zone out all the noise and only focus on how to ace the next exam and come back as a student!!

Harvard Square 

Boston’s marvels can be seen anytime, anywhere just strolling down the small alleys or jogging by the river in front of MIT. Its quaint yet cosmopolitan at the same time, so much so that you don’t even need two whole days to fall in love with it and yearn to go back again!!

Hampi: The Lost Empire

“A people’s relationship to their heritage is the same as the relationship of a child to its mother.” – John Henrik Clarke

When I first shifted to Bangalore more than a year ago, Hampi was never close to being on my list of must visit places. But then of course all that went out of the window courtesy my travel freak of a boyfriend!

So on the last weekend of November 2013 we decided it was time for some lessons into Indian history and heritage!

Hampi is an overnight bus journey away from Bangalore. The closest “town” is Hospet which is around 11km from Hampi, but with more potholes than roads the distance takes close to 45 minutes to cover! We didn’t book any accommodation before hand, so we just went relying on luck and the goodness of mankind! And as luck would have it, we did find a room in Pushpa Guest House, bang in the middle of Hampi. (Travel Tip # 1: Try not booking accommodation in advance to avoid paying more than necessary and also to not miss out on wonderful opportunities to meet new people during your stay!)

With a dozen or more sites to visit and just about as much time in our hands, we set off with our auto-wallah to take us on a tour across the now-ruined-once-glorious-empire. (Travel Tip # 2: Keep in mind the weather, the number of sites to visit and the roads (or lack of it!), so even if cycling or walking around seems tempting, an auto would be more viable)

And so began our journey through our past and back to present. From the Sister Stones to the Ugranarsimha, from the intricately carved walls of the Krishna temple to the forlornly desolate and intriguing Hampi Bazaar, every site still clearly had signs of the magnificence they once bore.

Ugranarsimha Temple

Lotus Mahal

Some of the more interesting sites are:

1.      Underground Shiva Temple: this underground temple was excavated quite recently and being completely underground the entire sanctum and most parts of the temple are under water.

2.      Virupaksha Temple: the oldest and the principal temple of Hampi, is located on the banks of river Tungabhadra. With the resident elephant blessing devotees or being given a shower in public for show or the natural pin hole camera inside the shrine showing inverted images of the main gopuram, this one is a must visit and even better at non-aarti times.

Virupaksha Temple as seen from the Hemkuta Hill

3.    Vittala Temple: this is by far the most extravagant sites of them all! The temple is in the centre of a sprawling campus with several halls and temples in the compound.

4. Matunga Hill: a trip to Hampi is incomplete if one hasn’t huffed and puffed one’s way up the Matunga Hill in pitch darkness at 4am only to catch the most magnificent sight of the sun rising and illuminating the old and new, the ruins and the flourishing at the same time. It is the highest point in Hampi and gives brilliant aerial views of the town. On the way down one can check out the Achutaraya Temple complex. (Travel Tip # 3: Carry a pocket torch as the path is not well it, and the steps though almost intact, however are as old as the Vijayanagar kingdom so high chances of slipping and hurting oneself)

Sunrise at Matunga Hill

Apart from these, one can take a coracle ride across the Tungabhadra, cycle for 2km and then climb another

100 stairs of so to reach the Hamuman Temple on the other side of the river. Or just watch the sun set from the

Hemkuta Hill, have some good food at Mango Tree or just relax in the gardens of the Lotus Mahal and watch an

era long forgotten interplay with your present.

Elephant Stables

Sunset at Hemkuta Hill

Coracle ride across Tungabhadra river

Achutaraya Temple