Third year. Drove down Thursday evening, back Sunday night.
At this point the trip has its own rhythm. Same guesthouse near the river, same coracle crossing in the morning, same walk through the bazaar ruins before anyone else is up. The ruins don’t change. I do, apparently, because I keep noticing different things.
This year it was the aqueducts. The Vijayanagara hydraulic system is enormous and most of it is just sitting there in the fields outside the main tourist circuit. An empire that could move water across that terrain in the 15th century is easy to underestimate.
The drive back is always the best part. Four hours to decompress before Bangalore shows up again.