Friday 15 February 2013

Trivandrum, capital city of Kerala

The third destination in our itinerary of Kerala trip was Trivandrum or  Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala. After Periyar, we wanted to drop the anchor at Trivandrum mainly because it was near to Kovalam beach. 

  We left Periyar at around 2 pm and reached Trivandrum city close to 8 pm. The distance isn't that long; however, as it mostly passes through different cities, the pace of driving gets slow. Add to that, most of the roads are two way. For the first 10-20 kilometers you can see rubber, banana and pineapple plantations on either side of the road.

  Anyway, just after entering the main city, we spotted a hotel on MG road called "City Tower Hotel". Tired out of the journey, we quickly checked into the hotel. They had their own parking and a restaurant. 

  Though not luxurious, the rooms were decent with clean toilet. Only few things were left to be done for the day. Food and sleep. The food at the restaurant was superb. We savored parathas, chettinad chicken and fried rice and chilly chicken. WOW! That's a big menu, isn't it? 

   After this huge meal, we headed back to our room and crashed for the day.

  Our plan for the next day was to cover the sight seeing places in the city and  spend the sunset hours at Kovalam beach.

  So after breakfast, we headed for Shanghumugham beach. Since the daytime temperature in Trivandrum rises very fast, we thought of covering this beach first. This beach is within 6 KM from city center. It's very close to the airport. It's a nice long beach. During that early morning hour, we found it very less crowded. 


Sanghumugham beach

Crab and the sea

Schedule of cultural program that happens by the beach
  From Shanghumugham beach, we went straight for Veli, or rather Veli Tourist Village. We parked our car within the paid parking space. There's a lake surrounded by a park at this place. If you cross one bridge within the park, you get to see the sea as well. There's also a floating KTDC restaurant, in case you feel hungry after the walk in the park. If you are a butterfly lover, you will find this place well suited for you. There are different types of butterflies within the park. We spotted different tiger butterflies and eggfly butterflies.


Swan at Veli Tourist Village

Beautiful butterfly at  Veli Tourist Village

Blue tiger butterfly at  Veli Tourist Village


Eggfly butterfly at Veli Tourist Village

Colorful wasp at Veli Tourist Village
  Next on our list was Napier Museum and Sri Chitra Art Gallery. Both of these places and many other tourist attractions are within the Zoo complex of Trivandrum. Parking is available either inside or outside the zoo complex.


Map of zoo complex

Napier museum from outside
  Napier museum hosts different antiques. Ranging from old coins to big statues, this museum is a collection of different art forms. Statues made of ivory were also in abundance in here. We specifically remember one statue where we found cherubs flying over a statue of  Shiva and Parvati. It was also made out of Ivory.

  We also visited the fish aquarium within the zoo complex. It was nothing special.
Fish Galaxy within zoo complex


Fish within fish gallery
   Sri Chitra Art Gallery was also on our list. However, as the temperature was becoming unbearable with midday, we decided to give it a miss and headed back to our hotel.

   We also wanted to get to Puthenmalika palace, but couldn't reach the place as parking was not available. The palace is situated next to Padmanavaswamy temple. In case you are planning to visit the palace, please note that it is closed on Mondays.

  After a lite lunch and small nap we started for Kovalam. Kovalam is around 14 KM from Trivandrum city center. It takes around 25 minutes to reach Kovalam beach. We started a little early for we didn't want to miss the sunset. If you want to read more about the time we spent at Kovalam, you can read our blog post here.


Sunset at Kovalam Beach
  We came back to hotel at around 8 PM and went for an early dinner to the same restaurant. This time we had parathas, Nilgiri chicken and chicken 100. Food was awesome as usual and very reasonably priced. 

  It was all for the day. We were both excited to see all the snaps that we took throughout the day and here are some more for you.


Tiger butterfly at Veli Tourist Village

Fish within fish gallery

Squirrel at Veli Tourist Village

Sunset at Kovalam beach

  Trip info:
  City Tower Hotel: Double Room Non- AC Rs. 650/-
  City Tower Restaurant: Average meal for two: Rs. 300/-
  Veli Parking: Rs. 10/-
  Veli entrance: Rs. 5/-
  Napier Museum entrance: Rs. 5/- (Photography is not allowed inside the      museum)
  Aquarium entrance: Rs. 5/-
  Kovalam parking: Rs. 20/-

28 comments:

  1. Excellent captures!

    www.rajniranjandas.blogspot.in

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  2. Trivandrum fully unveiled. Admire the pictures ... they are simply superb

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  3. Terrific photographs, Soma and Ankur!!

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  4. Great pictures and info Thanks for sharing, Loved the Sunset at kovalam pics...
    Ajeeth boaz

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    1. Thank you very much Ajeeth. We're glad that you liked the photographs.

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  5. This is just amazing...

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    1. We're glad you liked it Sofia. Thank you very much Sofia.

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  6. Beautiful pics...

    If not done in past you should think about a special post on Butterflies... :)

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    1. Thank you very much Desitraveler. We're so glad that you liked the butterfly photographs. Your suggestion is really fantastic.

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  7. very nice clicks :)
    Its great to visit Trivandrum... the biggest city in kerala !!

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  8. Thank you for the nice post ;-)
    As everybody else also mentioned, really great pictures!
    Best of luck on future journeys.

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    1. Thank you so much....that was really lovely :)

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  9. I am enjoying your posts about Kerala - planning a trip there for February 2015. Your photography is awesome! Is the aquarium part of the zoo?

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    1. Thank you so much Lorraine. We are glad that you are enjoying the posts.

      Yes the aquarium is in a part of the zoo

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  10. The sunset at Kovalam looks brilliant...what lens did you use?

    Thanks :)

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    1. Thank you very much. The sunset picture is shot with Canon 15-135 mm IS lens

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  11. Extraordinary and mind blowing scenic places..

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  12. Such a lovely blog with amazing photos. I have written a blog on Trivandrum and perhaps you would like to have a look at it. Please visit twimonasquest.blogspot.in and let me know what you feel about the blog and yes, the photos.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by. I went through your blog and its cool and neat. keep it up!

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