When you live in a large city that is pretty much a concrete jungle, you forget what the world looks like beyond the city limits… you have no idea how beautiful the scenery is, where your food comes from and how people live in the country side. So, when we had an opportunity to do a weekend trip, we chose to go to the coastal area of Andhra Pradesh and explore a small slice of it.
For this trip, we decided to drive from Hyderabad, India to give us an opportunity to stop and explore the villages along the way. Our night halt was going to be at Dindi on the first night and Bhimavaram on the second night.
Day 1 – Hyderabad to Dindi
The journey from Hyderabad to Dindi takes about 10 hours, not counting the breaks in-between. We started after eating breakfast with the intention of reaching Vijayawada around lunch time. Along the way, we stopped at a rest stop called “7 Food Court” near Suryapet for a quick break. We reached Vijayawada well before lunch time, so we decided to visit the Kanaka Durga Temple. We were lucky and the visit went very smoothly and quickly. Next we had lunch.
After lunch we proceeded towards Dindi. Due to some minor roadwork the journey took a little bit longer than expected. We reached the hotel in Dindi around 6pm. After settling in, we had our dinner and called it a night.
Day 2 – Antervedi – Bhimavaram
The next morning, we had a quick breakfast and headed to Antervedi. The drive was stunning…. beautiful fields and coconut groves. It was harvest time, so you could see the farmers hard at work. Once we reached Antervedi, we first visited the Lord Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple. It is a beautiful temple and spending some time here was well worth it.
Next, we headed to the banks of River Godavari. There, we were able to hire a boat and head towards the sea. We were able to go close enough to see how the Godavari merges with the Bay of Bengal. There is spot along the bank where you can see it as well but we did not venture there as the kids were too young.
We then headed to villages near Bhimavaram. This part of the journey was to explore the ancestral lands and give the kids some history lessons. It was amazing to learn (for me as well) about villagers’ day to day activities, the challenges that they face and how they enjoy life. We had an opportunity to also visit the temples within the village and understand their importance.
Towards evening we headed to Bhimavaram for our night halt.
Day 3 – Bhimavaram to Hyderabad
After breakfast, we headed back towards Hyderabad. We stopped again at Vijayawada. This time, we decided to check out the River Krishna Barrage in Vijayawada and then Undavalli Caves. The caves are well maintained and seeing the greenery from there was awesome.
After lunch in Vijayawada, we headed back to Hyderabad and reached home around 6pm.
Highlights
For most of the family, this was our first trip into the interiors of Andhra Pradesh and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. The merging of a major river with the sea was a spectacular sight. The villages and people were simply amazing.
If there was one regret, I would say, I was surprised and saddened by the garbage lining the roads. I sincerely hope manufacturing companies, people and local governments wake up quickly and act before it is too late.
Wandering Tales Travel Dreams 