Temples in Andhra Pradesh are just perfect to find serenity...

Everyone has his own believes and desires. Sometimes, in order to achieve utmost tranquillity, we don’t mind visiting the far most spiritual places and sometimes, the state of calmness come naturally to us by just watching an innocent smile of a child. For instance, I find my peace of mind by visiting all those places which are closer to nature like waterfalls, green mountains, virgin valleys, calm beaches and ancient temples. From last few months, I was not able to take time out for myself and with every passing day, I was becoming crankier. So, I decided to take a few days off myself and gave a visit to my maternal aunt who lives in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh. I remember when I was a kid, my aunt told me that this place - Kurnool was used to be a state capital of Andhra and today, people come here just to visit the famous temples of Andhra Pradesh like Sri Yagantiswamy Temple in Banagapalle mandal, Kurnool.

Temples in Andhra Pradesh

I started my journey with Sri Yagantiswamy Temple, the famous Lord Shiva Temple in Kurnool. The main feature of this temple is its Pushkarini (a small pond inside the premises of the temple). The amazing fact about this holy pond is that no one really knows how the water flows out from the bottom of hill to Pushkarini in all the seasons the whole year and moreover, the water of this pond never dries out. Few also believe that the stone Nandiswara (Basavanna) is constantly increasing in its size. Legend has it that once saint Agasthya came here and took bath in the Agasthya Pushkarini. The water of this Pushkarini is sweet in taste as it is directly coming from the hills. I also visited Veera Brahmam Caves, Venkteshwara Caves, Agasya Caves.

Next, I decided to visit two other most famous temples of Andhra Pradesh Ahobilam and Mahanandi, which were just a few kilometres away from Kurnool (about 70 kms). Apart from these two temples, I got to know about Ista Kameswari temple in Srisailam, another most famous Shiva Temple situated inside forest of Srisailam. This Shiva temple is only accessed by a few ways: firstly through commander jeep, secondly by Srisailam dam and last way to reach this temple is through rope way to patalaganga.

I decided to visit Ista Kameswari temple in Srisailam by rope way to patalaganga and get a chance to adore the scenic beauty of Krishna River having Nallamala forests on both sides of its river bed. Since, I love eco tourism and this trip was not less than that after getting a view of Nallamala forest. After all, how can one miss the chance of reconnecting with nature?

Get lured by Golden Beaches of Andhra Pradesh...

I was very much aware that Andhra Pradesh is also known as “Rice Bowl of India”, but a few days back I came to know about it’s another describing name i.e. “land of golden beaches”. I have heard this many times before, that if you want to enjoy the beach parties then go to Goa but if you just want to get away from the hustle-bustle of daily life of big cities and just want to relax by rolling in the sea sand; then Beaches in Andhra Pradesh is a perfect place for you.

If you are an avid traveller and travelling for you is like breathing, then this gracious state of India can offer you much more than your expectations. This state is blessed with nature’s beautiful landscapes like the scenic Araku Valley, dense forests along golden beaches. Anyone who loves eco-tourism will definitely enjoy his/her visit to the land of graciousness.
Last month, when I decided to explore Andhra Pradesh, I never thought that this excursion to Andhra Pradesh would become the most memorable trip of my life. Being a nature lover, I decided to go to the most popular hill station of Andhra Pradesh - Araku Valley in Ananathagiri Hills. Araku Valley showcases the most mesmerizing panoramic view of dense forests situated at both sides of valley having small streams generated from the natural waterfalls. Lush green valleys and picturesque gardens around this valley make it more adorable. 

Beaches in Andhra Pradesh

  
On the other hand, there was a long list of golden beaches in Andhra Pradesh to start with. It took me a little longer, but finally I decided to visit Ramakrishna Beach in Visakhapatnam. This beautiful beach is a part of East Coast of India, commonly known as RK beach. Although the beach in itself is enough to spend a whole day rolling out in beach sand but one can also visit other tourist attractions situated near RK beach such as War Memorial, Submarine Museum, Aquarium, Visakha and statues of famous personalities.

Second beach on my list was Bheemunipatnam Beach. This beach is just 25 km away from Visakhapatnam (Vizag) and is locally known as Bhimli Beach. This beach is considered as the safest beach for surfing.
From the beginning, when I started exploring beaches in Andhra Pradesh, I knew that I would not be able to visit all the beaches but on the same time I had never thought that I would get a chance to even explore some beaches. Well, I was running out of the time and have to decide the last beach from the long list. So, I decided to visit Rishikonda Beach which is about 10 km away from Visakhapatnam and is very famous for its water sports activities like water skiing and wind surfing.

Visiting Rishikonda Beach turned out to be a good choice and as planned I returned to Delhi on the next day with many memorable moments. 

Bollywood is heading to the famous tourist places in Andhra Pradesh!!!

Have you ever observed that several tourist places in Andhra Pradesh have been a major part of interest for our ‘Hindi film fraternity’ apart from the famous Ramoji Film city in Andhra Pradesh? Most of the popular songs and scenes of equally famous Bollywood movies has been shoot here which definitely has promoted tourism in AP.

tourist places in Andhra Pradesh

Ramoji Film City is also a major tourist attraction in itself. It is also one of the most visited Hyderabad tourist places. Over the years, this place has not only contributed in the local film industry but also become a major tourism and recreation centre in Hyderabad. It is the largest Film City in the world. There is also an amusement park inside the Ramoji Film City along with other artificial as well as natural attractions.

If you are an avid follower of Salman Khan, then you must have remembered all the fight scenes as well songs of his movies. The famous fight scene of ‘Wanted’, in which Salman single handed defeated all the goons just after Ayesha proposes Salman, was shot in Golconda Fort situated in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. 

Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

Another famous scene followed by a song was of a movie called ‘Bewafa (2005)’. If you remember this movie, then you must also remember a scene followed by a song of this movie when Akshay and Kareena meets each other just before song Ishq chupta nahi...was also shooted here in Golconda Fort.
Again, ‘Mujhse Shaadi Karogi’ is just another song of Salman Khan which has also featured some of the most famous Hyderabad tourist places like Qutb Shahi Tombs, Hyderabad and Sanghi Temple, Sanghi Nagar, Andhra Pradesh.

Time to explore history of Andhra by visiting the historical places in Andhra Pradesh

Don’t restrict yourself with pre-conceived notions about the history of a place, it’s always interesting to explore things by your own. Although we would not be able to retrieve some hidden facts but it is always fun to keep looking for some. Have you ever noticed, when you meet a person, you start portraying an image of that person on the basis of his or her past which sometimes this image turned out to be just an illusion and sometime our best judgment. The more you know about someone’s past the more the picture (image) gets clear in your mind. Same kind of calculation we often do, before visiting to any of the historical places on the basis of the stories related to these places. Sometimes, we get mesmerised by these stories and decide to explore the place or ruins of that place or sometimes we just ignore them. So this time, I decided to visit historical places in Andhra Pradesh as some old-age notation related to Kohinoor was luring me to itself.

All that we know is Kohinoor was founded in India but a very few people know that it was founded in Golconda Fort situated in Andhra Pradesh. So just to satisfy my urge to explore almost all the significant historical places in Andhra Pradesh, I started my journey from Golconda Fort. After this fort, I visited some other equally interesting historical places situated in Andhra Pradesh such as Char Minar - considered as the Taj Mahal of Hyderabad, Golconda Fort - Kohinoor was founded in this fort, history of Hyderabad begins with the establishment of Qutib Shahi dynasty, so how could I forget to visit the renowned Qutb Shahi Tombs.

Just to explore some other historical facts about Andhra Pradesh, I visited various museums and monuments of Andhra Pradesh such as Kondapalli Fort, Purani Haveli built by the first Nizam of Hyderabad, Nizam's Museum, Salar Jung Museum, Victoria Museum and Amaravati Museum among others.

Plan your next trip to explore new dimensions of various monuments and historical places in Andhra Pradesh!!

A foodie can die for Festival Feast...

We all have our moments related to food and dinning, today, I am going to share mine with you.

I was just another college student with few aims and dreams in my eyes. When I was in first year, I always wanted to explore all parts of Delhi. When I got promoted to second year, I started thinking about my career and my wish list got a brand new point in it, which was, I want to do something big in my life. Finally, I managed to get into my third and final year of my college life and by that time I was very clear with my dreams and desires which I was going to follow for my rest of the life, which were:

1.    I wanted to explore world on my own
2.    I wanted to learn all forms of dance
3.    Wanted to taste all well known and delicious (and spicy) cuisines available in the world.

Because of which by the end of third year, I already turned into a food lover. Very often, a strange thought used to strangle me that thought was “Am I living to eat or I eat because I want to live?” 

So this time, I decided to go to a food festival for the very first time and was equally excited about it. That food festival was part of Delhi Celebrations for completing its 100 years as capital. I still remember the time, when I entered BKS Marg in Connaught Place, the aroma of food grabbed me and forced me to commit this lovely crime of tasting all the food/ cuisines available over there. 

cuisines of Andhra Pradesh

The ambience of that food festival was vibrant and yet traditional. The organiser of that food festival had tried hard to give it an overlook of a village-fair. There were some 50 plus dishes available from all across India which was proudly showcasing the rich food culture of all Indian States.

But the only state’s food which attracted me the most was Andhra Pradesh’s festival food and some other Andhra Pradesh Cuisine. I came to know about this Sojjapplau which is very similar to Obbattu with dal filling (a Karnataka Dish) used to be made at the time of festivals or at other auspicious occasions. Filling for Sojjapplau is made of Rawa Kesari. It is stuffed with sweet dough, patted to circles and cooked. On the contrary, everyone knows that Andhra Pradesh is famous for its spicy cuisines but Sojjapplau is sweet in taste and also a part of Festival Thali.

Dhapalam, Murukulu, Poori, Vellulli Podi are some other cuisines of Andhra Pradesh which is only made at the time of festivals in Andhra Pradesh.

Well, in the end, I will conclude by writing what we eat does not matter that much rather what matters the most is the person with whom we share our meal and some time those unforgettable moments are hard to recreate and even harder to explain :)