Trip to Odisha

This trip to Odisha was pending for more than an year and booked the flight tickets to Bhubaneswar and a vehicle from there on for the whole trip. Covered the 4 famous kshetras of Odisha, Puri(Sankha kshetra), Konark(Padma Kshetra), Bhubaneswar(Chakra kshetra) and Jajpur Birja Devi temple(Gada kshetra). Also went to the Chilka lake during this 5 day trip.

5 Day Itinerary of Bhubaneswar, Konark, Puri, Chilka lake and Jajpur:

Day 1. Hyderabad to Bhubaneswar with a stop over in Vizag and local site seeing

Day 2. Bhubaneswar to Konark to Puri

Day 3. Puri local site seeing, Chilka lake and back to Bhubaneswar

Day 4. Bhubaneswar to Jajpur, Cuttack and back

Day 5. Bhubaneswar local site seeing and back to Hyderabad

Day 1: Started around 4 am at home to the airport as the flight to Vizag was at 7 am. Had a 6 hour layover in Vizag and planned it that way so that we could meet up with my sister’s family who recently moved there. Reached around 8.15 am and went to their home by 9 am. Went for a drive to Dolphin hill and took some photos of the magnificent view of the sea and hills from the top. The drive was also very scenic and they dropped us at the airport for our flight to Bhubaneswar which was at 2.45 pm. Reached Bhubaneswar by 3.45 pm and checked in to the hotel. Then engaged an auto for visiting the local temples as the vehicle we booked was from the next morning. Visited the Lingaraj temple, Mukteswar temple, Parsurameswara temple, Kedargouri temple, Raja Rani temple and ISKCON temple. Returned to the hotel by 8 pm. Lingaraj temple was a very old and big one and head many small temples within the compound.

Day 2: Started off to Konark around 9 am in the morning after breakfast in the hotel. The drive was good but was a single road and could see a lot of cows on the roads. Reached Konark Sun temple around 10.30 am, engaged a guide and spent there till 12.30 pm. The temple is one of the UNESCO World heritage sites and also has the wheel which is present on the 10 rupee currency note. The structure was huge and built in 1250 CE. The current temple has no deity or worship but the superrb architecture speaks for itself. Did some souvenir shopping on the way out and had lunch before starting to Puri.

On the way, stopped at Chandrabagha beach, spent some time there with kids doing dirt biking and then headed to Puri. Reached Puri around 3 pm, checked into the resort and went to the Raghurajpur arts and crafts village, bought a painting. Then came to Gundicha temple and from there to Shree Jagannath temple, which is one of the Char Dham kshetras that are significant for Hindus. Had a good darshan which was made easier by a relative of our cab driver. There were other smaller temples like Vimala devi, Mahalakshmi, Satyabhama, Kanchi Ganesh, etc. Came back to the resort and had dinner. Went around the rest and slept for the day.

Day 3: The resort had a private beach and kids had fun in the morning. Started to Chilka lake from Puri around 8.30 am and had breakfast on the way. Also, went to Alarnath temple which is also called Brahmagiri which was built in the 10th century CE. Reached Chilka lake(Satapada) around 11 am and started boating which was for a duration of 3 hrs. We were curious if we would get to spot Dolphins and they did not disappoint. Had around 15 sightings of Dolphins and had a stopover at an island which had sea on the other side. Reached back to the boating point and had lunch nearby.

Then started back to Bhubaneswar. On the way back, went to Shree Shree Omkareshwar temple which had 108 Shivalingas, Loknath temple and Sakhigopal temple. Reached Bhubaneswar around 8pm, checked in to the hotel and had dinner.

Day 4: Started around 8.45 am to Jajpur Maa Biraja Devi temple and reached around 11 am . As it was 9th day of Navratri, the temple was very beautifully decorated. There were quite a few people from AP/Telangana and boards were also in Telugu. This is one of the 18 Ashtadasa Sakthi peethas and my 10th temple. After that went to Cuttack Chandi temple on the way back and had lunch in Cuttack. In the evening, went to Nandankanan Zoo and from there to hotel. It was getting darker by 5.45 pm itself. Had dinner at the hotel.

Day 5: This is was the last day of our trip but it was raining heavily due to a cyclone and would effect the our plans. Did not go out until 11 am as it was raining continuously. Went to Dhauli Shanti Stupa, place of the famous Ashoka Kalinga war, Chausathi Yogini temple and Shree Ram temple in the time we got in between the rains. Came to the airport around 8 pm as our flight was at 10.55 pm and it was the end of Odisha trip which was short and sweet. Reached Hyderabad at 12.30 am and came home by 1.30 am.

This was the end of our Trip to Odisha. Click here for more of my road trips.