We travel to three historic sites to showcase what a wonderful family outing can be like
History. It is a subject that is likely to hold little or no interest for the youngsters these days. Since that is a troubling thought, we decided to visit a historic site that does not find mention very often. Three historic sites, in fact, located within a radius of about 40 kilometres from one another: Badami, Aihole, and Pattadakal in Karnataka. However, we decided to start from Hyderabad, the capital of Telangana and over 400 kilometres away.
Well, how did we get there?
We chose the brilliant Toyota Innova Crysta for this trip and were thankful for our choice. The Innova Crysta is a good friend and a dependable companion on such a journey. That superb engine and equally amazing comfort are all you will ever need and yet Toyota have thrown in a few more things to make the day a lot brighter. We will talk about these things along the way.
Back to Badami, Aihole, and Pattadakal.
The journey to the old town was quite pleasant. The roads for the most part were single-lane highways and, even though a little scary at times, did not create much problem for us. In addition, the Toyota Innova Crysta is an apt car when considering comfort, safety, and performance too. The Innova has been a tremendously successful car for a number of reasons such as its ease of use. Tight lanes were not a problem at all for the Innova. Its power steering and tight turning radius help manoeuvre through the tiny lanes we came by. Seat seven or eight, the car will still pull like a dream on the highway making those large family trips a breeze. In addition, bad roads were eaten up by the vehicle without any fuss, thanks to its high ground clearance and overall rugged build. The Innova also sports one of the best rear view mirrors and camera in its category with a crystal-clear view of one’s surroundings. Factor in Toyota’s legendary reliability and, all in all, the Innova Crysta is the perfect car for a family outing.
We were to stay at Badami and would be passing both the other places on our way there, giving us an idea of what we would see the next day. On arrival in Badami just after sunset, we wondered where we would stay. Since this was a weekend trip and we wanted to showcase the journey as a family, our intention was to find a family-oriented hotel which would happily cater to mothers, fathers, and their little ones. After making a dozen calls to places that were already booked, we finally came upon Krishna Heritage Resort. On arrival we found that the hotel fit the bill to a tee. We took two adjacent rooms and, after a very nice dinner, were happily tucked in for the night.
Badami
Badami is a small yet bustling town which was very evident the next morning. It was a Sunday and there were people selling their wares at every corner, prices being yelled out at the top of their voice. It was all hustle and bustle. We continued to move slowly through this throng of vendors until we reached the gates of the majestic Badami, Chalukya capital with their beautiful temples. Selected as one of the historic cities in India, this place was magnificent. Agastya Lake lay right in the middle, surrounded by temples and caves at one end. These trace their origin to between AD 540 and AD 757, when the town was the capital. This protected land is quite a place to see. As we walked around, we saw tourists taking pictures of the surrounding temples. The local people were very helpful. Incidentally, Badami boasts of an average literacy rate of nearly 65 per cent. Quite impressive, considering the literacy rate is high amongst women too. A visit to this place is a must for anyone interested in history.
Our time there was short, though, for we had two more places to visit. Therefore, soon we were back in the Toyota and headed towards Aihole.
Aihole
This beautiful place is now a small village surrounded by farm land and hills. It is a site of monuments, Buddhist, Jain, but mainly Hindu. The place has a huge number of monuments, over 120, that are spread over a vast area. There are a number of different types of temples and shrines and it is said that the architecture of this area spread to the monuments in Pattadakal. Once again, we saw a number of beautiful Chalukya monuments. The temples here are dedicated to Hindu deities like Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, and Durga. These were built from the fourth century onwards right until the 12th century.
Pattadakal
Pattadakal or Pattadakallu has Hindu and Jain temples and is an official UNESCO World Heritage site. It is also a protected site under the Indian law. As you enter, you come across a large lawn that leads you to the temples at the far end. These are big temples and are generally Hindu with a few Jain monuments too. Some of these temples, like the Virupaksha temple, are still frequented by the devotees for worship and are in good repair.
All these three places open up magnificent historical vistas with their amazing architecture and culture. For us, however, now it was time to get back into our trusted Toyota Innova Crysta and drive back to Hyderabad. I cannot praise the car enough for the comfort, safety, and performance that it offers. It had four people aboard with all our bags and equipment and never once did it cause us the slightest concern. Even when the roads got a bit bad and steep the Innova showed no problems whatsoever.
The well known reliable engine sent enough oomph to the rear wheels helping the car to get us through thick and thin. Not to forget that the car does all this while we sit behind a very pretty dashboard on plush seats that add to the spoken off comfort, also knowing that in case plans warp, we have airbags draped around us. I counted seven. Impressive. The Toyota Innova Crysta also has a very high resale value, which adds a bit more love to the car that isn’t the most expensive to buy in the first place. In the end I would say that if you would like to take the family out on a vacation by road, do it in a Toyota Innova Crysta.
