Bijapur.

BIJAPUR, is located in the northern part of karnataka state in India , though very dry and arid region and mainly Muslim dominated region , it  is home to  the famous GOL GUMBUZ  monument, which is the mausoleum of Md. Adil Shah  ,once sultan of  bijapur.
   We were on our road trip from Mumbai to Northern karnataka region and Bijapur  was likely our first stopover....we had prior booking at Kstdc  hotel  Adil Shahi, which is well located on the main road in the city ...it was 31st Dec 2016 evening when we checked in there.....should have been a buzzing night but that city was too sleepy and lazy to party the night away....On to our way to bijapur  we had short stop at Wineyard at Sholapur. ..just so so impressive  to touch and feel the tempting grapes at the farms and offcourse to mention the Pomegranate fields...small bushes , holding almost 100 fruits...loved to see it all .
We had plans to drive off another 65 kms from bijapur city to Almatti Dam site to enjoy the musical fountain on R . Krishna  but we were bit late ....the show ends at 7.30pm....though the road is good from bijapur  to Almatti but we were too tired to take on the idea , instead go off to sleep early ......
Next morning, we woke up to wish each other a very Happy New Year ....beautiful sunshine and simple breakfast, we wished to do the local  sightseeing before heading out off to Almatti Dam and then to HAMPI.....
1st on our list for sightseeing was GOL GUMBUZ. ....it was hardly some 7/10kms from the hotel we stayed last night but the people were so non cooperative that they tried to miss guide us ...some said that it's just walking distance, other showed a wrong route to reach the place ....Just crazy!!!old city and no traffic norms  and we went round and round to finally reach the location. ....it was just splendid monument well kept ....sprawling gardens inside, but need to walk a lot and if wished , can climb the stairs to the top of Gol Gumbaz but shoes r not allowed inside the monument. ....
After that we visited the BARA KAMAN ...awesome architecture. ..the arches still stands perfect  till this day but it stand amidst busy market place and so difficult to park once private vehicle....Next it was beautiful  SHIVGIRI  darshan ....awesomely huge Shiva statue adorning the city of Bijapur by the highway....after our darshan ....we now took onto our drive off to Almatti Dam and Hampi for the night stopover.
Soon after we left Bijapur city  the sunflower fields and bajra fields by the highway just made me mesmerised and I had to make a stop to enjoy few minutes amidst those Sunflower fields. Lovely experience  indeed.....So we continued our journey to the World of granite  ie HAMPI.