We were supposed to get up early before dawn and reach Kanyakumari to see the sunrise. However because of fog in the morning we had to shed the idea. So we slept for an extra couple of hours and after having tea and breakfast in the room, we headed for Kanyakumari once again. Our idea was to go near the Triveni Sangam area where Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea meet and get a good view of Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Thiruuvalluvar Statue.
Again after paying some municipal taxes for private car, we entered the car parking area. And OMG! there was no space to park car at 8 am in the morning. Because of some auspicious day, the whole area was flooded with thousands of devotees. So we had to give up the idea and look for some distant place from where we could see the memorial and the statue. So we went to a place near the sunset view point which was 1 km away from Triveni Sangam and from there saw distant view of both the memorial and the statue. Thiruuvalluvar Statue was undergoing some maintenance work.
Tamil poet Thiruuvalluvar's statue
The best thing we got to see was the sea. Unobstructed views of the endless coastline, the white waves, the turquoise green sea and the clear blue sky...it is a sight that will stay in my memory forever.
Kanyakumari
Check the vlog here. Your view and likes count the most to us :)
We then visited Kovalam beach of Tamil Nadu ( Namesake of Kovalam beach in Kerala ) which we visited the previous day evening. It is just next to Sunset view point. After moving away due to the pilgrim rush at Kanyakumari beach, it was so hard to believe that there was not a single person on this beach apart from us. It was so calm and peaceful.We were over the moon when Ankur spotted plenty of sea urchins, colourful fishes, crabs and even an eel hiding under the rocks.
Next we went to Vattakkottai Fort which is some 7 km from Kanyakumari. Vattakkottai Fort is a circular fort built by the rulers of Travancore in 18th century and from the fort one can get amazing view of the ocean. Again 25 bucks municipal tax and we were allowed to enter the car park. The entry fee of the fort is an additional INR 25.
Vattakkottai Fort
About 300 meters, before entering the fort there is a road on the left that points to the Vattakkottai Fort beach. We took a 15 minutes break there. A part of the sea has entered one side of the rock and has formed a natural swimming pool where mostly children were having a good splashing time. Just across the pool and on the right side one can see the sea and the fort.
Vattakkottai Fort and beach
Our hotel checkout time at Udupi International was 12 noon. We were running late and informed the hotel reception that we will be 30 minutes late for check out. After checkout we headed for our next destination which was Kovalam ( in Kerala ).
It takes around 2 hours to reach Kovalam from Nagercoil. From the time we visited Kerala for the first time, till now the roads have improved drastically. And another great thing in Kerala is that toll tax booths are very less.
Coconut of Nagercoil and its adjoining areas is famous and it was evident from the ample number of stalls on either side of the highway selling coconut water.The coconuts are orangish in colour and all the shops are run by women.Along with coconut almost all the shops sell coconut embryo as well. It is sold as a sprouted coconut which on breaking, the inside spongy coconut embryo can be collected and eaten.It is somewhat fluffy and tastes sweet and salty.
Coconut embryo
It was evening we reached Kovalam. We had booked Pebble Coast Beach Resort which had 4.3 stars rating on Google. But trust me it was the most worst hotel of our entire trip. First we had to wait for 15 minutes for someone to talk to us since the hotel has nothing called reception. They have two buildings and a single boy who runs errands for both the buildings.They have two buildings - one old and one new. We were told that the old one has rooms only on ground floor. We checked and saw that the rooms were shabby, damp and wet with no sunlight or proper ventilation.So we choose the new building. Now the new building has no parking space so guests have to park the car in the old building and walk uphill to the new building with all their luggage. The new building has no lifts and the staircase passage is also very narrow.
The rooms are sold as sea view, but in reality you cannot see the sea from your room. If you come out to the common balcony and lift your chin up, then very far away you can see a thin slice of the sea at the horizon area. You will not see the shoreline or the beach, only a tiny bit of the horizon that too very faint. However you will see a huge big, dirty scrap yard, just on the adjacent plot next to the hotel, which looks equally frightening just as you come to the balcony.
They have no restaurant or room service so either guests have to eat outside or use Swiggy.Again there is never anyone at the hotel gate to monitor the entry or exit of people.Anyone can walk in or walk out anytime and security is in highly compromised state. The remaining part of the day was wasted as we were so frustrated with this hotel. Even to take out the car, we have to walk to the old building then if there are cars parked behind our's we have to look for the sole caretaker and ask him to look for the guest whose car needs to be moved.Similarly we had to run thrice that day to move our car because some guests wanted to go out.The road in front of the hotel is downhill and narrow and so parking on the road is not an option.
Day 3:
This is not all.The next day morning we were terrified to find the sweeper was completely drunk and out of his senses and was loitering on the corridor.That was it. We decided to leave the hotel at that very instant even though our booking was done for 2 days with full payment. We got no refunds from the hotel and also we discovered that the hotel was selling as if its located on Kovalam although it is located on some other beach but not Kovalam.And the closest beach from this hotel does not even have a proper walking route. Do check our video for the route. Elders or children will not be able to walk on this road.If you are wondering why I am ranting so much, its because we want to tell you about all the negatives which were never written on google reviews and we do not want any of our readers to suffer like we did.
We got a last minute booking at another hotel called Golden Sands beach resort.This was a decent hotel with a good restaurant, pool, children's play area and very close to Kovalam beach. You have to walk just 200 meters on a proper paved alley which will directly take you close to the lighthouse on Kovalam's lighthouse beach.
View from room @Golden Sands beach resort
The evening and night was spend on the beach. Kovalam is the most coolest beach in Kerala. Its a safe beach, no scammers no touted vendors.You will find a nice trendy crowd, a swanky beach vibe, upscale beach shacks, souvenir shops. A good number of restaurants have display counters on the outside topped up with fresh catch of the day. We had super jumbo prawns at INR 1600 a kilo.Anyday that same size prawn could cost more than INR 3500/ kilo in Bangalore. Cooking charges are free and you can have it prepared in several styles with your own customisation and take it home or enjoy sitting in the shack and seeing the sea.
Do read our blog on Kovalam, when we first visited almost 10 years back.
The day was Christmas. Our plan for today was to leave Kovalam and head to Trivandrum.But before that we went to see Kovalam beach for one more time. Walking some 150 metres walking on cobbled narrow alleys from our hotel, we reached Light house beach. An equal mix of Indian and foreigner crowd, everyone seems to be enjoying the water on a bright sunny Christmas morning at 9:00 am.There were rows of sun bathing beds laid on the beach each with a colourful umbrella on top and most were filled, interesting by desi tourists.Most foreign tourists were engaged in water sports or water activities.
On the way to lighthouse beach
Ankur took some drone footages while I took some b-roll footages. A seller carrying mini elephant statues carved on wood approached me to know from where we have come.He was more eager to know about drone footages than pushing to sell his stuff.
Lighthouse at the back
Bed with a view
Kovalam Beach
Kovalam to Trivandrum distance is very less, its about 20kms and it took us around 45 minutes to check in to our new homestay.We last came to Trivandrum 10 years back.Now the city has changed drastically beyond recognition. Roads have widened, there are flyovers to beat the traffic congestion.Swanky IT hubs, tall residential towers, the landmark Lulu Mall all have lined up on either side of the main road.Just take any lane and you will get to see big houses on huge plot areas, boutique hotels and restaurants, Montessori schools, supermarkets and lots of big trees. The city definitely looks posh but interestingly its very affordable and cheap.
We went out in the afternoon after a short rest to get some of the city vibe.Our plan was to drive down to Shangumugham beach so that our kids can get down and play on the beach for some time.We avoided the main road and took the beach road to avoid the city traffic.Huge banners of Ronaldo were put up on trees, grounds making it clear that Malayalees love football and were backing Portugal in WC.The houses that were lined on the left side of the road have one side facing the sea and each house was competing with the other in terms of grandeur and land size. To poor souls like us who live in Bangalore apartments, it felt like we were passing through Lutyens zone.Not sure if those are ancestral land on which their owners have built such classy houses or bought from Gulf money or new age cash loaded entrepreneurs but definitely these people have some part of their lives surely sorted!
We saw the very beautiful Vettukadu Church, although we did not get down.The church and its open area was beautifully decorated for Christmas.A bunch of young mostly high school going group of boys were dancing frantically to some Malayalee filmi song on the road.Its how local community also owns a festival in their own way, Christmas being no exception.
Our beach fun was cut short by sudden downpour and thunder.Since it was dark we took another road which google suggested.A part of it was the main road and part was some other road that we have not travelled while going to the beach.Kerala has a high population of Christians and this is when we saw the city had poured out on the road to enjoy Christmas. People in groups getting into churches covered every feet with lights.Almost every church had a community fair going on.And the most amazing thing was that many of the Churches made big Bethlehem theme setup outside the church building depicting the birth of baby Jesus.
The next day we will leave Trivandrum and head for Kerala's most famous beach Varkala.We discovered another outstanding beach that can beat Varkala any day. Before that a short visit to Padmanabhaswamy temple while leaving Trivandrum.But all these stories for the upcoming blog.
Watching the view of the settling sun over the sea at the southernmost tip of India, Kanyakumari, is not just a beautiful sight, but an emotion for all Indians.
This is my line and this is exactly what we felt standing in the evening at Kanyakumari.
This series of blogs will be about our coastal malabar road trip. The places that we visited are Nagercoil ->Kanyakumari -> Kovalam -> Varkala -> Odayam -> Kochi -> Kasargod.
Day 1:
We started the trip from our home (Bangalore) at 3:30 am on 23rd December 2022. Just a few weeks before planning the trip I was in a dilemma of whether to take a day halt at Madurai and then proceed onwards or cover the whole route from Bangalore to Nagercoil at one go. Then we all decided to go for the later option because we had been to Madurai before and also if we have started early we would reach Nagercoil before 5pm and could watch the sunset at Kanyakumari.
We had set the alarm at 2:00 am, got ourselves and the children ready, loaded our car and started at 3:30 am.There are some tea shops that operates only at night on the NH44 highway after Hosur. We had a high sugar tea and some equally high sugar biscuits. I don't know maybe the shops make tea with a lot of sugar so that drivers don't fall asleep on the road. We saw the day break at Krishnagiri, the early morning sky hues over the Krishnagiri hills.
The road is extremely good. NH44 the longest national highway of India running through the entire length of the country, joining Srinagar( Kashmir) to Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu), is the backbone of the country when it comes to surface transport and travel, and its a dream for any road travel enthusiast to drive on NH44. Just make sure to have your FASTag is fully loaded because toll taxes are high on this stretch and you will be charged double if FASTag does not have cash while passing the toll booths. We spend around INR 560 for the stretch from Bangalore to Kanyakumari.
We checked into Hotel Udupi International in Nagercoil at 4:30 PM. It took us roughly 12 hours to reach with plenty of breaks for snacks, pictures and bio.A few kilometres before entering Nagercoil and after Tirunelveli, we saw a stretch of road that has over a hundred windmills on either side. Our little ones were so excited to spot windmills, something that they have seen in cartoons and books.
Hotel Udupi International is a good hotel, properly maintained, right in the city. Rooms are decent, food is quite average and only vegetarian food is allowed. The hotel manager was an extremely gregarious person and helpful as well.Room service takes a little long to arrive.
After a late lunch in the hotel, we set out for a little city acclimation and also for catching the sunset at Kanyakumari. Kanyakumari roughly takes 30 minutes to reach from Nagercoil.
Do check our vlog here:
Nagercoil is a very old city, and so a good part of the city has the old world charms. There are plenty of low height single storey, long buildings. All the doors look uniform and some are godowns, some are old cycle repair shops, flower shops and utensil shops. The garlands that are sold in the shops looks very beautiful and different from the ones we generally see elsewhere in South India.They look like a flat bedded garland done on a straw base. It was much later that I came to know that this flower weaving technique is very unique to Nagercoil and has a special name 'Mannika Malai' which roughly translates to garland of gems.
Mannika Mala
Here I am providing some literature about Mannika Mala, that I got from the internet.
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There are many styles of flower garland making but Manikka malai is a unique one. In Manikka Malai, the red and white oleander flowers are folded along with notchi leaves like beads. Long strips of such beads are then held together to make a broad garland that looks like a carpet studded with gemstones. This unique style garland noticed by the Maharaja of Travancore went on to become the main decoration for the Deity of Shri Padmanabha at the Lord Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram. For decades, till the generation of Late Shri L Madaswamy, the garland was used only as a part of temple rituals and festivals. It was Shri Muthumperumal who made it popular beyond the temples. He invented creative uses of the flower garland like Manikka Malai carpets, decorating temple carts, decoration in marriages, wall hangings, welcome boards, bridal floral jewels etc. Such innovative applications of Manikka Malai garnered attention not just in India but also abroad. The interest grew in people and other artisans to learn the technique. Muthumperumal conducted several workshops and seminars to teach this technique to people to popularise and preserve the tradition for future generations. Apart from carrying forward his family tradition of making garlands for temples, Muthumperumal is somebody who put Thovalai village on the map by dedicatedly popularizing the craft beyond its cultural boundaries. He received several awards including the Kamala award by Crafts council of India for excellence in Manikka Malai craft.There are many styles of flower garland making but Manikka malai is a unique one. In Manikka Malai, the red and white oleander flowers are folded along with notchi leaves like beads. Long strips of such beads are then held together to make a broad garland that looks like a carpet studded with gemstones. This unique style garland noticed by the Maharaja of Travancore went on to become the main decoration for the Deity of Shri Padmanabha at the Lord Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram. For decades, till the generation of Late Shri L Madaswamy, the garland was used only as a part of temple rituals and festivals. It was Shri Muthumperumal who made it popular beyond the temples. He invented creative uses of the flower garland like Manikka Malai carpets, decorating temple carts, decoration in marriages, wall hangings, welcome boards, bridal floral jewels etc. Such innovative applications of Manikka Malai garnered attention not just in India but also abroad. The interest grew in people and other artisans to learn the technique. Muthumperumal conducted several workshops and seminars to teach this technique to people to popularise and preserve the tradition for future generations. Apart from carrying forward his family tradition of making garlands for temples, Muthumperumal is somebody who put Thovalai village on the map by dedicatedly popularizing the craft beyond its cultural boundaries. He received several awards including the Kamala award by Crafts council of India for excellence in Manikka Malai craft.
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Nagercoil gets its name from the Tamil word 'Nagaraja Koyil'. Nagaraja is the king of serpents and Koyil in Tamil translates to temple in English.So its the city belonging to the temple of the King of Serpents.The temple is more than a thousand year old temple.
Nagaraja Temple
Nagercoil is not only an old city but was a commercial hub as well. Referred to as the 'Granary of Travancore' by the Travancore rulers, this old commercial centre has its mention in Pliny the Elder's notes in which he mentioned Nagercoil as an important commercial metropolis having trade links with Rome.
Till a decade after Independence, Nagercoil remained as a part of Kerala, but then in 1956 was assimilated to Tamil Nadu and put under Kanyakumari district.So even today the city has a very interesting mix of people who speak both Malayalam and Tamil.
We reached Kanyakumari well ahead of sunset. One can stand anywhere along the coastline to see the beautiful sundown, not necessarily one needs to go to the sunset point. We went to a place called Kovalam beach ( yes Kovalam in Kanyakumari!! ). It is a mix of a rocky and a sandy beach where one can easily get down and touch the waters. There are two watch towers as well for seeing the sunset and the amazing curve of the adjacent beach. Take your water bottles because there are no shops but do not throw the plastic bottles once they are done because this beach has marine life that comes close to the shore. We saw sea urchins, fishes, crabs and eels.
Kanyakumari beach
The water is beautifuuuuuuuuullll. Its clear and turquoise. We did see the beautiful sunset but because of the clouds we did not get the perfect sunset, the one with the yolk red Sun setting down the sea. Just when we were about to get back to our car, we spotted an old fisherman selling real pearls at amazingly hard to believe prices. And they were all real pearls, not the perfect shaped but absolutely genuine ones.
One annoying thing in Kanyakumari is municipal taxes from private and commercial vehicles.It does not matter which municipality it is, once you approach the area in a car, some folks( it can be 8 year old or 14 or 32) will be there on the road with some printed paper and a stick receipts to collect money from you. Not sure if its a scam or not, but they will take money only in cash from every vehicle. The amount varies from Rs 30 to Rs 100. Its not parking fee or entry fee but some municipal fee and I am not sure why municipalities collect that money from tourists, although they provide no facilities, not even basic toilet facility.So better is to carry some chiller cash.
Our today's checklist is done. Tomorrow we will be seeing visiting Kanyakumari one more time and then see the nearby places in the morning and will then proceed to Kovalam in Kerala.
Key points:
How to reach Nagercoil:
By Air: Nagercoil is not well connected to other major cities of the country via regular flights. The nearest airport is in Trivandrum at a distance of 66kms. Airports:Trivandrum International Airport By Train: There is no regular trains to Nagercoil from other major cities of the country. The nearest Railway station is at Thiruvananthapuram which is located at a distance of 67kms. Railway Station(s): Kazhakuttam , Veli By Road: NH44 connects Nagercoil
Places to see:
1. Nagaraja Temple : The main temple after which the city is named. 2. Padmanabhapuram Palace : A beautiful Palace and museum made in Kerala style of architecture. 3. Kanyakumari: The southern most tip of India, Kanyakumari is very close to Nagercoil 4. Mathur Aqueduct: The aqueduct was built in 1966 to carry water for irrigation from one elevated region to another. We skipped it, because of time constraint.
