I am familiar with the name Waltair from my childhood as my father used to visit Andhra University in Waltair frequently for official work. I accompanied sometimes in childhood. In 1999, I arranged a trip to Waltair with my family and parents. My daughter was only one year old at that time.
The present name of Waltair is Vishakapatnam also known as Vizag. Visakhapatnam, located in the Andhra Pradesh state in India ,the name is derived from God Vishaka, the God of Valour. In the past it was a small fishing village. It was a part of Kalinga empire in 260BC. The British converted the village into a port. Now, it has become an important port of eastern coast of India.
In the past, we reached Waltair on a morning of October 1999 where Dr. P. Reddy , a professor from a college received us at railway station. In the evening we visited the famous beach, R.K.Beach.
Next day we hired a car for sightseeing. We reached famous Simachalam temple at the top of Simachalam hill. It is the temple of Lord Vishnu ( Narashima). One can find a man-lion incarnation of Lord Vishnu. We offered Puja. The environment is very good—hills covered with green trees. We left this hill for city. We reached another hill ‘Kailash Giri’. A large statue of Lord Shiva and Parbati is on the top of the hill. The natural scenario of the Vishakapatnam ,surrounded by sea is beautiful from this spot. We left this place by the car for Rishikonda beach. It is a natural beach—silent with no crowd, no house. We saw the beautiful waves of the sea touching the sands of the beach. But in our recent visit, we observed a vast change of the beach—many hotels near the beach and crowds at the beach.
We took lunch in a beautiful village themed mud house restaurant ,’Sea Inn’—the South Indian food was very tasty and cheap. We could not find this restaurant in my recent visit. After lunch we went to VUDA park. The park is made and maintained by VUDA ( Development Authority). We sat on benches under tree as it was very hot at that time.
Next we visited Ross hill. It is the highest hill of Waltair. In 1964 Mr Ross made the first house on the hill which was then converted into a catholic church. The hill is beautiful and the view of the beach, city and the port from the hill is amazing. We saw the catholic church and saw the beautiful murals describing the life of Jesus.
Next day, Prof. D .Satyanarayana , Professor, Andhra University and a close friend of father, invited us to his house. At morning he came with his car. We visited some temples of Waltair with him—Jaganath Temple, Ramkrishna mission, Panduranga temple. Then we reached Indira Gandhi Zoo which is situated at the outskirt of the city. It was the second largest zoo in (then) Andhra Pradesh covering an area of 450 acres. We walked a few areas of the zoo to explore animals and found elephants, deers, peacocks etc. My parents and Dr. Satyanarayana took rest on the benches under tree while we were walking and looking the animals. After spending one hour in the zoo, we left for Dr. Satyanarayana’s residence.
We reached his place at noon. We got a very cordial welcome from his family . After talking and gossiping for an hour we took lunch with them. Tasty and delicious foods were served to us. We were surprised to see their hospitality shown to us. In our recent visit they also invited us. Post lunch, Dr. Satyanarayana came to to drop us at our hotel.
Recent Re-visit in 2018
In our recent visit to Waltair ,we stayed in the same hotel as our previous visit. The hotel is recently renovated and we could not recognize it in a glance. We noted a lot of changes and development of the city over the years.
Next day we took a hired car (like previous tour) for sight seeing. We followed same route as 1999 visit. At first we visited Simachalam temple and offered puja. There are some changes outside the temple —car parking area, cloak room etc. Shops and stalls were not existing near the temple( as we saw last time).
From Simachalam we again started for Kailash Giri hill. This place is beautifully redesigned than my last visit— gardens with colourful flowers ,floral watch, toy train and rope way service, a view point, WIFI service etc. are noted addition at Kailash Giri. We took a view of the beautiful city and the sea beaches from the view point on the hill. We left this place for Rishikonda beach.
After half an hour we reached Rishikonda beach. The beach was not quiet and calm as seen in our last visit with parents in 1999 but found many hawkers and stalls selling different items on the beach. There are many hotels and resorts built near the beach. However the beach has its own beauty and attractive environment.
Next we started for the city and reached VUDA park. The park is more or less same as last time visit. We left by the car for the remaining sites of today- we reached the fishing harbor -it is one of the largest fishing harbour in India. Many trawlers and ships were standing at the harbour, fishes were being dried on road.
Then we left for Ross hill—reached the church at hill top. This is also very beautifully decorated than as we saw in last visit. From the top of the hill we took the view of Port and ships waiting there for loading. There are boundary walls around the church which were not there in our last visit. From this place, we returned to the hotel at evening.
Next morning we left hotel by the same car to visit some other places at Waltair. We took marine drive road , enjoyed scenic beauty of the sea and reached Indira Gandhi Zoo. At our last 1999 visit, we were unable to explore this totally because kids were very small and my father and mother could not walk and explore this large area. This time we started walking through the roads looking at the animals and birds. We walked around 5 Km and saw almost every zone of the zoo. We left the zoo for city and reached R.K.Beach.
We then came to see the Kursuna Submarine museum. This is the only submarine museum in south east Asia. The INS Kursuna submarine was in the fleet of submarines of Indian Navy up to 28 February,2001. After decommisioning, It was converted into a museum for public at R.K.Beach. It was not built during our last visit. As we entered the submarine, we were surprised to know the mechanical, technical components of the submarine, arms used by army, living arrangements of army personnel’s. It is a very informative and interesting place to see. One must see this. After this we strolled at the beach and before evening returned to hotel.
That evening ,we had invitation from Prof. Satyanarayana ( like previous tour). His son came with car for us and we reached his beautiful house by the beach. We were glad to meet them again, had several conversations and dinner with them. The food was delicious like the previous visit. At 10 pm his son again dropped us back at the hotel.
A comparative description of my two visits to Waltair is given here. This time we found the crowd of tourists was more than our previous visit. The city is very clean, attractive with natural beauty of sea and hills, local people here are very honest , polite (which is rarely found in any other city) and helpful. One can have a variety of South Indian cuisine here at very affordable price.
So, make a plan to visit Waltair in your next vacation .👍
Let me know your new normal visit to Waltair. 😎
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Travels by Arnab De 