Hello Readers, Today I want to share with you one of my favorite trips, in brief, so you get a good idea of this hidden gem place in India. Yes, I am gonna talk about this magnificent state which has a rich cultural heritage. You are right, it's nothing but India's Best kept secret "Odisha."
I hope this article will serve as a guide when you visit Odisha.
Odisha, earlier known as Orissa, is a state in Eastern India. This state has a rich history and is famous for its heritage sites and culture.
This state offers Peace for pilgrims. It is even perfect for Nature and Wildlife lovers. Needless to mention the architectural and historical lovers. It's just a feast for their eyes and mind.
Although this state is next to our state, yet we couldn't visit anytime. In fact, I don't have much idea about this state except Konark temple and Puri Temple.
We planned for our trip to Odisha just two days before the start. It was like a last-minute plan, but I would say we planned well and it remains one of my favorite trips.
It went well beyond what we could ever imagine.
We were lucky, I would say, as although it was a last-minute plan yet everything was well set and even after going there, we didn't face any issue at all.
We decided to visit Puri, Konark, Bhubaneswar, and Chilika Lake on this trip.
Then I started my research and found a few tourist attractions, but I got little information about the food and stay.
So I thought I would put information about the hotels as well.
To know more about the history, Geography of Odisha and how to reach here, and all such information is provided in my other article. Do read it before you start planning for Odisha. Add link.
Now I'm going to share my experience of this trip and give an itinerary as well. I will be happy if this can help you in planning your trip.
Let's begin
DAY 1 of my Trip:
We started from Anakapalli, an hour away from Visakhapatnam, at 6 in the morning on Visakha express train, which starts from Hyderabad and its last stop is Bhubaneswar.
So we came via Visakhapatnam and got down at Khurda Road and then changed to another train to reach Puri. We reached Puri at around 8 in the night.
Then we checked in into our respective rooms. We stayed in a place called Shree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math. We got fresh and went for dinner to a nearby hotel called Shree Balaji Bhojanalay.
We then came back to the room and slept peacefully.
The food was good and their service too. My Day 1 ends here.
DAY 2 Begins:
Be prepared, it's a long day and I realized it only while writing this article.
We started early in the morning. We decided to visit Konark first. So we started there and on our way, there is this beautiful road as Marine Drive road, it's just amazing. I still can't forget that view.
It's covered with greenery and since we started around 5 in the morning, we experienced fog even. It was such a fantastic view.
So once after we reached Konark, we first headed to "Chandrabhaga beach". We wanted to have a sunrise view, so we spent some good quality time at the beach basking all the glory of it, then started to "Konark Temple."
I don't know much about this temple except how it looks, which I watched in an image. So it was a nice experience to visit this temple, its huge and well maintained and has a lot of history.
There will be guides available. My advice is to take their help and watch it all over as they explain well and help you take your pictures. You can bargain with them as they might say a bit higher price.
One thing I want to mention here is, please be aware that the inside of the temple will be closed. I had no idea about it, so it was a bit of shock for me but can't do anything. I imagined it to be like any other temple where we would be directed to the deity. But no, it's not that way.
There will be shops there so you can buy different things. By the time we returned from the temple, it was around 10.30.
From there, we started to "Chilika lake." On our way, we visited one more temple, namely "Ramchandi Temple." Devi ma is present here.
After visiting this temple, we got down at Chilika Lake. It was a bit long drive as it's far away, but it's worth visiting this place. There will be different boat rides available.
We took an hour or 2 hrs ride and it was a beautiful experience.
Chilika lake is spread over 1100 sq km, covering Puri, Khurda Road and Ganjam. One can view this from the train as well.
It was a peaceful ride. We saw Dolphins, birds and the beautiful scenic view all over. Once we are done with the ride, we went to have our lunch.
Yes, we had our lunch quite a bit late, around 3.30 or so in a nearby hotel at Chilaka lake. The food wasn't great. But no other go.
Must Read, if you are planning for Chilika Lake
It takes 2 hours or so to reach there, so obviously the cab charges will be high and here the boat ride charges are even around 4000 plus. So be prepared to spend a bit more money. During the ride, they take you to a place where they show pearls and all, but don't buy any such they are all fake. Apart from these, you don't find good options to have food over there. I really want to mention these, so now it's up to you to visit this or not, but it's a pleasant view and best during winter as it becomes home to migratory birds.
We started back to Puri and on our way, we visited Alarnath temple and from there straight to Puri and got down at our stay. We took a bit of rest, got fresh and started back to visit the local temples in Puri. We first went to Markandeswar Temple and finally went to the PURI JAGANNATH TEMPLE.
Phones and Cameras were not allowed inside the temple, so we submitted at a deposit counter and joined the queue. Since it was night, we had some cool, relaxing breeze.
The temple was uniquely structured and I liked the temple a lot. Though there were many people around yet I could feel so Peaceful and was too happy to have the trip.
Inside the temple, there will be many more small temples.
First, we had Jagannath darshan and then covered those small temples. We went 1 more time for darshan at the end as we were informed that late at night, around 10.30 or 11, devotees will be sent much closer to God and can have a better view and darshan of God.
Believe me or not, it's so true. I didn't expect it would be that close view, so my happiness was beyond and I still couldn't forget the image of the God.
It's been two and half years, but I can still feel that beautiful night and the wonderful view of Jagannath.
After darshan, we went to the Ananda Bazaar and took some prasadams. Puri Jagannath temple is famous for its wide range of foods offered to God daily.
In fact, the Kitchen room inside the temple is a must-visit and it will be a long story to talk about the food and Kitchen here. So I will stop this here.
Now let's come back to the Prasadam. Devotees can have their food here as they will be served free prasadam like Lemon rice, curd rice, Dal rice and so on in huge quantities.
We can even buy some more at the bazaar.
I suggest you all not to forget buying the Kaza that's available there at Ananda Bazaar. Trust me or not, it's the best.
I usually don't eat that sweet no matter how good people say. I find it too sweet and don't like it in general. But here, it's just magical. Yummm.
We then saw many people still being at the temple staircase. Some were enjoying and some were sleeping.
It was very pleasant inside the temple and the cool breeze made me feel like lying down there like others. But that didn't happen, though.
We collected our Phones and went to the hotel, had our food, then went back to our rooms and slept. A lengthy day finally ended.
Day 3 & 4 .. To be Continued..
Commenti