Monsoon Meandering

Golconda Fort

After checking out of the Hotel Grand Plaza we left our bags in their cloakroom and went exploring a little bit more of Hyderabad.

Heading off in the direction of Big Bazaar(/Bizarre :-)) we decided to have a spot of lunch and went into the family restaurant by the entrance. Jane fancied a grilled sandwich but there weren’t any; Amy a chicken burger, none of those either;
Emilia wanted a veggie burger and guess what, nothing. We ordered pizza as it seemed to be the only thing they had, then Amy went to wash her hands to do a glucose test and guess what, no toilet either. We finished the pizzas as soon as possible as left to do some shopping.

Big Bazaar truly is an odd place, a kind of department store that sells everything from mobiles to cookers to suitcases to clothes to rugs to music. Jane was after some more short kameez tops and I thought I’d have a look for any t-shirts worse than my Punjabi one, just to wind up certain IndiaMikers, sadly I failed. Each area of the store had people announcing the special offers, with megaphones, and each one only a few yards from the next. The common theme seemed to be “buy one get one free” and I was very tempted to tell them to B.O.G.O.F at points as they were deafening.

After the shopping, an ice-cream and some annoying autorickshaw price haggling we headed to Golconda Fort, forgetting that it was the Sunday of a holiday weekend in India. Golconda was rammed with people and we found the heat unbearable after a 45 minute tuk-tuk ride through the congested and dusty streets. Jane was feeling a little tired so the girls and I left her at the bottom to relax whilst we braved the beating sun to make it to the top. Each level that was conquered brought a smile to our face until we looked up and realised that more steps headed upwards. We failed to make it to the top by one level, but by then we were too hot and noticing another ice-cream seller at the bottom we made our way back to Jane and for myself a lovely Mango flavoured Strawberry-Split-esque ice lolly.

Back to the hotel and we rested for a couple of hours before eating our last meal there and heading off to catch our train to where we are now, Hampi.

Here’s some photos from the Fort:

Sun beats down on Golconda Fort


Golconda v Hyderabad, the old and the new


Inside the fort


Golconda Fort wall


Amy with part of Hyderabad in the background