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| Near to the Beach, that runs parallel to the road |
The clock ticks past 8 when we wake up and the alarm which supposedly rang at 5-30 surely fell on deaf ears. We obviously had a plan to start with – capture the sunrise. But now that it was already done, we were really hungry and thought of indulging and ordered Aloo Paranthas for the second consecutive day for breakfast. This was supposed to be a “cool” holiday, so what else but relax,indulge and then relax some more.We walked up to the balcony and the balmy sea breeze hit straight on the face. Winters are quite differents from the summers and at the sea, it feels all the more due to the lack of moisture.We break fast on the balcony, sitting idly and watching the sea and begin to ponder what to do next.There are several options – bathe in the sea for a good amount of time,visit Jagannath Temple or drive to Konark or Chilika. After some thinking, we opt to drive down to Konark, laze around the Chandrabhaga beach and pay a visit to the Sun Temple.
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Now mind that Puri can get really hot during the day, even though we are in the thick of winter in most parts of India.We start the car and are soon on the Puri – Konark Marine Drive. For the first 10 kilometers we were searching for the sea, but later on we resigned to the fact that the forests wont allow that.It was an
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| Puri-Konark Marine Drive |
excellent drive, almost felt like we were continuing from where we had left off yesterday.Its two laned, but the verdant greeneries on both the sides, with an occassional stream at times vastly complimented the road.Speed needs to be kept low due to rare animal crossings – even though we didnot encounter any.There were a few stretches where the trees had gone greyish in colour and it looked like absolute fall colours having descended on the place.
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| Wheels of the Chariot – At Sun Temple,Konark |
We travel further further and it was then that the sea peeps into us. And from then on, its the sea for company for the rest of the journey. This road, without doubt remains one of the better “looking” roads that I have driven till date. You can see the waves lashing on the shore and the blue colour of the sea, browns of the sand and the greeneries of the shrubs look stunning.
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| On The Puri-Konark Marine Drive |
We visit the Sun Temple, capture the wheels of the chariot, lunch at Chandrabhaga hotel for a plain Thali and then drive back home.
The evenings at Puri are all the same, every day, but what I love about them is the classic mix of sitting on the shore, watching the waves, capturing the sun set and a visit to Swargadwar – all done in the evening hours, almost every day of our stay.
I had visited Puri a couple of times earlier, but the last time, so to speak was a good 18 years back. I remember, parents, sister and myself used to sit on the shore and my sister and me used to play with the sand and dig down the sand to pick up sea shells and collect them. There were jhal muri and badam and chae that used to be sold on the shore and we used to while away time munching them.
We dined at the open air restaurant and went to sleep – only to wake up the next and last day in Puri.
