Gata loops or Kolli Hills?
Answer: No!
This is a continuous hairpin bend road leading to
Kondaveedu Fort - a fort situated in a beautiful spread of Kondaveedu mountain ranges, located at a distance of 26 km from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
Kondaveedu Fort is located 1700 feet above the sea level. The fort being located on a hill top, the view from this place is awe inspiring. It is a shame that this beautiful place, once flourished as the capital of Reddy kings, could not fast become a tourist hotspot. It is only in recent years, tourists from across the state are thronging the place and enjoying the scenic beauty of the area. I've searched for any travelogue done on this place in Team-Bhp also, but surprisingly there is none (correct me if I'm wrong).
History:
The main Kondaveedu Fort was built by the Telugu Chodas, strengthened by Kakatiyas and occupied by Prolaya Vemareddy who shifted his capital from Addanki to Kondaveedu in 1323 A.D. Later, the fort was under the control of Vijayanagar Kings, Gajapatis, Golkonda sultans and lastly under French and British. All who had divergent approaches to the administration of their province and the fort. While the Hindu rulers showed benevolence to its subjects and brought prosperity to the region, the Muslims subjected the province and its people to many depredations.
In 1323, Warangal and the whole of Andhra Pradesh came under the reign of Tughlaqs, rulers of Delhi. Their depredations and despotic reign resulted in formation of a confederation movement by the Hindu Musunuri Nayaks who ousted the Muslims from Warangal, and the Reddys were part of this movement.
The Reddys of Kondaveedu were initially feudatories of the kings of Warangal. From inscriptions, it is inferred that their rule overlapped with that of the Korukonda Reddis and that they shifted from their earlier capital at Addanki in Guntur to Kondaveedu. The founder of the dynasty was Prolaya Vema Reddy, the son of Prola. They ruled in the region around present day Vijayawada and Guntur towns for nearly a hundred years (1328–1428). Their first ruler Prolaya Vema Reddy (followed by five other rulers till 1428) who ruled till 1353, strengthened the defenses of his kingdom by building a number of forts, which included the Kondaveedu Fort. He shfited his capital from Addanki in Guntur to Kondaveedu fort. Subsequently, the region was ruled by the Bahmanis (1458), the Vijayanagara Kings (1516), the Qutb Shahis, (1531,1537 & 1579), the Mughal army of Aurangzeb in 1687, the French (1752), the Asafjahi Kings, and finally the British (1766 and 1788).
Source: Wikipedia
We planned to do a Hampi trip during Christmas time, but it was called off due to some other work. I was becoming a restless human with work-from-home and no long drives in 2018 (except a trip to Papikondalu on Dec 31st 2017). One might think working from home would bring more positives than negatives - think twice! No matter where you are working from, you are still doing just that - working. And, many times combating extreme boredom and isolation will be a difficult task. How long can you go without seeing another living human being, or a place? Though I interact (virtually) with some friends, colleagues, fellow Baleno owners and Bhpians daily, the itch to go out, drive and breathe fresh air was longing. So an impromptu drive is what I wanted to do rather than plan one and cancel it. While looking for some places (2 days before journey), one of my friends suggested this (coincidentally, Hyd Bhpians were also discussing about this place at the same moment in WhatsApp). It is approximately 275 km from Hyderabad and drive time is 5-1/2 hrs. So I immediately discussed with my wife. With relatives coming home the next day, she did not want to stress out by travelling, but gave me permission to do it (if same day return). My son and me gleefully agreed
![Big Grin](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.png)
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Route:
Hyderabad -> Narketpalli -> Narsaraopet -> Phirangapuram -> Ganeshwarapadu -> Kondaveedu Fort
We wanted to start at 4 am on Jan 13th from Habsiguda and reach Kondaveedu Fort by 10 am. But, with Cyberabad police issuing an advisory about deep fog conditions and appealing travelers not to travel in early hours of the day, we delayed the journey a bit and started at 5:30 am. As soon as we reached Panthangi toll plaza, my heart was in my mouth by seeing deadly fog covering the road and surrounding areas. Could not be able to even see more than 20 mtrs of road ahead and vehicles were vanishing into fog even with hazard lights on. Stopped a couple of times on highway shoulder due to fear of invisibility of the road. As many still driving, I tailgated a couple of cars for about one hour or so until fog reduced. At 7:30 am, we took a right turn at Narketpally and stopped for breakfast. The Hyderabad-Guntur highway is very good until Narsaraopet, and Narsaraopet-Guntur is a two-way road which is also not bad. Needs to take right turn at Phirangapuram (26 km from Narsaraopet) and one has to go through villages for about 7 km to reach Kondaveedu ghat road. I was aghast and speechless when I saw a banner stating -
"Repair work is undergoing and no tourists are allowed to go to the top of the hill" - a couple of KM before Fort's ghat road. Hoping for the best I drove till ghat road. There were barricades in place and also the same banner at the entrance. As the road was not completely closed with barricades and no one stopped us, we drove further towards the fort. The Kondaveedu ghat road is approximately 4 km, which includes nearly 20 hairpin bends. The newly laid road is excellent and it was joy to drive. We went to the top of the hill, spent an hour, took some photographs, enjoyed beautiful view of natural scenery and returned back. Unfortunately, we could not get into the fort as renovation work was still going on.