Shorter day today and a really great ride. The morning started with the typical beautiful sunrise over agricultural land, including sugar cane, which we hadn'€™t seen much of yet. Later in the afternoon, about 30km from Hampi, the terrain really started to change', the road curved it'€™s way between between rocky hills and crossed over the Tungabhadra River until we started seeing the famous ruins of Hampi.

I had never heard of Hampi before planning for this trip, but it was well worth the 2000km+ ride to get here', it'€™s really beautiful. Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 14th century. By 1500 CE, it was the world'€™s second-largest medieval-era city after Beijing. The Vijayanagara Empire was defeated by a coalition of Muslim sultanates and destroyed in 1565, after which Hampi remained in ruins.

Hampi Bazaar, where we are staying, has a bunch of homestays and there are plenty of tourists here for sure, mostly Indian but also a bit of western tourists and backpackers. The things we'€™ve noticed the most is just how quiet it is', it'€™s the first time in 3 weeks that we'€™ve really been able to listen to nature and birds and the wind without a motorcycle, rickshaw, or truck blaring it'€™s horn.

We'€™ve got a day off here to enjoy the ruins and then just two days more to Anantapur!