Papikondalu |
This had been a long overdue trip. I wanted to visit Papikondalu from a long time, and somehow we couldnt make it. For the uninitiated, Papikondalu is a stretch on river Godavari, through the eastern ghats. It is very famous for its scenic beauty. The trip starts and ends at Rajahmundry. There is a deviation for those interested to visit the temple city of Bhadrachalam, where Lord Rama, Sita and Lakshmana are said to have spent their 13th year of Vanavasam, and the place where Sita was abducted by Ravana.
We started from Hyd on Fri, 19th night, to Rjy by a special train from
Hyd-Vishakhapatnam. Reached Rajahmundry next day morning, visited my uncle and aunt there and then went to Tanuku to visit our relatives. Had lunch and spent some fun time with kids there.
Nursery at Kadiyam |
From there we went to Kadiyam, which is famous for its plant
nurseries and to meet our friends who came from Vijayawada by
road. We visited one nursery which was huge and had many varieties of
plants. I got tempted and bought a few, though I wasnt sure if they
would survive Hyd weather. We came back to the hotel.
Next day we started off from Rjy to Purushottapatnam to get
onto the launch to Papikondalu. The trip on the river was very nice,
beautiful sceneries. Breakfast and lunch were served
on the boat itself. We saw Devipatnam Police Station (of Alluri
SitaRamaraju fame) from the boat and had one stop to visit Gandi
Pochamma Temple.
Towing of boat |
On the way our boat had some engine problem and was
pushed for some time by another boat. Because of this we were behind
schedule and skipped visiting temple at Perantapalli. We reached
Perantapalli by 5pm to be transferred into a smaller boat to take us to
Pochavaram. By the time we reached Pochavaram, it was pretty dark and
from the boat drop to the vehicle was a mini-adventure.
Pochavaram |
Bhadrachalam Temple |
Parnasala |
Started our return journey towards Vijayawada. On the way
visited Madde Anjeneyaswamy temple at Jangareddy Gudem, where the idol
is in a tree.
Sundial at Dwaraka Tirumala |
Next stop was Dwaraka Tirumala or Chinna Tirupati. I liked
the place a lot, it was very serene and the temple was also very
beautiful. Another attraction for us was father-in-law had installed a
Sundial here. We spent sometime at that site and reached Vijayawada by
8pm. Took train at 11:30pm to Hyd and were back to our sweet home by 6am
on Tuesday.
very nice discription of the trip. travel in Godavari by boat is a real experience for the nature lovers.
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