Bhubaneswar: Two tourists from Czech Republic, a walker from Romania, an American traveller and a father-daughter duo from the armed forces took part in Ekamra Walks, the guided tour of the city, on the first day of the World Heritage Week on Sunday.

While the walkers enjoyed the heritage journey starting from the Mukteswar temple with its unique breathtaking architecture, the surprise flute recital at the end of the walk on the bank of Bindusagar, on the steps of Ekamra Van, a medicinal garden, was an added attraction.

Iona Uzum, from Romania, who came with her Delhi-based daughter, said: "I enjoyed the entire walk and on my return to my city I would definitely tell my friends that here is such a beautiful walk with so much beautiful monuments, music and people and this should be visited by all.''

American artist Hannah Barnes said: "I am happy to explore such wonderful temple architecture traditions and building styles and during my stay I would like to visit this week-end trip another time.''

Vit and Karolina, two travellers from Ostrava in Czech Republic, who joined the 49th edition of the heritage walk, were very happy to discover the unique temple-building style of the Kalingan era. Interestingly, both got to know about the event from a friend and tried discovering it.

Vit, a marketing student, has given up studies to take up the world tour. His friend Karolina, a physiotherapist, has also left her job to join him. From Bhubaneswar they will go to Calcutta and then to Nepal and after visiting the Himalayan country, they will explore Australia.

When asked if he would be interested to pen down a book compiling his experiences from the world tour, Vit said: "There might be a plan, but I am not sure.''

Retired army officer Col D.P. Padhee, who was with 17th Engineers' Regiment, joined the walk with his daughter Vaneeta, who is a serving major with the Army Signals. Vaneeta, an engineer in electronics and telecommunication, said: "We are happy to discover so many things in the event and I hope more and more people should join the heritage walk to discover their roots. I will definitely invite my friends to come and explore these monuments.''

"Our heritage and traditions are rich and we should promote them as they are an important part of our civilisation,'' she further said.

The participants visited ancient monuments such as Mukteswar, Parsurameswar, Swarnajaleswar, Kotitirtheswar, Bindusagar, Ananta Vasudev Lingaraj, Chitrakarini, Sari Temple, Mohini and Vaitaal temple besides Ekamra Van, the medicinal plant garden.