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Bhuvaneshwar
The ancient city of Bhubaneshwar is also the modern capital of Orissa. With 600 temples still extant, temples are to this ancient city as forts are to Rajasthan. It is probably the only city in the world that enables an authentic overview of the stages of development of Hindu religious architecture.
Oriya, Hindi, and English are the languages commonly spoken here. In the fast moving world of today the temples of Bhubaneshwar are a gentle reminder of the splendour, the heritage that was once India. It is not hard to imagine what a temple would have been at the time of its patron ruler.
Bhubaneshwar (Bhuban being world and Iswar God) once the ancient capital of the Kalinga empire and now the capital of Orissa is a town of temples and tanks with a rich history.
Temples in Bhubaneshwar are built on a common plan as prescribed by Hindu norms and it is believed that the beauty of this place inspired Rabindranath Tagore to write poetry in the praise of Bhubaneshwar.
HOW TO GET THERE?
Air: There are regular Indian Airlines flights to Hyderabad, Nagpur, Calcutta, Delhi, Varanasi, Bombay and Madras. The airport is very close to town. If you have an early morning flight, it is a good idea to have your hotel arrange a taxi the night before and pay a little more to avoid the morning inconvenience of finding a taxi at that time. The Indian Airline office is on Raj Path, by the bus stand.
Road: The best way to get from Bhubaneswar to Puri is on one of the Canter minibuses that leave from the old bus station in the center of town, the new bus stand, and from the petrol station opposite the Ashok Hotel. They take a little more than an hour to get to Puri. There are also larger buses that go Puri, but they are slower than the minibuses. It is best to get an Express bus to Puri, which make only one stop en route. There is a direct bus to Konark too. If one misses out the direct bus, one can take a Puri buses to Pipli and from there get another bus to Konark.
Rail: Bhubaneswar is on the main Calcutta to Madras line so all the main trains stop here. The Howrah-Bangalore mail and Guwahati-Bangalore go to Bangalore. The Coromandel Express is a good train going to Madras. There are direct trains to Delhi, Agra, Remuna, and Varanasi. The Rajdhani Express departs from Delhi one day a week on Friday to Bhubaneswar. The Puri-New Delhi Express is a good train to Delhi.
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