Day 16 - Kovalam

Today we did the trip that was cancelled yesterday due to the general strike over the fuel rises.

First off, we went to the backwaters, for a two hour boat trip through mangrove swamps and canals.  We stopped off at a beach where the rivers met the Arabian sea.  Really, really nice.

local fisherman in the Kerela backwaters

After the boat trip it was back in the car and off to the state of Tamil Nadu, where bizzarely, there's a wooden palace that belongs to Kerela.  Regardless of who owns it, we were here to see it, and it was stunning.  Padmanabhapuram Palace is known as the wooden palace, and with a name that long, it's no wonder.  It's considered to be the best example of Kerelan architechture, and comprises 14 palaces in total. It's the longest wooden palace in Asia, and was once the seat of the rulers of Travanacore, a princely state taking in parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerela.  It's a stunning place and well worth a visit.

a small courtyard in the Wooden Palace

Next it was off to India's southernmost tip Kanyakumari to see the Vivekanada Memorial.  Four hundred meters off shore is the rock where Swami Vivekanada meditated and chose to take his moral message beyond the shores of India.  A memorial was built here in his memory in 1970.  There's another smaller island next to the one with the memorial, and this has a massive statue on it.  Not of Vivekanada, but of the Tamil poet Thrivuvalluvar.  The statue is known as India's Statue of Liberty.  There were 5000 sculptors involved in carving it.  It was erected in 2000, and in honour of the poet's 133 chapter work Thirukkural, the statue is 133 feet tall.

A ferry shuttles passengers from the port, to the memorial island, then the island with the statue, then back to the port.

Vivekanada Memorial

India's Statue of Liberty

Once back on dry land, it was time to head back to the hotel.  The driver took a small detour to show us a place he knew that had an excellent view, up a hill next to a Hindu temple.  There's a cliff edge car park, that overlooks a forest with fishermen's cottages that edge up to the beach with the boats beached for the night.  We got there in time to watch the sun set, and although there was some cloud that stopped us seeing the sun go down, we did get some stunning photos.

Sunset over the beach

Back at the hotel, we grabbed something to eat, and rather than head out, just vegged in the room.

It was a fantastic trip, possibly the best of the holiday, purely because of the variety of things we saw in one day.

And so to bed, tired but happy.