Day 1 - Bhubaneswar Local Sightseeing

After a hurried breakfast, we rushed to Panthanivas, the office of OTDC on Lewis road, which is about 4kms from Priya Hotel. We enquired about the trips available and as had been decided booked the local sightseeing tour for 29th. An AC tempo traveller had been arranged and it had pick up point at Railway station also. There were only 8 people on board - a family of 3, an elderly couple, and we both. The cost was Rs. 250 per head.

First we went to Nandankanan Zoological Park, which is about 10 kms from the city. The main attraction of this zoo is the white tiger. Other common animals and reptiles were also there as in other zoos and includes the Kanjia lake aswell.

Next, we came to the caves on the twin hills - Khandagiri and Udayagiri. These caves belongs to Jain munis of ancient times which dates back to 2nd Century BC. The main caves at Udayagiri are the double storied Rani Gumpha (Queen's Cave), the Hathi Gumpha (Elephant Cave) and Ganesha Gumpha. All the 3 caves have artistic carvings.

On the opposite Khandagiri hill, a Jain temple is present atop the hill. We rock climbed the hill and from the top the city of Bhubaneswar could be seen as well as the entire Udayagiri caves.

For info on Khandagiri & Udayagiri caves: click here.

Next, we proceeded towards Dhauligiri which is towards the south of Bhubaneswar. Legend has it that King Asoka renounced his bloodthirsty campaign and turned to Buddhism after the Kalinga war at this place. The rock edicts of Dhauli stands looking down on the plains where the gruesome war was waged on Kalinga. The river was then filled with blood and Asoka felt so bad at the sight, so named the river as Daya. The edicts here are as old as 3rd Century BC, and well preserved! The Shanti Stupa or the peace pagoda, is built here through the Indo-Japanese collaboration. For more info, click here.

At Dhauli, we had lunch at an OTDC restaurant which was not good for the price we paid. Later, we proceeded towards the old town of Bhubaneswar where some of the old famous temples are located. First we went to Lingaraj temple, which is undoubtedly the biggest among the temples and the oldest one. There are numerous Lingas all over the complex around the main temple. And, majority of them were located underground. The temple tower (Gopura) is full of beautiful carvings. It has, in fact, been described as 'time quintessence of Orissan architecture'. Unfortunately, photography is prohibited inside the temple. More info here.

From there, we went to the 3 temple site which are very close to each other - Mukteshwar, Siddeswar and Kedar Gowri.

The small and elegant Mukteswara temple (c. AD 950) is often referred to as the "miniature gem of Orissan architecture". The 'torana' (arched gateway) of the Mukteswara is an extraordinarily beautiful sculpture including elaborate scrolls, graceful female figures, monkeys, peacocks, and a wealth of delicate and lovely decorative detail. Several small shrines are noticed within the compound, many with lingam inside. Details here.

Finally we concluded our day trip by visiting the Orissa state museum where ancient edicts, coins, scripts and writings and other stuffs are preserved. Its worth a watch for historians.

We were back at the Railway station by 5:15 PM and our first day was almost over. We enquired about the next day tour & the OTDC guy told that there was a special tour to Chilika Lake and Narayani temple only on Sundays, lunch inclusive. We booked the tour and were the first to book it. The cost of this tour was Rs. 400 per person.

Thinking of what to do for the rest of the evening, we decided to check out for any theatre for any hindi movie. To our luck, there was a theatre very close by to our hotel called Kesari (I'd googled it before). We went there by a rick and were surprised to see that RA.One was playing there and the 3D version of the movie was about to start at 5:45 PM. We were lucky enough to get the tickets for only Rs. 60 per head and went on to watch the movie. For a SRK movie, this was the best price ;). Movie was all bakwaas as expected, but some time pass for us. After the movie, we walked to our hotel, had dinner and slept.