A complete tour guide of Vijayawada, a South Indian region.

The region with one of the powerful goddess, Lakshmi situated on the Indrakiladri hills is considered very sacred by the people of Andhra Pradesh. This region is primarily known as Bezwada and with the times, it was changed to Vijayawada. The important places near by this city and their importance are discussed below in this present article.


General Statistics: 

• Vijayawada is a major city in Krishna district comprising a population over 9 lakhs.
• Vijayawada is the third largest city in the state of Andhra Pradesh and it is pment, it is considered as a commercial capital of the state.
• This city comprises of the railway station which is the primary largest station in India. Not only in the area wise but also the station of this city stands up first in receiving the trains as it is a major junction to all the trains that enter from North - South in India.


Kanaka Durga Temple:

In a picturesque spot on the northern bank of the Krishna r

iver, it is bounded on the three sides with Indrakiladri Hills and one of the hill which is in the city limits and on a low height to the east, there present the Kanaka Durga temple. This temple is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi. To reach this temple, there made the facility available which would pick up the tourists and visitors at major points of the city and makes them to reach the temple of free of cost. These busses are funded by the temple authority. These busses are mainly present in the stages like Bus stand, Railway station and many places.

Victoria Jubilee Museum: 

The Victoria Jubilee Museum, on Bunder road, houses a fine collection of Buddhist and Hindi relics from the 2nd and 3rd centuries. Especially impressive are the white limestones 'Standing Buddha' from the nearby Buddhist site of Alluru and the powerful depiction of Durga slaying the buffalo demon Mahisa. This museum is of great interest and by visiting this place there will surely be a increase of knowledge and some great feeling will be saved in the minds through the great and fine piece of art that is presented over here.
Victoria Museum is run on every day even on Sundays but the fares of ticket are more on Friday – Sunday which are affordable only.



Prakasam Barrage:

Prakasam Barrage was first built in 1855 and extensively reconstructed in 1955 and with which at present it irrigates 1.2 million hectares of land. And this is the thing that to develop Krishna delta of Andhra Pradesh to the "Richest Granary" state in the country. The barrage is constructed across the river which accounts for a length of about 2 Kilometers; the other end of this barrage is the starting point of the Guntur district. This barrage is built such that it could be seen from the top of the Durga temple clearly.

Other places:

Bhavani Island: Bhavani Island, a scenic picnic spot, is just upstream and can be reached by launch from the river bank.

Mogalrajapuram: 3 KM east of Vijayawada and 4KM to the south of Undavalli, on the other side of the river, present a place namely Mogalrajapuram which is famous for the rock – cut temples.

Mangalgiri: 12 Km from the south of Vijayawada is a textile village, specializing in fine cotton fabrics. It also has the famous and impressive Lakshmi Narasimha Swami temple, with a small Garuda shrine in front of it. This temple is also very busy with the people from the other nearby places and is watchable.

Kondapalli:


Kondapalli is a pretty village, famous for its painted wooden toys. It is dominated by the 8th century hill fort built by the Eastern Chalukya dynasty. It is encircled by the ramparts and towers; the fort was an important stronghold in the Krishna Valley under Qutub Shahis of Hyderabad. At the top of the hill, a steep climb up, is the ruined Tanisha Mahal palace. The path descends past a deep tank, to the granary and the armory and to the Golconda gate which faces northwest towards Hyderabad.


Kondapalli Toys:

The other important of this place as mentioned previously is the toys that are made with the "Poniki" wood. Though there are numerous verities of the toys developed with various materials, there is a top and primary place situated for these wooden toys. There are the idles of God toys that would enlighten the houses of the people in A.P. during the festivals of Krishna, Sitaram etc., The specialty of these toys are, each part is whittles in to shape and then glued together using a tamarind seed glue. The piece is then covered with lime glue, which gives it a smooth finish and then painted to bright colors.

Some information about how to reach and place of stay;
• This Vijayawada is a well developing place that is present with a direction of South – East to Hyderabad city in Andhra Pradesh and at a distance of 267 kilometers or 166 miles on road.
• There are busses that are available from all the regions and especially to speak about Hyderabad, there have been laid vast number of busses by the Government that start running for every half-an hour.
• There are also the busses available which are exclusively meant for tourism of A.P., AP Tourism busses start from Hyderabad and leave at Hotel Krishnaveni in Vijayawada.
• The one more information that to be previously notified is that there are some charges collected as fares for viewing the Museum and these charges are not fixed. From Fri-Sun, they collect extra amount and in other working days the fares are relatively less. Yet, on those three days, the fares are reasonable and can be afforded.
• There is a hotel near by this city by name Krishnaveni Hotel, which is previously mentioned and the further details can be known by contacting the hotel through the number, (0866)-426382.