Barisal is the most happening city in south central part of Bangladesh, lying on the bank of kirtankhola. A destination for both local and international tourists. Barisal is enriched in cultural diversity and pristine natural beauty. Hotel Grand Park, Barisal is nestled strategically to pamper you and your companions as they travel to different locations ranging from Kuakata to the floating Gauva Market and many other tourist spots in southern Bangladesh.
Kuakata is a place of pilgrimage for both Hindu and Buddhist communities because of the Kuakata Buddhist Temple. The temple is located in the Kuakata Parjatan area and in the Rakhain’s locality. This Buddhist Temple is about 100 years old. This Temple has the largest Gautama Buddha statue in South Asia which is about 200 years old. The temple is another attraction of Kuakata apart from the sea beach.
From history it is known that Arakan, the house land of Rakhain at Mayanmer was in added and conquered by Burmese King. Then the Rakhain people got into several big boats and started a journey though the sea without fixing any destination. Their boats stopped at an island “Rangabali” of Patuakhali district and decided to start living there. Some of them entered the forest in search of food, cut down trees and cleared some areas.
We are using fogger machine in the public areas such as Lobby and reception to disinfect. The number of setting arrangements in Lobby is minimized, to maintain gap between the sofas.
In case if a guest wants to have a meeting, the meeting room has a setup as per social distancing guideline. Meeting rooms have a dedicated disinfection station for used items for guests to discard. The seats have 1.5 meters distance between them to maintain a healthy distance from each seat. The event venue “Southgate Banquet” hall has limited capacity and the guests must go through temperature check upon entry. Packaged food with disposable cutlery and plates will be provided. All the meeting rooms and venues have proper ventilation.
The present condition of Bangladesh due to COVID-19 is very crucial. We do not know when the condition will improve to a COVID free Bangladesh. Finally, after months of lockdown and quarantine lives are getting back to normal but this does not change the scenario for the COVID cases. We have to move forward accepting it as a part of life. COVID-19 is the new normal throughout the world. To be safe we have to follow the safety measures shown by WHO (World Health Organization). Keeping WHO’s safety intact, Hotel Grand Park Barishal have created their personalized safety protocols.
When guests take their own vehicle to the hotel, the driver must wear protective gear such as a mask and gloves. We are going to disinfect every transport just after the arrival with disinfecting spray. Also, the car must have atomization disinfection machine for its own precaution. The driver should have limited conversation with others. The guest must know the hotel safety protocol beforehand and the instruction list must be placed at the back seat of the car. When the hotel car is picking up a guest, the driver will provide hand sanitizers to them for sanitization.
A.K. Fazlul Huq popularly known as “Sher-e- Bangla” was the first Prime minister of undivided Bengal and later served as Home minister of Pakistan. Our great national leader was born on October 26, 1873 at his maternal uncle’s house at Shutapur, a prosperous village in the Southern parts of the district of Bakerganj. However, his ancestral house was at Chakhar, a village 14 miles away from Barisal town. He was the only son of Muhammad Wazid and Saidunnissa Khatun. Huq’s father was a reputed civil and criminal lawyer of the Barisal Bar, and his grandfather Kazi Akram Ali, a good Arabic and Persian scholar, was a prominent muktear of Barisal.
Since his childhood, AK Fazlul Huq was an extra-ordinarily meritorious student. He obtained scholarship in his mid-level examinations and passed the Entrance (SSC) Examination with brilliant marks in the year 1889. In 1891, in his FA Examination, Sher-e-Bangla also received scholarship. In 1894, he passed the Honors Examination simultaneously in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry with credit from the Presidency College, Kolkata (Calcutta) India. It was the first time that a Muslim student had passed the honors exams in three different subjects at the same time. During 1901, most people of Indian sub-continent were living in illiteracy. In such a time A.K. Fazlul Huq obtained his higher education with extra-ordinary merit.
Lakhutia Zamindar Bari is one of the oldest heritages of Barishal. This Zamindar Bari or palace is located at Lakhutia village, 8 km. North of Barishal city. Visitors can take public buses from Nothullabad bus stop and continue until Babubazar. From there, Lakhutia Zamindar Bari is a 2 minutes’ walk.
The Zamindari legacy of that region is said to be established in the 18th century by Raja Rupchondro Roy. However, Lakhutia Zamindar Bari was built much later. In the 19th century, Raja Raychondro Roy, Grandson of Raja Rupchondro Roy is credited to have built the palace. The last Roy Zamindar was Deben Roy Chowdhury. Later, he moved to Kolkata with his family. However, his daughter still resides in Mukherjee Bari, Barishal. The Roy family is known for building Rajchandra College and Pusparani Roy Memorial School.
Bangladesh is also known as the land of Pitha-puli (rice cakes). The taste and recipe of each pitha, varies from region to region. Most of the pithas are either seasonal or occasional. Pithas are one of the favorite breakfast items of us Bengali’s.Apart from Seasonal pithas, some pithas are also associated with Nobanno Utshob (harvest festival), wedding, Eid or puja. Since, Barishal is the rice producing center of the country, pithas are more famous here.
Some pithas are fried, some steamed and some delightfully soaked in sugar syrup, molasses syrup and milk. Most of the pithas are sweet but there are some savory pithas too. Also for some pitha recipes, clay pots and banana leaves are used. Regardless, they all guarantee to melt in your mouth.
Barishal (http://www.barisal.gov.bd/), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the bank of Kirtankhola River in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barishal district and Barishal Division. It is one of the oldest municipalities and river ports of the county.
Surrounding the river bank it has many beautiful visiting places. Barishal Muktijoddha Park, Bells Park, Bibir Pukur, Jame Masjid are some of the beautiful places to visit in Barishal District.
Oxford Mission (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford_Mission_Church) Epiphany Church, an Anglican Church is commonly known as Oxford Mission Church. The oldest and arguably also the second largest church in Asian continent. In the early twentieth century, the ancient Barisal River Port terminals came in notice of the Christian missionaries and they decided to build this Church.
This Church was established in the end of 19th century, in 1903 after the formation of Brotherhood of the Epiphany in 1895 and Sisterhood in 1902. It has been over 114 years since this magnificent red brick colonial structure was built and it is still one of the most elegant and beautiful churches with a unique architectural heritage in Bangladesh. The church has outlived many other old structures around the country. It has survived many natural disasters that wreaked havoc around the country over the past 100 years, including the ones of 1960 and 1970.
Give your eyes the unbound pleasure of seeing thousands acres of pink water lilies! The Water Lilies or shapla grows abundantly in a village named Satla 60 km from Barishal city in Bangladesh. It is known as the capital of Shapla or water lilies. The whole village is engaged in the cultivation of the flower. The water lilies grow for nine months, starting from March till November.
Hilsa fish also known as Ilish, national fish of Bangladesh, has a very prominent place in the history and culture of the Bengali people. This silver colored fish is renowned for its delicious taste. The Hilsa fish has a unique place in the heritage, culture and diet of the Bengali people. It is renowned for its taste and is a must have for special occasions.The national fish is found in abundance in various rivers of Bangladesh including the Kirtonkhola river.
Jibanananda Das is one of the most popular poets in Bengali Literature. Jibanananda Das was born on February 17, 1899 in Barishal and spent most of his life as an English literature teacher in BM College. He is popularly known as “Rupashi Banglar Kabi” or poet of beautiful Bengal. He was born to a Vaidya-Brahmo family who had ancestral roots in Bikrampur region of Dhaka district in Bangladesh.
Kuakata got its name from the early Rakhine Buddhist settlers. Kua means “well” and kata means “dug”. This is due to the wells that were dug to get freshwater for harvesting and drinking. Kuakata with its splendid sandy beach of about 18 kilometers offers a full view of both sunrise and sunset. It is the second largest unbroken stretch of beach in Bangladesh after Cox’s Bazar.
Kuakata is also known as Sagar Kannya (Daughter of the Sea).The best time to visit Kuakata is between January and April during the dry months with the least amount of rainfall, although there is also likely to be some rain during this time which helps keep the temperature pleasant for visiting tourists.
Guava is known as peyara/pearah or goyaa in Bangladesh. In English this fruit is also known as Apple Guava. In Bangladesh guava (peyara/pearah or goyaa) grows in abundantly in Barisal, Pirojpur, Jhalokathi, Chittagong districts which are the main guava producing provinces. Guava was first introduced by the Portuguese during the seventeenth century in Bangladesh. By origin guava is native to Mexico and Latin America that is tropical and sub-tropical American region. With its widespread cultivation now a days guava is regarded as an indigenous fruit of Bangladesh that grows and consumed all over the country. There are now over 140 varieties of guava found all around the world, but only a few have cultivation value.
The Baitul Aman Jame Masjid Complex also known as Guthia Mosque of Barisal has a land area of fourteen acres which is larger than the 8.30 acres of the Baitul Mukarram national mosque of Bangladesh.
The Baitul Aman Jame Masjid complex consists of a mosque, a huge Eidgah, a graveyard, three lakes, madrasa and an orphanage. The mosque was established on December 16, 2003 and was inaugurated on October 20, 2006 and is celebrated as a tourist spot in Bangladesh. It is only an hour away from Hotel Grand Park, Barisal.The mosque has separate praying facilities for women devotees. It embodies an outstanding atmosphere of sacredness for people from all over Bangladesh.
The Backwaters of Barisal are a network of intersected canals, rivers, a labyrinthine system formed by an elongated water ways and are often compared to the Indian Kerala and American Bayou.
Multiple number of rivers are surrounding this mid-southern part of Bangladesh, creating this amazing diversity in aqua-nature. There are more than 10 canals full of natural beauty that is utterly rare in entire Bangladesh and it has established itself because of its rich bio-diversity. Many unique species of aquatic life including crabs, frogs and mud-skippers, water birds such as terns, kingfishers and cormorants and animals such as otters and turtles live in and alongside the backwaters.
The southern region of Bangladesh is famous for guavas, more popularly known in Bangladesh as ‘Bengal’s Apple’. Especially in Jhalakathi Sadar Upazila and at Swarupkathi and Banaripara Upazila in Pirozpur, farmers heavily rely on guava farming. Such diversity of life is hardly to be found in other places of the country. Loss in guava farming in one season usually leads to extreme distress for the farmers throughout the year. The current year is one of those.
The eye-soothing guava orchards on canals over Jhalakathi’s Sugandha, Bishkhali, Gabkhan and Sandhya River are Southern region’s main places of guava farming. Every day, thousands of tons of guavas are supplied all across the country.