plenty of coconut, tall palms, and casuarinas fringing the beach spectacularly.
Gopalpur-on-Sea is 200 km from Bhubaneswar and the nearest town Berhampur is about 15 km away. It is not very crowded with tourists and an army cantonment rests on its secluded shore.
One can take a long walk along the seashore undisturbed by hawkers pestering to sell sea goods or eateries. Green coconuts are a great attraction though.
The surf sweeping the seashore is an enchanting visual fiesta. Though the sea beach is clean and thus more alluring, the sea is treacherous and the currents are dangerously strong.
Gopalpur was a prosperous port town till the beginning of this Century. There is a 200 ft-high lighthouse standing majestically. This red-and-white painted tower is an attractive sentinel point and in the night its light glides through the dark noisy expanse on the seashore and warns the ships at a radius distance of 10 km. There are 155 steps to climb up to its top, but photography is strictly prohibited.
Gopalpur was also a major port in ancient Orissa from where Oriya sailors set forth in their indigenously built large ships to far off south East Asian countries. And when the British occupied the state, this port also assumed its importance as a strategic point from a military significance.
It is at this port that Subhash Chandra Bose had planned to enter his country with his armed battalion formed in the foreign countries to snatch power from the British rulers. Unfortunately the plan failed and the British had this port destroyed. The remnants of this port were rescued and the historic port was reopened in February 1987.
The British came here in 1850 when Perry & Co of Madras established a gur (jaggery) factory at Asika to utilise the sugarcane growing extensively in the Rishikulya belt. In 1854, Fredrick Vivian Minchin, a clerk in Perry & Co set up a sugar factory in Asika.
This was the first of its kind in Asia, ‘Asika' became a brand name in jaggery production and quality sugar in India was produced here and traded in far off Asian countries as well. Fredrick married a lovely Oriya girl called Suna who was to become Emily Sona Minchin.
The Minchins made Gopalpur their home. While Frederick was busy shipping the Asika brand of sugar to South East Asian countries, Emily spent her time beautifying and enriching the environment by planting casuarinas between Aryapalli and Markandi.
These 10-km-long and half-a-km wide casuarina groves soon attracted sand deer and brawny cats and by 1875 it transformed into a great spectacular site. The couple died in the early nineties, the casuarinas were felled and the deer were hunted.
Today there are several ruined structures one can explore. Aryapalli Beach is a desolate place and stretches for a quarter of a km. Nearby is the Oberoi Palm Beach Hotel with excellent hospitality. There is an ancient mosque not in use however. Fishermen's huts line up along with their boats and fishing nets spread like spiders' webs. There are small shrines housing the sea-goddess that they worship for welfare during their seafaring for trading or fishing in deep waters.
Pota Garh has the remains of an old fort. And at this confluence point River Rishikulya meets the sea (30 km from Berhampur). The fort enchants the adventurous. Built in British style, its high boundary walls, tunnels and passages to move ships in, the Hathi Saal, Kamana Ghara and residential complex are quite interesting to explore.
This place has a brisk air that is a healing salve for pollution choked lungs. There are other sites too. Like the Gopal Krishna Temple with Sri Venugopal Swamy housed in it.
The famous Tara Tarini temple is barely 45 km from Gopalpur. The Dhavaleswar Shiva temple is another attraction located just 12 km away.
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