Golgumbaz, Bijapur, INDIA

Still overnighting in Badami today, but our driver suggested a day trip to Bijapur to visit the Golgumbaz, tomb of Sultan Muhammed Adil Shah, apparently one of the greater Muslim warlords in Karnataka some 450 years ago.  Bijaypur was one of the cities in my original itinerary, but the travel agency in Delft, as well as the driver, thought we would have no time for it as it was just a tad too out of the way.  Having visited all the Badami sights yesterday, though, we were free today for just such a trip, and I was really thankful for this sudden opportunity.

The Golgumbaz is supposedly the largest such tomb in the country, or at least in the top five, and it was begun some 30 years before his death, and even at the time he died it hadn't been completed yet.  They stopped construction work upon his death, but I think they were quite close to finishing it anyway.  Its dome has been proven to have outstanding acoustic qualities and these were more than amply proven when no fewer than seventeen busloads of school children entered the domed structure and spent most of the time screaming their heads off just to test it.  At one point, I was aggravated enough to start screaming, too ... hahaha!

After that, we went for a short visit to the archaeological museum where, horror of horrors, my camera fell out of my backpack onto the marble floor.  Photography wasn't allowed inside, which was why it was in my bag.  I think I had a cardiac arrest right then and there.  I picked it up and it was still whole, but there is a lose knob now and I'll need the shop to tighten it when we get back.  The lens is still intact ... whew! ... but I am not happy about what happened.  With one more week to go, I hope it carries on.

Yes, only seven days more ... where did the time go?  Where did this year go?  I've worked hard and played hard and in a couple of days it'll be over and the challenge of a new immediate future will begin.  Tomorrow, we'll be heading for the coast.