ODISHA .........................THE LAND OF JAGANATH.

LET'S BACKPACK THEN.......

Odisha (formerly Orissa), an eastern Indian state on the Bay of Bengal, is known for its tribal cultures and its many ancient Hindu temples. The capital, Bhubaneswar, is home to hundreds of temples, notably the intricately-carved Mukteshvara. The Lingaraj Temple complex, dating to the 11th century, is set around sacred Bindusagar Lake.

i think the first question that might rose here is how to reach the lord jaganath? so, lets start with an introduction without wasting much time.

How to reach Puri Jagannath Temple

The nearest airport is Bhubaneswar, 60 km.

Reaching Puri through Rail -

Puri is a terminus on the East Coast Railway having direct express and super fast train links with New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Okha, Ahmedabad, Tirupati etc. Some important trains are Kolkata (Howrah) Puri Howrah Express, Jagannath Express; New Delhi; Purushottam Express. Khurda Road Station, 44 km, from Puri is convenient rail head for train to Chennai and Western India.

Reaching Puri through Road -

The bus stand near the Gundicha Temple provides connections to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, service every 10-15 minutes. Minibuses to Konark leave every 20-30 minutes and also from Jatiababa Chhak. There are direct buses for Kolkata and Visakhapatnam.

For Getting around puri -

Shree Jagannath Temple is about 3 km. away from Bus Stop and Railway Station. Auto rickshaws, Town Bus are frequently available in the town for easy communication.

So we started our journey on 12th march 2016 from new delhi. You can commute their by either train or plane.
you can easily find the details of trains at irctc website
 I took the flight of indigo airlines at 3:45 pm and it dropped us there at 5:45 pm,it was a 2hr 10 min journey.
   after getting down at THE BIJU PATNAIK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT we took a cab to jaganath puri. you can book a cabs to jaganath puri through makemytrip.com or yatra.com. 
The ac cab may charge you about 1300-1900 rs.

The distance between bhubaneshwar and jaganath puri is approximately 61 km.many people choose to travel by buses which is also available at a reasonable cost off 60-70 rs for non ac. you can also opt for red bus and other buses that offer journey from bhubaneshvar airport to the jaganath puri.

The same day we reached jaganath puri at 9:00 pm but as the temple is about to close so we decided to visit the nearby beach that is puri beach. it was the best start of your journey i guess. although puri beach is getting crowded these days as million of devotees come to offer their greetings to lord jaganath. the major attractions of puri beach is the scriptures made on sand by vilas nayak and group,they generally put their work near the hotel area of may fair waves at 7:00am -9:00 am.

VISITING THE MAIN TEMPLE

sunday 13th march 2016

 At morning 6:00 am we headed towards the main temple.By 8:30 am we were done with the splendid darshans of the 3 deities thee lord jaganath,the goddess subhadra and the lord balbhadra...there was nothing more meaningful in life than having a darshan of the lord. Jai  Jaganath.if you are visiting don't forget to take prasadam and specially khaja .

NOTE:i had never seen such instructions before at any temple but Muslims and Christians are not allowed inside the temple.Even Smt. Indira Gandhi was held before the temple gate. from that time onward one inscription of lord jaganath was put near the temple gate for devotees of these religions.

FOR LADIES: Outside the temple area there are many shops of ORISSA HANDLOOMS ,where you can buy orissa cotton suits and saris at good price.** condition is that you should be good at bargaining.

CHILKA LAKE

9:00 am - we decided to  visit the chilka lake

Chilika Lake is a brackish water lagoon, spread over the Puri, Khurda and Ganjam districts of Odisha state on the east coast of India, at the mouth of the Daya River, flowing into the Bay of Bengal, covering an area of over 1,100 km².
people say iit is the home for dolphins but sorry i didn't witnessed a one.......rofl☺ .But the area that it covers and the blue water is worth watching. from the parking area of chilka to the main lake you have to take boat.
 getting food is bit difficult there as the kind of restaurants are made their the food prepared by them might not be liked by your taste buds....loll

we  got back from chilka by  1;30 pm .
in the evening we saw gundicha,puri beach again and again had the darshan of the lord and got back to our hotel room.

14th march 2016
8:00 am 
we started our journey towards bhuvneshwar.

RAMCHANDI TEMPLE:

Its located near the konark beach area its a beautiful temple .if you take a cab your driver will itself drove you there as they say that  people have a lot of faith in this temple.


KONARK TEMPLE:

Konark Sun Temple is a 13th-century CE sun temple at Konark about 35 kilometres northeast from Puri on the coastline of Odisha, India. The temple is attributed to king Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty about 1250 CE.
IT REPRESENTS THE CHARIOT OF THE SUN. Its a beautiful ancient build .The temple was granted the status of WORLD HERITAGE SITE by UNESCO and is now under the preservation  work.

LINGRAJA TEMPLE:

 By 3:30 pm we reached at bhubaneshwar . our stay was at bhubaneshwar club located near the airport area. we decided to visit the lingaraja temple in the evening .
The Lingaraja temple is the largest temple in Bhubaneswar. The central tower of the temple is 180 ft (55 m) tall. The temple represents the quintessence of the Kalinga Architecture and culminating the medieval stages of the architectural tradition at Bhubaneswar.^[4] The temple is believed to be built by the kings from the Somavamsi dynasty, with later additions from the Ganga rulers. The temple is built in the Deula style that has four components namely, vimana (structure containing the sanctum), jagamohana (assembly hall), natamandira (festival hall) and bhoga-mandapa (hall of offerings), each increasing in the height to its predecessor. The temple complex has 50 other shrines and is enclosed by a large compound wall.

mobile phones are not allowed inside the temple area**

RAM MANDIR NEAR THE MARKET AREA OF BHUBANESHWAR 

Ram Mandir, in the heart of Bhubaneswar, near Kharavel Nagar, Janpath, is a temple housing beautiful images of Lord Rama, Lord Lakshman, and Goddess Sita. The evening prayer(AARTI ) is worth attending.
by 9:30 we get back to our club.

15th march 2016
As we put up near to the airport it took just 20 minutes for us to reach the airport.morning 11:00 we took a flight back to new Delhi.
 Approximately it took 48000rs for 4 of us to complete our journey from new Delhi to jaganath puri including all the expenses of lodging,eating flight and cab fares.

** COMPARE THE CAB FARES WITH LOCAL TRANSPORTERS AS WELL BEFORE OPTING.
** BOOK HOTEL ROOMS NEAR TO THE MAIN TEMPLE.
**TRY TO OPT FOR PRIOR FLIGHT BOOKINGs MONTHS BACK,IT WILL COST YOU LESS.
**TRY TO OPT FOR EARLY MORNING FLIGHTS THEY GENERALLY CHARGE LESS.

it was a very beautiful journey on religious grounds.....hope jaganath calls you soon to have his darshans..................
JAI JAGANATH.

stay blessed and keep exploring.