Chandramouleeswara Temple Hubli- Forgotten Magnificence

I had not explored Hubballi at all until my cousin googled and wanted to see this temple. Our cabbie had no idea, nor did we. I tried to convince him that it might have been the Channa Basaveswara temple on the Unkal Lake and not the one in Unkal Circle, as he contended. But, the boy held his ground, and pointed out that the elevation of the temple looked drastically different; he even showed me some googled pics. Those were enough to convince me and the historian-in-the-family to go for it. After asking for directions from nearly ten people, and losing our way in the by-lanes and narrow alleys, we found this magnificent edifice of 10th-11th century vintage! It was late Western Chalukyan, and had some additions made by the Hoyasala or even the Vijayanagara rulers! We thought we'll pay respects to Lord Siva on a festive day, but lost ourselves so much that we didn't regret having to give up our original plan of watching the orange sunset from Nripatungabetta. We thought we'd missed it, but got a breathtaking view from an unexpected location. The sunset pics will find place in a different post.