PART 2: https://gauravkhopkar.wordpress.com/2024/05/08/part-2-visit-to-the-venice-of-the-east/
20-04-2024, Day 6:
The city of Thiruvanathapuram or Trivandrum, which was its former name has always been an important city for all the rulers that ruled over the Malabar Coast. It has been the capital city of multiple empires and still remains the capital of the State of Kerala. It’s current name, is based on Ananthan, the cosmic serpent with a thousand heads, on whose coils Lord Mahavishnu reclines. The city is known as the “Evergreen City of India”, a title given my M.K. Gandhi due to its natural beauty.
As we exited the Thiruvananthapuram Central Station, we were flooded by auto drivers asking where we would want to go. My mother thinking that the hotel is far, asked me what destination we should tell to the auto driver. I asked her to stop and showed her the hotel from the station exit itself. We literally had to just cross the road and walk for 3-4 minutes, she was surprised to see it this close to the station. We checked-in to our hotel and were taken to our room. The room was surprisingly bigger and spacious.
My initial plan was to visit the Kovalam Beach the same day and then the Veli Lake Tourist Village the next day. But, since my mother wanted to visit the market to buy gift items which we couldn’t in Kochi, we decided to go to the spice market that day, Kovalam Beach the next day and skip Veli Lake. The reception people told us about some spice stores that were about a kilometre away from the hotel on MG Road so we went walking till there. Some shopkeepers also guided us as we were confused as to how far it exactly was since I couldn’t find them on Google Maps. There were three shops in all, one after the other, each selling different varieties like, packed tea/coffee, local tea/coffee and local spices. We bought some items from each shop to have some variety.
Now most of you would be familiar with the iconic red non-AC double decker buses of Mumbai that were recently phased out in September 2023. I used to think Mumbai was the only city to have them until I saw one on the MG Road when we were buying spices. I had even spotted one in Kochi while coming back from Athirappilly but couldn’t click a picture then. So basically Kerala SRTC owns a few non-AC double deckers and runs them on city routes, so if you want to experience one, you know where to go. However, the bus model didn’t look the same as Mumbai and must be built by a different brand or in a different year than Mumbai.
I spotted a some souvenir items on display at a Kerala Handloom store on the way, so we bought some showpieces of Houseboat and a key-holder. After going back to the hotel, both of us had dinner ordered from our hotel’s restaurant while, I watched SRH punish DC bowlers before sleeping.
21-04-2024, Day 7:
The plan for the day was to visit the Kanakakkunnu Palace, Napier Museum, Legislature Musuem and the famous Kovalam Beach. We woke up with no hurry and went to have breakfast in our hotel’s restaurant. With no surprised, it was again a south Indian breakfast, something with which I was definitely bored but had no other option. We got ready and booked an auto for the Palace at 10:00. The auto made us reach there in about 15 minutes, but to my first part of bad luck, it was closed due to its maintenance and it was surrounded by construction cloth on all its sides, barely visible to even take a picture. This information was absent on Google Maps and I had to update it myself.
From the palace, both the museums were at a walkable distance so we first went to the Napier Museum, which though I didn’t know what it was about but looking at its pictures, I liked its architecture and its paint. The pathway from the Museum gate to the Museum was even beautiful, a passage was created with flowers and adequate sitting place was provided. We bought the ticket which costed ₹20 per person. There were many artefacts, old coins, some replicas of famous temples of Kerala, some ivory-made items, etc. In the interiors, only photography was allowed, prohibiting videography. The time was spent well and we clicked some pictures of its exterior as well.
“The Museum is named after Lord Napier, the then Governor General of Madras. Impressed by the traditional Kerala style architecture, Lord Napier in 1872 CE assigned, the architect of the Government of Madras, Robert Fellowes Chisholm, to build this royal structure. Chisholm attempted to promote native art in the design of the structure. He designed it after making a detailed study of Kerala architecture. He found himself in the bizarre position of having to educate and teach the Travancore elite on how best to promote and widen their own art. Within a short span of time, Chisholm came up with an idiosyncratic design, collaborating the native and the foreign. He thereby introduced the Indo-Saracenic structure to the people of Kerala. In 20/03/1873, laid the foundation stone for the new building and in 1880, the then King of Travancore, Ayilyam Thirunal opened the museum to the public.” – From Napier Museum.
While we were stepping out from the Napier museum campus, my mother spotted another small room converted into a museum, and the same ticket was accepted here. So we had a glance over it as well. The museum had similar artefacts as well. In the same campus, the Trivandrum Zoo also exists. But, since we have been to many zoos across cities, we decided to skip it, so we stepped out of the campus. According to the plan, the next destination was Legislature Museum. When I opened Google Maps for directions, I came to know that it was closed on Sunday, something which I missed to observe while framing the itinerary. So, in all from the 3 planned places, we could only visit 1. To spend some more time, we went to the Keralam Museum, which was near the Napier Museum but wasn’t so popular so I had skipped adding it to the itinerary.
It took hardly 6-7 minutes to reach there. I bought a ticket costing ₹20 and there was literally no other tourist in the museum. It was a two-storey building inside the government secretariat converted in to a museum where similar artefacts and history was displayed. Though it was interesting to learn about the history, the hot temperature made it impossible to explore it patiently. It was above 35°C and was feeling like 44°C as attached in the screenshot. I completed the museum quickly before deciding to head back to the hotel. While we were in the auto in the morning, I spotted many buses going towards railway station so we decided to wait for the bus at the bus stop outside the Keralam Museum. It arrived in just about 2 minutes and the ticket costed only ₹13 per person, dropping us at the Thampanoor Bus Stand, just beside our hotel.
I got some craving for local Kerala food so I thought of trying another fish fry and checked the hotel’s restaurant menu if they had any. Ayala Fry was an interesting dish they had and I ordered it for myself for lunch. Just like the fish I tried on the houseboat, this tasted delicious as well. Though, it had a lot bones, it was really tasty. The next time, I go to Kerala, I am definitely going to try more of the Kerala seafood! We rested after having lunch before turning the TV on for RCB vs KKR. I watched a few overs while having some tea and biscuits and then we left for the most popular destination near Trivandrum, the Kovalam Beach.
During the trip research, I found many direct buses to Kovalam and my brother who had been in the city also confirmed about their presence. So, we left from our hotel at 16:00 and walked towards East Fort Bus Stand, about a kilometer away. East Fort is the bus stand for city buses while the Thampanoor Bus Stand near our hotel was for outstation buses. We searched the entire East Fort bus stand for about 10 minutes and enquired about the Kovalam bus to multiple people before we could find the bus. It was a spacious AC bus and the ticket costed ₹49 per person. Sharing the location of the exact bus stop for your convenience – https://maps.app.goo.gl/TRghS4KaMcmwb7RS8
The bus ride took about 35-40 minutes and dropped us just outside the Kovalam Beach. We just had to walk 5 minutes downslope to reach the beach. The sunset was still more than an hour away so we thought of exploring the beach and find a good spot to view the sunset later in the evening. There were too many chairs kept on the beach to have a sunbath but these were the paid ones, the price was ₹200 per person till the sunset. I don’t think it was legal to have such chairs on public property and ask people to pay. Since it was expensive and there were other places to enjoy the sunset, we didn’t pay heed to them. The old lighthouse was a good place to climb upon and secure a spot. The rocks being on a height, one could see the entire Kovalam Beach from here.
According to me, the most famous attraction on the beach was the new lighthouse as I had seen many pictures of it, even the lighthouse was clearly visible from there. Also, it seems that there is a lot of confusion with the name of this area. So from what I understood is that the Kovalam is the name of the beach, while the name of the surrounding town is Vizhinjam. Even the lighthouse is recognized as the Vizhinjam Lighthouse and not Kovalam Lighthouse. Though it is a very popular and crowded beach, we found it to be very clean compared to some other beaches we have been to.
It was the time for the sunset which we were waiting for. There were too many clouds which obstructed a clear view of the sunset but it made it look even more beautiful due to the distorted light across the clouds. Even the dusk was extraordinary. We then descended the rocks of the old lighthouse and made our way back to the bus stand. This time it was an upslope to be climbed which was a bit hectic. There was a hotel on this pathway which looked like a palace.
The bus was yet to arrive and a lot of crowd had gathered by the time. The onward journey hardly had any passengers so we weren’t expecting such a crowd. Eventually after 10 minutes, a Non-AC bus arrived and my mother managed to find seats for both of us. This ride only costed us ₹25 per person, half the price of an AC bus ticket. By the time we were in this bus, the RCB vs KKR match was towards its end where RCB was moving towards a victory however it was a nail-biting finish with RCB losing by just one run.
The bus dropped us at the same bus stop on the opposite side of the road and we started walking towards our hotel. On the way was the Pazhavanagadi Maha Ganapati Temple. I had this on my itinerary for the last day, but since it was on the way, we visited it the same evening. I was expecting a dress code here as it is the case with every temple in Kerala, however, there wasn’t any such rule here. All types of decent clothes for both men and women were allowed. The temple looks awesome at night due to its old structure and its illumination.
“The history of the erection of this temple dates back to the time when the Travancore Kingdom army as at war on the Padmanabhapuram front. The regiment was on guard at the fort but was continually harassed by a Yaskhi, a relentless demon. Every soldier was petrified of encountering this demon. One of these soldiers was an ardent devotee of Lord Ganesh and believed that the lord is always with him. When he was stationed at the fort, he was fearless because he knew that Lord Ganesh would protect him. When he went to the nearby river for his bath, he was surprised to stumble upon the idol of Lord Ganesh. The soldier considered this to be a good sign and decided to keep the idol with him at all times. The entire Travancore army was left undisturbed and unaffected by the Yakshi forever. Acknowledging the limitless power of this idol, a temple was constructed where the soldier had found the idol. However, when the headquarters of the Travancore Kingdom was moved to Trivandrum in 1795, they decided to move this holy idol with them. The present temple was erected in 1860 by the then reigning king Maharaja Ayilyam Thirunal, and unlike other temples, the Pazhavangadi Ganapathy Temple was maintained and looked after by the army.” – From Holidify.
There was also a Reliance Supermarket on the way, so we stepped in to find some local banana chips, coffee and some gift items. Our day ended with the dinner in our hotel room ordered from the hotel’s restaurant and by watching GT defeat PBKS at their home.
22-04-2024, Day 8:
This was a day I was very excited about as we were moving towards the tip of mainland India, Kanyakumari. Our train 16381 Pune – Kanyakumari Express was to leave from Thiruvananthapuram Central at 09:10, so we checkout out of our hotel at 08:30 after breakfast. Since our Kanyakumari visit was just for one night and we were coming back to Trivandrum the next day, we asked the hotel staff if we could keep some of our bags at their cloak room, to which they agreed, so it was a relief.
Overall, our stay in Trivandrum was very relaxing, since we couldn’t cover as many attractions due to the excess heat. If you are wondering that we missed an important place in the city, stay tuned, because, a part of Trivandrum would be published with the Kanyakumari blog, since we returned to Trivandrum the next day to catch a flight to Mumbai and I wanted the blogs to be chronological without skipping anything.
I would share our itinerary and the list of hotels we stayed, in the last blog of this trip.
To be continued.
PART 4: https://gauravkhopkar.wordpress.com/2024/05/26/part-4-visit-to-the-tip-of-mainland-india/
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