Page 676 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

674  SOUTH INDIA

has several lookout points for
a panoramic view of the city
and harbour. The twin town of
Waltair, once a health resort
for British officers, is north of
the bay. Andhra University, one
of the largest campuses in the
state, is also situated here,
along with a number of pretty
19th-century churches.

Environs
Simhachalam, the “Lion’s Hill”
Temple, dedicated to Lord Varaha
Narasimha, an incarnation of
Vishnu (see p683), stands at the
Visakhapatnam harbour on the Bay of Bengal summit of the thickly forested
Ratnagiri Hill, 16 km (10 miles)
6 Visakhapatnam Dargah Konda, has a shrine northwest of Visakha patnam.
dedicated to a Muslim A flight of steps leads to the
Visakhapatnam district. 354 km
(220 miles) NE of Vijayawada. saint, Ishaque Madina. northern gateway, an elaborately
* 3,591,811. ~ 12 km (7 miles) Along the southern coastline decorated gopura that is the
W of town centre, then bus or taxi. is Dolphin’s Nose, a 358-m main entrance to the temple.
£ @ n APTDC, RTC Complex, (1,175-ft) long rocky outcrop Inside the compound is a
(0891) 278 8820. ( daily. that rises 175 m (574 ft) above tall dvajast hambha (flagpole).
the sea. On it stands Similar in style to
India’s second-busiest port a lighthouse with Konark’s Sun Temple
after Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, a beam that can (see pp314–15),
also known as Vizag, is rapidly be seen 64 km the temple was
becoming the largest shipyard (40 miles) out at sea. constructed in
in the country. It is an important Vestiges of the city’s the 9th or 10th
industrial town and naval base colonial past are century, and was
as well. The town makes a visible here in an old Dutch heraldry, extensively rebuilt
convenient point from which Protestant church, a Bheemunipatnam during the 13th
to visit some of the beautiful fort, barracks and an century. It is
beaches along the Bay of arsenal, all dating to the believed that the presiding
Bengal and the many pic- 18th century. deity was originally Shiva,
turesque temple towns of the Idyllic beaches, set on the but he was replaced by this
northern coastal districts of fringes of the Eastern Ghats incarnation of Vishnu after
Andhra Pradesh. and bounded by forested hills the reformer-saint, Ramanuja
Named after Visakha, and rocky cliffs, include the (see p526), visited the site in the
the Hindu God of Valour, Visak- Ramakrishna Mission Beach, 11th century.
hapatnam was once part of the now being developed as Bheemunipatnam is a 38-km
Mauryan emperor Ashoka’s vast a tourist resort by Andhra (24-mile) drive northeast from
empire (see p46). Later, it was Pradesh Tourism, Rishikonda Visakhapatnam, along one of the
ruled by the Andhra kings of Beach and Lawson’s Bay. longest stretches of beach road
Vengi, and other South Indian Towards the north of the in the country. This quiet fishing
dynasties, including the Pallavas, town, beyond Lawson’s Bay, is village, situated at the mouth of
Cholas and Gangas. In the Kailasagiri, a forested hill that the Gosthani river, was a Dutch
15th century, it became part
of the Vijayanagar Empire
(see pp534–5). It finally came
into British hands in the 17th
century, after which it was
developed into a major port.
Looming above the port is
a hilly ridge with three crests,
each with a religious shrine.
On the southernmost one,
Venkateshvara Konda, is a
temple dedicated to Balaji
(Krishna); in the middle is
Ross Hill, with a mid-19th-
century church; the third, Obelisk-shaped Dutch tombs at Bheemunipatnam
For hotels and restaurants in this region see p703 and p719

674-675_EW_India.indd 674 26/04/17 11:50 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm