On 19th June 2016 Detour Odisha , a 6 month old startup travel initiative providing authentic curated theme tours and experiences in a responsible and sustainable manner across Odisha organized The Heritage Walk in Bhubaneswar .
With a history of over 3000 years of rich cultural heritage Bhubaneswar is aptly called The Temple City of India where over 2000 temples stand in clusters – big and small. This is bit of Land is of Shiva ! There is no better place to get an insight into the story and heritage of Bhubaneswar than its Old Town city complex.
With over 27 participants the Heritage Walk was a successful endeavor by Detour Odisha to showcase the rich and vibrant heritage of the temple city . The weather was near perfect after a heavy shower in the night . The stage was set in the early hours for the first ever organized Heritage Walk for the local city photographers, bloggers and heritage lovers. After a quick registration and intro session the participants with their local Guide , individual tags , heritage route map and a bottle of water were all set to Walk !
The 10th century Mukteswar Temple was our starting point. The term ‘Gem’ becomes hackneyed while talking about the temples of Bhubaneswar. But certaintly Mukteswar is a gem. The first thing to draw one’s attention is its elegant and superb arch gate. It appears as if it has been finished by jewelers and not sculptors. Adjoining Siddheswar and Parsurameswar Temples were also greatly admired for their intricate carvings and legends. The Local Guide – Satya Swarup Mishra gave charming explanations into the story behind a Buddha carved into these Temples, amorous couples and the reason for their depiction in Temples and many more . We made our way through bylanes to uncover more temples seated beautifully amidst the local dwellings such as Kotitirtheswar Temple,Swarnajaleswar ,Subarneswar,Sampurnajaleswar . Gradually our walk opened straight into the beautiful and vast Bindusagar Lake . The ghats beckoned our photographers with its charming silence and aura . Next essence of Temple cooking was showcased by our visit to the Ananta Vasudeva Temple which was a breathtaking experience as we interacted and documented the kitchen activity inside with scores of rustic kitchens , ancestral temple cooks cooking in hot furnaces , earthen pots filled with Odia deliciacies , all set to be offered to God and his devotees . Later we set off to the vantage point of the Lingaraj Temple to get an overview of one of the famous and highly revered temples of Bhubaneswar. The walk continued into the streets with our participants engaging with the local street market vendors and their fresh produce and other items for symbolic offerings to Gods ! . We headed off further into a small bylane to visit the Temple ruins of the Sari temple and Sanskrit Gurukulam and Matha . It was a perfect palce to take a break and engage the Group with our Google ‘Local Guide’Community moderator , Odisha – Mr Sourav Nanda where he explained about increasing the visibility of a place and its story by uploading pictures , tagging concepts in a effective way through Google products . We headed down along the Ghats of Bindusagar and ended our Heritage Walk with spectacular views of the past glory of the Old City and its Temples from the well preserved Medicinal Garden also called The Ekamravan. IT was the perfect zone for the Group to relax and spend some time in silence absorbing the essence of the entire Heritage experience amidst Nature !
The Walk was highly appreciated by all the participants and it inspired the Group to explore more such experiences across Odisha in the future.
Did you know Bhubaneswar Buzz is only portal covering Odisha to have more than 13,000 followers (consistent) in top 3 Social media platforms i.e. Facebook,Twitter and Instagram
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