Tour to Andhra Pradesh (Lepakshi- Yaganti- Gandikota fort- Belum caves - Siddhvatam fort)

Tour to Andhra Pradesh (Lepakshi- Yaganti-  Gandikota fort- Belum caves - Siddhvatam fort)
Day1, 28 September 18

Tour to the Hidden Grand Canyon of India started with a rail journey, Boarded Nagarcoil Express from Dadar Station which starts from CSTM at 12.35pm.
We were 12 of us and were on a commercial tour, train journey always fascinates me as I am  traveling since my childhood it's more of a fun when you have a bunch of fun loving people traveling along with you, usually we have our seats together but this time all the seats were scattered due to last minute booking 5 were in Sleeper Class and 6 People were in AC and 1 was supposed to join us directly at Hindapur station.

 

Train reached Hindapur station at 8.20am, such a clean railway station and the paintings on the walls were just amazing!! We already had booked a traveller bus of 13seater for our entire tour, luckily our train was on time and driver too. I was damn hungry as previous night I just had 2 bananas as I don't have much of food in the train.

We headed towards Lepakshi temple enroute near to this temple had our breakfast at APTDC 1plate idli and 1 plate onion dosa, I love to have South Indian cuisine and special chatni here had groundnut flavour  which was equally tasty, with our tummy's full we entered Lepakshi temple at 9.30am.
Lepakshi is a small village located in the Anantapur District, Andhra Pradesh.
The famous Veerabhadra temple that dates back to 1583, is located here. It was built by the brothers Viranna and Virupanna. These were created by the artisans of Vijayanagara empire.
Also, it has idols of Ganesha,Nandi,Veerabhadra, Shiva, Bhadrakali, Vishnu and Lakshmi. A huge Nandi bull made out of a single granite stone is one of the major attractions near the main Lepakshi temple. The fresco paintings are particularly detailed in very bright dresses and colours with scenes of Rama and Krishna from the epic stories of the Ramayana the Mahabharata and the Puranas and they are well preserved. There is a very large Nandi (bull), mount of Shiva, about 200 metres (660 ft) away from the temple which is carved from a single block of stone, which is said to be one of the largest of its type in the world.

Jatayu

Shivling

Nandi (Bull)

                                                       

Main attraction of the temple

Around 11.30am we had a glass full of lemon juice and started our journey towards Gandikota enroute Banyan tree had our lunch at around 2-3pm and now heading towards Banyan tree yes you heard it right, A Banyan tree 'Thimmamma Marimanu is a Banyan tree and is 660years old probably a specimen of Ficus benghalensis. In the Telugu language, "marri " denotes "banyan" and "manu " denotes "trees". Its canopy covers (4.721 acres), and it was recorded as the largest tree specimen in the world in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1989'

The AP Tourism Department runs and operates a number of resorts across Andhra Pradesh. These resorts fall under the banner of Haritha Resorts we had booked one of these at Gandikota we reached here at 7.30pm which was away from the town and just 5mins from Gandikota fort, it was dark, as we got down it started raining with thunder and lights too went off, total  black out for few minutes till the generator  was switched ON, it rained almost for 15-20 minutes which helped in decreasing the temperature out there.
We had done our booking online but were late so could get only 3rooms and 1 dormatory was annoyed initially but as we all were travelers we adjusted in Dom instead of 5rooms. Some of them including me had our shower and went for dinner which is inclusive in hotel they serve very  simple food to say no variety as such, they serve 2 types of rice with Dal for veg and chicken curry for non veg along with raita, Decided to take a night walk only 3 of us were blessed to see the beauty of  moon which I had never seen before in my life it was looking like an orange slice on a black canvas, but could not capture that beauty in camera lens.

Resort Haritha

Day 2, 30th September 18
Our day started at 6am followed by breakfast at 7.30am we had Idli and Pongal with a cup of coffee and around 8am started our journey towards Belum caves which is 1.5hrs journey from Gandikota.
Belum caves is India’s 2nd largest & longest caves system. The Belum Caves have long
passages, galleries, spacious caverns with fresh water and siphons. This natural underground cave system was formed centuries ago by the constant flow of underground water. The cave system reaches its deepest point (46 m (151 ft.) from entrance level) known as Pataalaganga. One gets to see potholes & various formations all around the caves. There areindications that Jains & Buddhist Monks occupied these caves for Meditation. Belum Caves have a length of 3,229 m (10,593.8 ft). One takes 2hrs to explore these caves.

                                                      Fascinating interiors of Belum Caves

By 12 we started our journey towards Yagniti temple enroute had lunch at around 1.30pm. The whole trip I just had non-vegetarian food in my lunch and dinner trying out  different cusines of Andhra.

Yaganti temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva temple constructed by King Harihara Bukka Raya of the Sangama Dynasty of the Vijayanagara Empire in the 15th century. The temple has beautiful Pushkarini Pond. Water flows into this Pushkarini from the bottom of hill through the mouth of a Nandi (bull). Devotees find that a holy bath in Pushkarini is highly beneficial. After taking a bath in Pushkarini, they pay tributes to Lord Shiva. Also the Popular Belief is that the devotees here believe that the Nandi idol in front of the temple is continuously increasing its size.

                                                                Pushkarini Pond

                                                               Yaganti Gopuram Sikharam

Venkateshwara Cave

Agastya Cave

Shankaracharya Cave

Explored this place till 4pm and left to see Nawabs Palace which is enroute to your route and further proceeded to Gandikota which we reached at 8pm.

Banaganapali Nawabs Palace

Day3,  1st October 18
To be true I wanted to visit the GrandCanyon since last year and was damn  excited, left hotel by 5.30am to witness sunrise at this beautiful place.
Gandikota is a small village in the Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh that is known for its spectacular gorge (“Gandi” in Telagu) formed by river Pennar that cuts through the Erramala hills.This marvelous piece of Nature’s architecture has come to be known as the Hidden Grand Canyon of India by travelers who visit it and get mesmerized by its beauty. The other major attraction that allures the visitors is the ancient & magnificent Gandikota fort that sits majestically on top of the gorge. The fort has 2 beautiful ancient temple(Madhavaraya & Ranganatha Swamy),Jamila Masjid, Chaar Minar, large Granary and graceful Pigeon Tower.
       
                                                                Sunrise at Gandikota Fort

   

                            

We explored till 8.30am and then came back to the hotel had bath and breakfast and checked out from the hotel towards Siddhvatam fort explored for 1 hr and then enroute one temple and went for lunch.

Siddhvatam Fort is constructed in 1303 AD, lies on the banks of the Pennar River. We can view gateways and decorated pillars at the two ends of the fort.Top of the fort has been adorned with carvings of Gajalakshmi. The 17 square bastions which once used to protect the region are still visible in the fort. The temples present inside its premises include the Ranganayaka Swamy Temple, Siddheswara Temple, Durga Temple and the Bala BrahmaTemple.In the past, people called "Siddhas" occupied this area. They lived under trees called "vata" (Indian Banyan tree) which were plenty in this area at that time. Hence the name "Sidhas" + "Vata" =Sidhavata.

                         

                  

 Enroute to the lunch we visited a Shri Kodand Ramaswamy  Mandir, had our delicious last lunch of the tour followed by fruit salad with icecream and Boraded the train for our return journey at 6.15pm (Mumbai express) whilst gathering beautiful memories.

Shri Kodand Ramaswamy Mandir

Some highlights of the trip:
Grand Canyon and Belum Caves
1) One should ideally visit Andhra Pradesh and specific Gandikota between September to February as the weather is comfortable and pleasant. The summer months are hot and humid with the temperature sometimes soaring up to a good 40-45 degree celsius, and thus is not a good time to witness the gorge.
2) Is accessible by Air, one can take flight from
Tirupati Airport at Renigunta  which takes approx 4.5 hrs to Gandikota. By train from Mumbai to Kadapa station which is 77kms from Gandikota.
By Road: Gandikota is well connected to major cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Vizag through the NH 7.

• 3) Our route was (Hindapur station -13 kms Lepakshi temple- Banyan tree 118kms- Gandikota Haritha resort 135kms- Belum caves 61kms- Yagniti temple 45kms-Gandikota resort- Grand Canyon - Siddhavatam fort 111km- Kadappa  station 25kms)