Kanyakumari-Kashmir Round trip - Day 2 - Kanyakumari - Padmanabapuram Palace - Trivandrum - Anjuthengu Fort - Varkala Backwaters

Day 2 - Kanyakumari - Padmanabapuram Palace - Trivandrum - Anjuthengu Fort - Varkala Backwaters, stay in Alleppy

Kilometers covered - 265 Kms

Walking - around 9000 steps

We started early from the hotel, had a chai :) Went to the sunset point instead of sunrise point for more privacy for pictures & videos. 

                                      


Parked the vehicle in designated parking area and we visited Triveni Sangamam, Gandhi Mandapam, Vivekanandar Rock & Valluvar Statue


Before proceeding to Padmanabapuram Palace, we visited the light house too.




On the way to Padmanabapuram Palace, we had dosa / kadala curry in Thucckalay. We reached the palce by 9.30 AM - a huge palace. Padmanabhapuram Palace, also known as Kalkulam Palace, is a Travancore era palace located in Padmanabhapuram in the Kanyakumari district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The palace is owned, controlled and maintained by the government of the neighbouring state of Kerala. Padmanabhapuram is the former capital city of the erstwhile Hindu kingdom of Travancore.


The next stop was the huge Padmanabhaswamy Temple. It is widely considered as the world's richest Hindu temple.The name of the city of 'Thiruvananthapuram' in Malayalam and Tamil translates to "The City of Ananta" (Ananta being a form of Vishnu). The temple is built in an intricate fusion of the Kerala style and the Dravidian style of architecture, featuring high walls, and a 16th-century gopuram. 





It's turn to feed the vehicle now - CNG in Arvind Fuels, IOCL bunk, Trivandrum. It went straight to Anjuthengu Fort. The fort was the East India Company's first permanent post on the Malabar Coast. In November 1693, John Brabourne was sent by the British East India Company (EIC) to Attingal, where he obtained from Rani Ashure a grant of a site for a fort on the sandy spit of Anchuthengu (then known as Anjengo), together with the monopoly of the pepper trade of Attingal. The EIC commenced construction in January 1696 and completed it in 1699. Just adjacent to the fort, you would also see a light house. 


We then went through the backwaters of Varkala - scenic village side roads and it was green everywhere (shades of numerous greens to be precise) even an English teacher wouldn't be able to name the colors - simply wowwww. After visiting the beach in Varkala, we had a darshan of Janarthan temple. Planned to stay in Alleppy - a super friendly boatman from a google search helped us in finding a decent and economical home stay just near the boat house. Before we could settle, we saw a water hose and hence the car took a soothing bath.

We walked a mile for sumptuous dinner - idiyappam, aapam and kadala curry 




Alleppy boat contact - 9847386262. You can call him for boating as well as for homestay booking

See you on Day 3 :)

Luv,
Krishna & Mahadevan




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