Tour @ Vis@kh@p@tn@m

Tour @ Vis@kh@p@tn@m

I’d gone to Visakhapatnam in Dushera vacation for five days. As Visakhapatnam or Vizag is 25 hours from bhagalpur by train, we decided to go there on a short trip.
24th Oct 2012 – 
Train was at 1.30 pm! And day journey in sleeper class (AC had no seats left for reservation) was bad due to heat. But the scenery was beautiful. We reached on 25th Oct 2012 at 12:30 pm and after arriving to Vijayangaram we started with local sightseeing by 2x2 AC Deluxe to Bhimlipatnam, Rishikonda, Thotcakonda, Kailash Giri. The roads and the cleanliness of the city impressed us. Our driver was polite, pleasant and experienced but understood only Telgu.
Our last stop was Kailashgiri Park, a tourist spot developed at a height of 130 m overlooking the city of Vizag and facing the Bay of Bengal. There are various view points offering a panoramic view of the city and ocean. We thought to take a ride on toy train but it was too late. There are many food courts too. One can easily spend 2-3 hours enjoying the lush greenery and view from the park. The main attraction is the huge statue of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.

Statue of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati.

We reached in late night to the hotel where we had booked room. Service was average but food was bad.

Night view from hotel

26th Oct 2012- 
Our next destination was Araku Valley and Borra Caves.

Our train was at 7:00 a.m but it was too rush on the train so we decided go by road and we reached around 11:00 a.m
We enjoyed a lot in Araku Valley and Borra Caves .

Araku Valley

Borra Caves

Borra Caves comprise of million-year-old stalactite and stalagmite formations. Illumination of the caves has been done by APTDC. The 300 ft. thick roofed wonder spread over one square km., presents a breath-taking display of natural sculptures of Mother Earth from there we also visited to Padampuram Garden and Anantgiri. 

Coffee Plantation

Tribals performing their folk dance Dhimsa

We have also seen the Coffee Plantation.
We were back to the resort to see tribals perform their folk dance Dhimsa.

27th Oct 2012- 
Our next destination was NavyDockyard . There we have enjoyed on ship, seen missiles, rocket launcher ship like Ghariyal many other ships like Jyoti, INS Ranvir and many more. After taking lunch we went to the submarine museum. After decommissioning INS Kursura, the Govt spent like 6 crores hauling it ashore and making it a museum for public display, the only of its kind in SE Asia. Seeing so much machinery and torpedoes inside was just mind boggling!

INS Kursura

Then we went to R.K Beach(Ramakrishna Beach) Unlike Puri, the beach was quite clean. I felt so elated seeing the Bay of Bengal and beach, even in the scorching sun. On the horizon we could see ships and the Dolphin’s Nose which is the most prominent landmark of Vizag. This huge rock, 174 m in height and 358 m above sea level, is shaped like a dolphin’s snout, hence the name. The area around RK Beach is highly developed from tourism point of view. The statues and unique pillars really beautify the road along RK Beach.

R.K Beach(Ramakrishna Beach)

Rescue Team

Matsyadarshini

Our last stop was at the Matsyadarshini i.e. Fish Aquarium. It was simply wonderful to see all those species! It was hard taking snaps of moving fishes.


Then we came back to hotel, had our dinner, packed our stuff and went to sleep. Our trip ended next morning (i.e 28th Oct 2012)
when our train left Visakhapatnam station at 9:30 A.M. and reached Bhagalpur at 8:30 A.M (i.e on 29th Oct 2012)
We were exhausted and felt that 5 days is very short for visiting Visakhapatnam and enjoying it fully with rush