We take Audi’s compact A3 sedan to explore the historic town of Hampi. The Here’s how our ancient explorations went
Story: Harket Suchde
Photography: Saurabh Botre
Our drive to Hampi was all about history. Ancient temples, monuments and buildings were on the agenda, but we didn’t expect to see our first antiquated edifice just about halfway through. As we were crossing Vijaypura, a massive dome appeared on the skyline – this was the Gol Gumbaz, a 17th century tomb that is also the second largest domed structure in the world. Afterchecking out the structure we continued onward to our destination, and made it there in a fairly quick time, thanks to the car’s powerful 2.0-litre TDI engine. So quick in fact, that it was only lunch time when we arrived.
Our exploration of Hampi began in earnest, starting with the Daroji Sloth Bear Sanctuary. An off-road excursion to the watchtower meant we could see how the A3 handed on mud, and a dust-trailing drive later, we arrived at the watchtower at the centre of the sanctuary.
Here, we were fortunate enough to spot a mother sloth bear and her two cubs relaxing on some sun-kissed rocks. On that day, and the next, we also hit up the area’s most famous old structures, including the likes of Chandrasekhara Temple, the 15th century Hazara Rama temple, the celebrated 7th century Virupaksha Temple, the massive monolithic Nandi statue, and the hugely popular Stone Chariot and the accompanying Vitalla Temple.
Driving around these ancient edifices was such a joy, and the A3’s compact size, comfortable seats, powerful engine, and amazing range – it took only two full tanks to go there and back (covering over 1200 kilometres) – elevated the fun factor on this trip.
This is a short summary of our recent drive to Hampi, you can catch the full, detailed story in the April issue of Car India Magazine.
