Pages

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Road trip to Kanyakumari from Bengaluru, 'To the CAPE' Part - 3


Today, we had Kanya Kumari on our list.So, in the Cape, at last the feeling was very different . We have been craving to see this place since long. The only thing remaining in our mind was to get up early and catch the lovely sunrise . With all efforts, we woke up at 5:30 am and headed towards the beach to see the sunrise. Trust us , it was worth all the efforts we had taken to wake up early that morning!.
Wake up India

Sunrise
The early morning  view was worth more than the 700 kms drive that brought us here. It was a beautiful one and thousands of people had gathered to watch the sunrise, one of the things KanyaKumari is very famous for. After watching the sunrise, we went back for some rest and breakfast. Later, we wanted to visit the Vivekananda memorial which is situated amidst the beach .Since the queue for the ferry was very long,  we did not waste any time waiting and headed towards an old Dutch Port named Vattakottai, about 7 kms from KanyaKumari .

Entrance to the Fort 


Inside the Fort
From here, we drove towards Nagercoil . On our way ,we came to know about a very famous temple in Suchindrum . The main attractions here, are the renowned shrine dedicated to Lord Sthanu-Mal-Ayan (Shiva Vishnu Brahma) and a huge statue of Lord Hanuman depicting his Viswarupa Dharsan, given to Sita at the Asoka forest .This statue is 18 feet high. Lord Hanuman was as mighty as he always is! No photography is allowed inside the temple .
Pushkarni
Imposing Gopuras



After visiting one more beautiful Kovil (Temple), we moved ahead, appreciating the skill  possessed by people of olden times and wondering how much  pain and effort was undergone in constructing such marvelous and mighty  structures those days, with little or no technology  and know how's . I doubt the possibility of re-creating structures like these or even closer to it, in a fast moving technological world with  new inventions happening every second and anything and everything being made available to man. What we lack majorly is probably the skill , patience and time, the people of olden times possessed. It was a pleasure seeing and feeling these places.

After reaching Nagercoil ,we decided not visit the temple and moved towards the Thirparappu falls . Its about 15 kms from Nagercoil and is located at the end of  the Western Ghats .The river Kodayar falls as Thirparappu.
The falls
As usual, the falls has a provision of bathing under it . There are facilities for boating in the backwaters.
From here, we headed to see the hanging bridge known as Mathur Aqueduct .
The Bridge and the walk way

There are many places nearby like Udayagiri Forts ,Padmanabhapuram Palace, and so on. These places were closed as it was 1st of May. We just got a glimpse of these places from outside.
Udayagiri Fort entrance
We went back to the lodge and the feeling of sadness sunk in ,as tomorrow, we had to head back to Bengaluru. We decided that we would  see the Kanyakumari Temple and head to Madurai , then to Bengaluru (720 kms drive).


Final part .To follow soon.


Overall drive : 170 kms 
To be capped ................

1 comment: