TRAVELLING EVERY WHERE AROUND THE ANDHRAPRADESH : PART-1

 MY NEVER ENDING EXPERIENCE IN VIZAG 

ANDHRA PRADESH TOUR

        

        Last couple of years, I have been extremely busy. Every time my friends asked me out, but i have always had some work or the other and I was in desperate need of break. So we planned back to back tours with in a gap of one and half month.

    After talk with my friends Naren, Vishnu, Raghu Anna and Afzal Bhai after Maharashtra visit this time we decided to travel around the Andhra Pradesh which have full of beaches and beautiful greenery places for one week. 

    We started our journey on 28th September, Wednesday at early morning 5:30 am in our car (It was a road trip !). Our first drive is 400 kms and took us around 7-8 hours to reach our first destination. The drive was somehow the craziest and full of thrill. After taking so many breaks finally at 2:00 pm we reached Chirala. It seemed like a ghost town. where ever you see there is silence.

          After reached Chirala we are all very hungry. So we first stopped at a Dhaba which is adjacent to Beach and had a lunch. The food is very tasty.

        Chirala has two beaches - Vodarevu beach and Rampuram beach. we first moved to Rampuram beach. It is just 5 kms from Chirala. "All our tiredness disappeared the moment we saw the see after long time". 

Rampuram Beach

        

         The beach was clean, undisturbed and pleasant. It was less crowded with no fishy smell. Morning sunrise and evening sunset are the two best times in the day to enjoy here. But while we are here the weather is cool with fresh air. fishermen's are active all day along in their boats and travels. we sat on the sand for few time and enjoyed in the sea water.

        We next moved to another beach-Vodarevu Beach. We travelled 10kms along the road which is just beside of the sea. The road is very calm and view is very beautiful. We parked our car and entered into beach. Whenever we entered, the whether turned into cloudy. 

Vodarevu beach

        Vodarevu beach was crowded with travelers and fishermen. where can we see there is full of boats and sellers. I saw that fishermen returning with their catches and auctioning fishes, crabs and prawns with reasonable cheap rates. 

        We all were so relaxed and at inner peace with ourselves that we didn't realize the time slip away. It was around 4:30 pm when we left this place and moved to todays last beach.

I am with Rahu Anna and Vishnu

        

        After 20 Kms of journey we reached Suryalanka beach. Suryalanka is a beach name and Bapatla is adjacent town. This beach entry fee is Rs.50/-. It was crowded and dirty as well. Whenever we entered beach premises there is small raining. we just spent an hour there clicking pictures. Nobody even dared to touch the muddy beach water here. It was dark and we are at the beach listening to the sound of the waves so slowly we came back to the parking area.

Suryalanka Beach 

        Next we got ready off to Machilipatnam which was 105 km away. The foggy and narrow roads made it almost impossible to drive. After 3 hours journey finally we reached the Machilipatnam. we check in in a hotel room and stayed overnight there.

          Early morning we fresh up and check out hotel and had tiffin. We started our second day journey to Kakinada via Repalle, Palakollu, Narsapuram, Bheemavaram, Amalapuram and yanam. these names are heard from our childhood but never seen before.. Its amazing thrill in our souls while passing these towns and villages.. At 11:00 am we reached Yanam.

        Sometimes without search god gives us some surprises although while  researching kakinada we hit upon a new surprise. This was nothing new - Yanam its a different place compared to all andhra places. Its a place of Pondicherry. Actually Pondicherry comprises of four districts spread over states of Tamilnadu, Kerala and AP. 

        Four Districts are Pondicherry, Karikal, Mahe and Yanam. This is just 32 km away from Kakinada. We are not visited this place yet, so we are certainly excited to grab this chance to get a slice of Pondicherry in Yanam.

        Next, we drove to Yanam beach way, they call it the beach way but you cannot find a beach anywhere nearby. All you can see is the mighty Godavari filling up the entire landscape.

We are at Yanam

        This place is perfect for an early morning and evening walks. I observed the winds were very strong and as we got down to click some pictures, it was almost pushing us off walk way in Yanam because the walkway is dotted with statues. There is a huge Shiva Linga with elephants.. All statues are amazing to see..

        After that we moved to Kakinada and visit the Kakinada Beach and Port area for more than two hours. At evening we started our journey to Vizag through Pitapuram, Tuni and Narsipatnam. My friends are stopped our car at Annavaram and visited Annavaram Temple. Finally at 8.00 pm we reached vizag and check in in a hotel room near railway station. 

 RK Beach

        Vizag is also called as Vishakapatnam, is the Capital of Andhra Pradesh and It serves as the headquarters of the Indian Naval Command. Vizag - The Bissful Heaven of the south India, is known for its quiet scenic natural beauty and beautiful seashores, the places to visit in Vizag best underline the city's cultural heritage with its immense number of attractions, Vizag ensures us a foremost experience. 

Vizag City from Kailasagiri

        Vizag has clean beaches, naval museums, a hilltop accessible by cable car and is at driving distance to Araku Valley. Over the last ten years, it has also started to be recognized as an important tourist destination. I am mentioning some of these top places which was visited in Vizag.

1. Ramakrishna Beach (R.K Beach)         2. Rishikonda Beach

3. Submarine Museum                             4. Aircraft Museum

5. Kailasagiri Hill Park                              6. Thotlakonda Ruins

7. Indira Gandhi Zoological Park              8. Yarada Beach

9. Matsya Darshini Aquarium                   10. Dolphins Nose Light house

1. Ramakrishna Beach (R K Beach) :
        

        We woke up around 6:00 am in the morning freshened up quickly and went to the RK Beach. R K Beach is the most popular among the locals. Being inside the main town, this sea beach seems always crowded. Its clean and less frequented. A smooth road skirted the entire length of the beach and beyond. A footpath along the entire road provides us the right opportunity to take a ling walk. 

        The view of the sunset is mesmerizing from RK Beach, and locals gather here after their daily work. The roadsides stalls along the beach road and the fun rides in the beach makes it the most happening place in the evening.

RK Beach

2. Kailasgiri Hill Park :

        After had tiffin we went to Kailasgiri Hill Park. we parked our car and entered with entry fee Rs. 5/- for each and Rs.50/- for parking. and we taken tickets for Rope way (Cable Car) Rs. 150/- for each one. After reaching the the top of the hill we can see the view of entire Vishakhapatnam city and the Arabian Sea along with ships. This view from the hilltop is just mesmerized me lot. I recommend to taking the ropeway as it offers you a heavenly beautiful site for your trip.

Kailasgiri statues

        A trip to Vizag will be incomplete without a visit to Kailasgiri. A toy train ride gives the opportunity to quickly travel across the park while enjoying a 360 degree view of the city and the sea from above. we traveled in a toy train for twenty minutes of journey. Toy train tickets are Rs. 100/- for each one adult. 

        This parks major attraction is the 40 ft tall Shiva-Parvathi statue, for which this place is called Kailasgiri. Inside the park, there are several entertainment options and attractions for all like horse riding, Floral colck, Titanic View point , Jungle trails, Shanthi Ashram and Shanku Chakra Nama. 

Horse riding

Entrance of the Kailasgiri

        You can also have food from one of the many eateries in the park while enjoying the breathtaking view from above. Entry time is 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
 
3. Submarine Museum :

        We had lunch  at a quaint open air eatery beside the road and head to the naval museums. We first visited the INS Kurusura Submarine museum at RK Beach. It is the first submarine turned into a museum in Asia. INS Kurusura served Indian Navy for 30 years since 1970 and converted into a museum in 2001. 

        Due to space restriction inside the submarine only 25-30 visitors are allowed at a time so people will have a bit of wait time to explore this. We can enjoy after seen the various parts of submarine - the radar room, sonar room, control room, and the weapons used during the war are on display in this museum. This also showcases the life inside a submarine and the hardships faced by the submariners in the sea. The Entry fee is Rs.50/- and Entry time is 2:00 PM to 8:30 PM

INS Kurusura Submarine

4. Aircraft Museum :

        Exactly opposite to Submarine museum there is TU 142 Aircraft Museum. The TU 142 Aircraft served 29 years for the Indian Navy. It was converted into a museum in 2017 at RK Beach. In this museum they have audio guides to help us understand the various aspects of flying this giant aircraft. You can enter the aircraft and get the look and feel of it.

        This museum gives us a rare opportunity to enter inside a navy aircraft. Before entering into the aircraft, you can see various types of equipment and parts of aircraft places in an exhibition hall like sonobuoys, propeller, engine, survival kit, anti submarine missile, date recorder etc. I must say it was very impressed how this museum has been set up. The Entry Fee is Rs. 50/- for each person.

5. Rushikonda Beach :

        In the evening we went to visit another famous beach named Rushikonda Beach.  It is a crescent shaped shoreline with a golden sand. It is situated just 12 km away from Vizag town. It is surrounded by natural rocks and green plants. It was crowded and quite cleans compared to RK beach. While we enter beach area the weather was pleasant, we feel fresh breeze, spent all evening time with relaxing on the rocks and enjoyed in the sea water. 

Rushikonda Beach

        Rushikonda beach is known for its water sports activities like kayaking, speed boating and scuba diving. we can enjoy with street side sea food also. we had some corn there which was good and lip smacking. we also walked around the beach and enjoyed the view of sunset under the cloudy sky.

        After enjoyed a lot in this beautiful beach we freshened up near by beach and went to city center for shopping. we purchased so many items and headed back to our hotel room and stayed overnight there.

        " From Gadwal to Vizag tour (Part-1) is full of beach sunsets and sunrises. Like our every other trip this trip also totally spontaneous and brought a thousands of  memories to cherish forever."

MANSOON TOUR : LONAVALA AND MAHABALESHWAR

 

        Hello..! We have been on many tours since 2014 but never did the Monsoon trip. Now this year I used to make a monsoon trip with regular bike riders Naren, Vishnu and Afzal Bhai. After Evening talk with them we decided to go first Pune for some work and then visit Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar.

        August 11th Thursday evening at 7:00 PM we started our journey from Gadwal, Telangana by car. An hour later we reached Raichur and then had dinner at Yadagir and reached Solapur via Gulbarga. We stayed there for the night and got fresh in the morning and started our journey to Pune. after 250 km of road journey finally we reached Pune at 10:00 AM. 

        We completed our work in pune till evening and moved to our first destination Lonvala in the rainy weather.

Road Map of Lonavala and Mahabaleshwar

        After one and half hour journey from pune we reached lonavala in light rain at 4:30 PM. First we went to hotel for tea and purchased some famous chikkis, after that we wandered over the  lonavala street roads in a light falling rain and at 7:30 PM we check in a hotel room and stayed over night there..

Azam at Lonavala City Centre

 

        Early morning we check out our hotel room and went for local sight seeing..

        Lonavala is the most popular mountain destination in Maharastra. It is also the most favourite hilly gateway for travellers from around the world. Lonavala is a perfect place to enjoy ecstatic weather and scenic natural landscape to enjoy beauty. It offers the most pleasant temperatures, scenic views of the western ghats and lush greenery, making the it the most refreshing break from the nearby urban jungles. 

This hill station is located at 64 km from the city of Pune. We can visit Lonavala and Khandala in all seasons. I suggest the monsoon visits the most. However, monsoon exposes their real beauty. The monsoon in Lonavala is rejuvenating, what with clouds filling your face, water gushing from every corner, verdant landscapes welcoming you cheerfully.

Breath taking View in Lonavala

        This hill stations are spreading over an area of 38 square kilometers. It is often called the City of caves owing to the series of ancient natural caves of Karla, Bhaja that line the region. 

      Lets go through the best locations and popular attractions in Lonavala that travellers over the years have come, time and again visit and fall in love with during the rainy season. By now, you know that there is no other place quite like this slice of heaven in Maharashtra, India, that beckons us quite so strongly with its simple beauty.

Vishnu, Azam and Afzal Bhai

below are some of may favourite destination's who visits in Lonavala:

LIONS POINT :

       Loins point is one of the most mesmeric and frequently visited view points in Lonavala. This place offers astonishing views of the sunset. we visited this place on  morning while there are full of fog. In fog and rain we enjoyed lot. If you plan to visit places in Lonavala, you just cannot skip this place. It mainly known for evening and night trekking for adventure lovers.

TIGER POINT :

       After few minutes of journey a winding road upwards takes us to this next tourist spot, that is Tiger Point. This point is also mistiest point. On clear weather one can see amazing sunsets from here. With infinite views of the vast valley beneath and little waterfalls that bare their heads during the monsoon season in every nook and corner, It is a never miss place on any places to visit in Lonavala in rainy season make it worth the while, here every tourist should hangout for tea, hot vadapaos and other snacks. we also had it there.

Tiger Point or Tiger Leap

LONAVALA LAKE:

       We wandered so many times around this lake and enjoyed horse riding and enjoyed rich greenary, eye-soothing views, misty morning  sunrise and evening sunset. This lake is surrounded by natural scenery, about 1.6 km from the town. During the rainy season beauty of this place is worth enjoying. Please visit this place only on early morning due to heavy traffic after 10:00 AM and there is no proper place to park your car. So just park your car on road side and enjoy the views of waterfalls and catch corn and tea from road side stalls. 

View from Lonavala Lake

        Well this entire area becomes so lush and beautiful during the monsoons and it mesmerizes the visitors with simplistic beauty and serene nature around with waterfalls. This lake also known as monsoon lake, because it gets filled with water during monsoon and dries up during winter season. 

KARLA AND BHAJA CAVES :

       At evening we went to Karla and Bhaja caves. I recommended to visit this caves in the monsoon and evening time to get the perfect shot of caves. we travel around a zig zag dangerous road to reach the both caves. 

        If we want to reach Karla caves we should climb 200 steps. In between there are places to stop for food and drink on the way and also many stores with religious and pieces. The caves are stunning. There is Ekvira Temple, this temple is carved from the hill side. worth to visit.

Karla Caves

      The Karla caves consists of 16 rock cut excavations and Bhaja caves are a group of 22 rock cut caves dating back to 2nd century BC. The Bhaja caves are very similar to Karla caves in style and architectural designs. These two caves are the oldest caves in India. 

Bhaja Caves

BUSHI DAM:

       Bushi Dam is one of the picturesque spots, and the water running down the dam makes it look stunning down the monsoon. Young and old everyone enjoy sitting on the steps of dam and bath in rainwater. The water from the dam falls on the steps. The water falls from many directions into huge gaps in the rock, which makes the biggest one look like a huge bath tub carved by nature. 

View from the Dam side

          After staying one and half day in Lonavala and visiting many places we left for the Mahabaleshwar in the evening which was our next destination. while our journey we struggled a lot with the heavy traffic on top of the Pune highway and finally reached Mahabaleshwar. we selected a hotel and check in into that. 

        Early morning in fresh air and foggy weather we started our sight seeing in Mahabaleshwar. I below mentioning the visited  famous places in this destination.

MAHABALESHWAR

        

        Mahabaleshwar is also called as Queen of Hill Stations in Maharashtra. It has been a preferred weekend gateway for adventures. It is a small town and hill station located in the Satara district of Maharashtra. There are several places of interest that can keep all kind of travelers happy. A part from this, there are many mythological, historical and cultural stories associated with this beautiful hill station. You can discover them as you explore the hill stations.

1.  KATES POINT:

       Early morning first we went to Kates Point. This point is actually a combination of 3 view points namely Kates point, Echo Point and Needles Hole View point. From Kates point, one can enjoy the marvelous views of the lush green Krishna valley.

Vishnu and Afzal Bhai at Echo Point

        Echo point as the name suggests is where you can scream, to hear back the sound and from needles hole view point, one can see a natural rock formation with a hole in between, thus giving the name needle hole.

Azam at Kates Point

2.  PARSI POINT:

        After Kates point we moved to Parsi Point. This point is known for its extensive views of the lush green Krishna Valley and the crystal sky blue backwaters of Dhom Dyam. It is surrounded by lofty, green mountains on all sides, this spot is indeed a sight remember for a lifetime. this place can refresh the tired travelers and rejuvenate them from within by bursting all the stress and anxiety of everyday life.

A Spectacular View from Parsi Point

        Here visitors even avail telescope service to catch jaw-dropping views from different angles. There is a small shaky bridge made at a height of 4 ft from ground where people click a lot of pictures surrounded by a good scenic view. we also found some small stalls selling home made jellies, watermelons, fruit plates which are very tasty.

3.  TABLE LAND:

        Table land is the highest point of the entire region of Panchagani. It is situated at an approximate distance of 3 Km from Parsi point. Here roads are very small with heavy traffic. This land gives beautiful views of the surrounding hills and valleys. When ever I reached that place I saw the hills are covered in green and Table land was covered with full of wildflowers, green grass and bodies of water. we can also visit Tiger cave which just adjacent to Table Land.

4.  MAPRO GARDEN:

        Our next destination was the Mapro Garden. Mahabaleshwar is famous for Strawberries and when we are here, we can not miss visiting Mapro Garden. This place is always crowded from morning to night 8 PM. We can also try their different fruit syrups at the counter before buying free of cost. They have a store where we can buy jams, sauce, chocolates, fruit syrups. We also purchased some items there. Back side of the store there is a nicely decorated garden which we can walk around and take some pictures.  

Azam at Mapro Garden

5.  ELPHINSTONE POINT, SAVITRI POINT, CASTLE ROCK POINT, ARTHER SEAT:

        After visiting Mahabaleshwar temple we came back 5 Kms and turns into another road to continue our journey towards Elphinstone point followed by Savitri Point, Castle point and finally the Arthur seat. 

        All these points are very near to each other and offer the same views from different angles. These provides some breath taking views of the nearby valleys.

6.  VENNA LAKE:

        Actually we wandered so many times around this lake also but evening we stopped our car and spent some time there with horse riding.

        Venna Lake is a beautiful lake surrounded by trees and offers boating to tourists and there is a mini train ride for kids. You can also riding here. You will find so many horses around this lake having particular names and trained professionally by their caretakers. They fixed rate Rs. 200/- for single person and Rs.300/- for double persons.

        There is also a market area around this lake where you will find some fresh raddish, cucumber, blue berries to buy with some eateries and tea stalls right in front. 

7.  WILSON POINT:

        Whenever our return journey we visited Wilson Point which have two ways to reach, we went back side road which is good. 

Caution : A part of approach road is quite steep and not well made. Venture on it only if you are extremely confident about driving and go there in day time.

        Wilson point is very nice has multiple view points and fog was around most of the time. At a point we couldn't see in front and there was very cold.  There are three watch towers around from where you get different views of the mountains and the valleys and terraced land. Greenery all around can be enjoyed through eyes. Such a soothing view of the nature.

Wilson Point 

We are at Waterfalls

Azam at Lonavala

            " The valley's rich green, eye-soothing views, misty mornings, foggy evenings, and funky breeze makes our monsoon trip rememberable for long time.. Thank you.."