Travel Back in Time
It is best to sleep during the long drive from Bhubaneshwar airport to Gopalpur-on-Sea. The endless rice paddies, cows and their cousins, and colorful garments worn by women of all ages, are novel and even fascinating sights, but the Orissa countryside can prove to be somewhat monotonous even within the first hour. Moreover, traffic conditions and road habits will leave you wishing desperately for your own air bag, shoulder pads, and a helmet!
Why should you undertake such hazards in the first place? After all, Goa is also in India, on the sea, and has delightful places to stay within minutes from the airport. However, the colors and spirit of the Bay of Bengal are quite unlike anything you can find in the steady calm of the Arabian Sea. The coastline is different as well, though it takes a discerning eye to notice it. However, the defining difference between Goa and Gopalpur-on-Sea is in terms of time. Goa is contemporary while Gopalpur is medieval at best. Now that is not a disparaging comparison, for traveling back in time is not normally within mortal powers.
The eastern sea board of India was once the seat of glorious kingdoms, ancient customs, and high learning as well. Dance was a major form of the performing arts, and community life was far ahead most other places on the globe. The Indian State of Orissa was famous for its seafaring explorers, and one can see their imprints as far way as in Vietnam and Indonesia to this day.
That is the magic of Gopalpur. The sea-side town, which is more of a village by contemporary standards, is a wonderful museum of the best of the erstwhile Kalinga kingdom. No one can be sure about the circumstances of long gone ancestors, but Gopalpur must be close to how they once lived. The community of fisher people are especially enchanting to observe, and with whom to interact, if you have an interpreter.
Basic food, clean water, and places to bathe and sleep are inevitable concerns when one indulges in any form of tourism, but fortunately Gopalpur has a choice between modest lodgings and a luxurious property of the international group of Oberoi hotels.
A surprise near home!
How would you like to spend quality time on a tiny island, surrounded only by pristine ocean waters, stretches of sand as far as the eye can see, soothing vegetation, and no unwanted human company? This is not about a remote part of the globe, far away from civilization, but in an integral part of Sunny Florida!
Paying it Safe with Hotels
You have to travel at short notice to a new place. Adventure beckons at a destination about which you have just read or heard. A distant relative, or a friend, invites you to a social occasion, which you are tempted to attend. Perhaps a spot of wanderlust just hit you, and you want to take off on a refreshing break in a completely new scene.
The Allure of Sunny Beaches
I point my face into the sun and feel a brief caress of dry heat whip over my brow, the phrase “Welcome to Agadir” still echoing in my ears. Something about this city cast a spell on me and I keep coming back.
In Search of the Old West, Arizona Style
Whether you were born in the United States, or you are a visitor from some far-away land, chances are your knowledge of the Old West is limited to the pages of a history book or a Louis L’Amour paperback.