Weekend Travelogue – Lepakshi, AP

My husband is an avid bird photographer.. and in his pursuit of all birds big and small, he missed owning a rough terrain vehicle to take on his trips. When Renault launched Duster, in July, it seemed liked the perfect SUV for us to own that fell within our budget. So we went ahead and booked it. It finally arrived in the last week of November.Now, ever since the Duster arrived, the wife (aka ME! ) was feeling rather neglected.
After much complaining that I hadn’t yet got a long ride in the car, a hurried plan to go see Lepakshi was made. We started around 11AM, picked up my sis on the way and onto NH7. The Duster is a breeze on highways.. Totally loved it. The climate was very pleasant and Blore – Hyd road really smooth.. we were doing 120-130+ Kmph easily. The best part of Duster I felt was that the outside noise was almost nonexistent. So the route is Bangalore – Yelahanka – Devanahalli – Chikaballapur – Bagepalli – Lepakshi (Approx 130km).. We stopped at Kamat Upachar, 10Kms after Chikballapur ( Bangalore-Lepakshi direction) for lunch and a loo break.

Lepakshi is very important historically and archaeologically. There are three shrines dedicated to Shiva, Vishnu and Virabhadra.The famous Veerabhadra temple, dedicated to Veerabhadra, is located here. Built by the brothers Viranna and Virupanna, the temple is a notable example of the Vijayanagar architectural style.

We spent nearly 2 hours just walking around the temple and admiring the carvings nd the stunning sunset.

 It was not crowded and Lil P enjoyed running around the numerous pillars. There were some very cute puppies which kept us entertained for some time. We stopped at Cafe Coffee day (after Devanhalli on the Lepakshi – Bangalore road) on our way back and reached home by 9PM.