Orissa: Land Where Spirituality Comes Alive!

If the lotus-eaters of the Greek mythology were alive today, they would certainly have approved of this part of east-India.it has places that can make your usually rushed life slip into an almost abnormal tranquility. Think phenomenally-blue sea with roasted sand, a coastal drive flanked by whispering casuarinas and bottlebrush trees, monolithic stone temples, sculptures frozen in time and shy flat-nosed Irrawaddy dolphins rolling lazily in a lagoon. Orissa invites you to languor.

It is the eleventh largest sate by population and ninth largest by area in India. The best known places of Orissa are Bhubaneswar, Puri, Chandrabhaga beach, and the sun temple at Konark, Cuttack and the Chilka Lake. Silver filigree or Trakashi is the most famous handicraft of the state. It is used to make intricate pieces of jewellery and hold religious status. Other artifacts you can bring back home as memoirs include wood carvings, palm leaf writing, metal works, paintings, stone carvings and tribal handlooms.

Quick facts of Orissa:

Capital: Bhubaneswar

Population: 36,706,920

Getting there:
Closest airport- Biju Patnaik Airport, Bhubaneswar

Top 5 tourist attractions:

1. Sun temple, Konark
2. Bhubaneswar
3. Chandipur beach
4. Puri
5. Tribal villages

Official languages: Oriya, Hindi and English