TRIVANDRUM & POOVAR
- 16th September 2023
Cometh September 2023 and noticed a 3 day extended weekend circled by someone itching for a break so that it stayed visible to me on my desk calendar. The idea was quietly mooted over dinner that we have a long weekend coming up followed by the usual questions and debates and prefixes of “where, how, when, why and which” around budgets, stay, mode of travel, temples, shopping raged around for some time.
A couple of iterations followed and we finally zeroed down on a plan to visit God in his Country. Kerala it was to be and with a plan to explore more of something which we had not seen before. Having done Munnar twice, Thekkady, Guruvayoor, Kumarakom etc, we decided to rewind the clock and go to Trivandrum and Fort Kochi since the kids had very faint memories of this place.
Table of Contents
Getting to reach God's Own Country
One could choose to fly into Trivandrum the way we did from Chennai. Alternately, if one is around Bangalore or Chennai, a train journey could be planned but it would entail a long haul of 12+ hours. The other alternate could be fly into Kochi and drive down or take a intercity train or any of the long distance trains connecting these 2 cities. There are more than 25 trains running daily and through the day between these cities and beyond. Should one want to combine a stay at one of these exotic resorts at Poovar or Varkala or Kovalam, would recommend to plan a 3 day trip.
As we set forth for this short vacay
The Chennai to Thiruvananthapuram (erstwhile known as Trivandrum) Indigo flight was in the wee hours of the morning and which entailed that we had to leave home by around 3.30 AM. Not sure if we would get a cab around that unearthly hour and not wanting to leave anything to chance, we landed at the Chennai airport at around midnight, almost in time to catch an international flight. The customary photo shoots done, roamed around the airport for a while before catching on with a couple of hours of sleep.
3 alarms ringing together at 4 AM created enough music for us to wake up. Freshened up and went to the Cafe to savour some piping hot filter coffee, knowing pretty well that the next 4 days would be tough for this ardent coffee lover family, given that Kerala is a Chaya (tea) country. We boarded the 5.30 AM flight to Trivandrum and after 60 minutes of flying and some turbulence thanks to the retreating Kerala monsoons, we were at Trivandrum Airport at around 7.00 AM.
We had booked our stay at Hotel Ariya Niwas. This was a 30 minute drive from the Trivandrum Airport and at a walking distance from the Railway Station.
Trivia on Trivandrum
An undulating terrain of low coastal hills, the city of Trivandrum is built on seven hills along the shoreline.
The city derives its name from Thiru Anantha Puram meaning Abode of Lord Ananta. The ancient Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple, the world’s richest temple with a treasure trove running in excess of Rs.1 Lakh Crores is a famous place for worship here.
Tourists also flock here to chill out at the lovely beaches of Kovalam and Varkala and backwaters of Poovar. Lot of verdant greenery around the town which made Mahatma Gandhi refer to this city as the Evergreen City of India. The city was into trading for ivory, sandalwood and spices from around 1000 BCE. King Solomon, a monarch of ancient Israel is believed to have sailed in here in present day Poovar which existed as a port then. Kings from the Ay, Chera and Chola dynasties ruled the city until it moved to the Royals of Travancore.
The best time to visit
October to February are generally considered the best months to visit Trivandrum though there are these occasional passing showers which renders some bit of coolness to an otherwise sticky and humid weather. We did encounter this during our stay but it was fun and manageable walking through light intermittent drizzles through the day.
While it would be recommended to wear light cotton wear, the dress codes at some of the temples would have to be strictly adhered to.
Choose from any of these and more for your stay
One is spoilt for choices in terms of the hotels and beach side resorts at Trivandrum. Chose one of these booking sites Booking.com, Agoda.com or Makemytrip.com to narrow down on your choices but apply the cardinal rule of looking at not only the ratings but also reading a few random reviews.
While our prime objective to look for in any hotel would be to hunt for those with neat and clean washrooms and linen since we would be on travel most of the day, we have not been proven wrong. One could look at Uday Samudra, Travancore Heritage Beach resort, The Abad Harmonica (we had stayed here in 2006) or the Leela and Taj Green Cove properties for beach side resorts or opt for the Classic Sarovar Portico or Horizon or Hycinth or Central Residency or Keys Select or KTDC’s Mascot Hotel. Ideally one could spend a day or two within the city and chill out for a couple of days at Kovalam or Varkala or Poovar.
The plan was to leave our luggage with the concierge and hire a cab from the hotel to go around the places of interest. This Hotel is quite popular amongst localites and tourists and is well known for its vegetarian restaurant. As always, remains jam packed through the dining hours.
Had always been my go to restaurant during my official trips to Trivandrum and only though Booking.com did I realize that these guys had a decent property for stay too. Dropped our luggage at the reception since the check in time was 1.00 PM and headed for breakfast. We had booked the cab for a 9 AM start to go around Trivandrum for the full day.
A sumptuous South Indian breakfast of Peas Uthappam (a type of thick pancake with a smattering of green peas), Pongal (rice and lentil porridge) and Appam (a type of thin pancake) followed with an accompaniment of authentic South Indian Filter Coffee.
We freshened up and waited in the lobby for the cab guy to turn up. Took the help of the receptionist to explain in Malayalam to our cab driver the places which we wanted to cover. The plan was to start with the Aazhimala Shiva temple located 20 kms away and then head for the Lighthouse at Vizhinjam and the beaches of Kovalam in that order before returning to the city.
Soaking in the Sights literally
The Aazhimala Shiva Temple
We headed to the Aazhimala Shiva temple, located 20 kms away from the hotel.
Located in Mulloor and on the Poovar Vizhinjam road, this temple was right next to the Arabian Sea.
We reached the temple around 9.30 AM. Dedicated to Lord Shiva, what unfolded before our eyes as we entered the temple complex is a 58 feet high statue of Gangadhareshwara (meaning Lord who adorns the Ganga) sculpture.
This is the tallest Shiva sculpture in Kerala. The temple is built similar to what we get to see in most of the Shrines in Tamil Nadu and is atop a cliff overlooking the sea. The outer walls of the temple and the tower (Gopuram) are adorned with colourful sculptures of different deities like Vishnu, Karthikeya, Hanuman, Ganesha and Ayyappan and lot of vibrant carvings and murals can be seen.
While the construction of the statue started in 2014, it took over 6 and a half years to complete and depicts a 4 armed Shiva in a seated posture. While the front right hand of the Lord can be seen resting on his thigh, the back right hand holds a drum (damru), the back left hand holds a trident and the front left hand is in a raised position within the dreadlocks which holds the Ganga. The principal deity of the temple is Shiva while Parvati and Ganesh are the subordinate deities.
The backdrop of the bluish-black sea, the swaying palm trees, a mild breeze blowing across our faces amidst a gentle drizzle was truly a memorable experience.
Vizhinjam Lighthouse
We spent around an hour at Aazhimala and headed towards Vizhinjam. Located around 3 kms from the famed Kovalam beach, the Light House was a 15 minute drive away. During the 18th and 19th centuries, Vizhinjam happened to be a busy seaport.
Vizhinjam Lighthouse or Trivandrum Lighthouse is situated near Kovalam beach in Kerala. It started functioning on 30 June 1972. Vizhinjam was a busy seaport in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Before the current light was installed, there were no lighthouses at this location until this and its believed that a flag mast could have been used as a day mark beacon.
The port was in a neglected state in the 19th century until a lighted beacon came up first in 1925 at nearby Kolachal.
In 1972, a 36 metre high cylindrical tower came up to function as a proper lighthouse. The paint markings have red and white bands and the Lighthouse is equipped with Metal Halide lamps and a direct drive mechanism.
The light source was modified after about 30 years of being in existence. Tickets are priced at Rs.10/- per head while usage of a camera would entail an addition fee of Rs.20/-.
A 150 step spiral staircase leads one to the top from where magnificent views of the Vizhinjam beach and its surroundings can be seen.
The Sagarika Marine Museum
Based on the cab driver’s recommendation about a Marine museum being nearby and since it had begun raining, we headed by around 11.30 for the Sagarika Marine Research Aquarium.
The drizzle had intensified into a downpour and we literally had to make a dash from the gate to the entrance door.
A unique destination to get a very close look at the mysteries of marine life.
There are a wide variety of species like the Grey Bambooshark, varieties of Lobsters, the Scat, Box Fish, the Cow Fish, Eels, the Angelfish, the Clown Fish, the Seahorse etc.
A reef tank on display with a multitude of Corals is a special attraction of this museum.
The entry tickets were priced at Rs.20/- apiece.
The Kovalam and the Hawa Beaches
We had to kill time inside the museum, waiting for the rains to abate and around 12.30 finally we headed for the twin beaches of Kovalam and the Hawa Beach lying adjacent to each other.
Even during my earlier visits to Kovalam, had never found the beaches around to be clean.
A reason could be that the sand out here is blackish in colour but what always remained entrenched in my mind was that Kovalam beach was always dirty and I did not find it any different with the rains compounding the problem even more.
The Hawa beach was better laid out and a lot cleaner but having flown in from the land of the beaches, felt that the beaches in Chennai are much more cleaner and bigger than those here and much easier to walk around.
The beaches aligned with the resorts around and a few as I understand which are reserved for foreigners are better maintained and cleaner as what our cab driver told us.
The Shankamukha Beach
After spending around 15 minutes between both the beaches, we headed for the Shankamukha (meaning the face of a conch) beach and reached there by 13.30 hours.
This beach is located very close to the Trivandrum Airport and is a relatively newer developed beach.
Considered as the ‘Arattukadavu’ of Sri Ananthapadmanabhan, the presiding deity of the city, special occasions entail thousands of Hindus congregating here to perform Bali Tharpanam as a mark of paying homage to their forefathers.
The brownish beach here looked relatively cleaner and maybe because of the earlier rains looked less crowded.
On the Arattu day, images of the lords Padmanabhaswamy, Narasimha, and Krishna are taken in procession to the Laccadive sea on this beach and the procession is led by His Highness and the now Titular Maharaja of Travancore with a royal sword in his hand.
He is escorted by members of the royal family, armed guards, temple authorities, mounted police and other officers and after the ceremonial bath, the images are taken back to mark the end of the festival.
A 35 metre long statue of Sagarakanyaka (a Mermaid) is an added attraction apart from a helicopter from the Air Force which is mounted on a small platform with steps leading up to it. The Mermaid was conceived and built by a sculptor Kanayi Kunhiraman who was also the former Chairman of the Lalit Kala Academy, a national academy of fine arts.
Located around 5 kms from the beach was the Veli Tourist village which I had visited during one of my earlier visits. There are boating facilities offered at this picnic spot and there is a nice garden to hang around.
We headed back to our hotel for completing the check-in formalities and our lunch and asked the cab driver to come back at 3 PM to visit the Trivandrum Zoo and the Napier Museum if time permitted. Wanted to come back early and get those extra hours of sleep given that we were almost on the road from midnight.
The visit to the Padmanabhaswamy temple and the Palace were anyways planned for the next day morning before we were to head for the lovely magical island of Poovar on Sunday afternoon.
The Trivandrum Zoo and Napier Museum
The rains had intensified as we reached the entrance of the Zoo and proved to be a real dampener.
Fortunately the wide canopy of trees and the availability of an umbrella with our cab driver reserved for tourists came in handy as we walked around almost 55 hectares housing one of the oldest zoos (established in 1857) of the country. There are around 82 species from around the world which are housed here including the indigenous species of the Royal Bengal Tiger, the Indian Rhino, the white tiger, the leopard, the Nilgiri Langur and the lion tailed macaque. One can also sight the elephants, the hippos, the gaurs and visit the snake farm to sight a wide variety of poisonous and non-poisonous snakes including a few Anacondas too. The giraffes which I had seen earlier were amiss while it did take some effort to sight the leopard and the tiger because of the rains.
The Zoo was located right within the heart of the city and was just around 3 kms from our hotel.
Had been to this zoo earlier and loved the approach towards maintaining a naturalistic approach to the habitats of animals instead of keeping them in cages.
One needs to buy a ticket at Rs.20/- per had and a separate ticket for a camera at Rs.50/-.
The Napier Museum which was adjoining the zoo had closed the sale of tickets at 4.30 PM and we had to give this a miss as roaming around the zoo itself took us almost a couple of hours.
We had seen this museum and the Sree Chitra Thirunal Art Gallery (which houses paintings of the famed Raja Ravi Varma) during our earlier visit,
The museum is known for its architectural style and unique ornamentation and is said to be influenced by Chinese, Indian, Kerala and the Mughal schools of architecture and has a Gothic roof and minarets.
A rare collection of historic and archaeological artefacts, ancient ornaments, ivory carvings, a temple chariot and bronze idols can be seen here.
We headed back to the hotel and after an early dinner at the restaurant crashed.
Was up early by around 5.15 AM the next day and decided to go for a small run around the city. Knowing well that the roads of Trivandrum have many of those ups and downs in stretches and is not an easy place to run coupled with the humidity, went for a short 6 km run around and kept stopping by to click pictures on the go.
A Few Random Sightings on Day 2
Padmanabhaswamy Temple
We were all ready by around 7.15 AM and post breakfast at the hotel, hired an auto to the famed Padmanabhaswamy temple. We reached the temple by around 8 AM. The name of Thiruvananthapuram in Malayalam translates to The City of Ananta (this being a form of Lord Vishnu) and thus, this World’s Richest Hindu Temple also gets known as the Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Temple.
It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Lord Vishnu and we were fortunate to have done two in a month. (read about the other in https://jewelsofasia.in/tranquebar when we were in Mayavaram). The temple is an interesting fusion of the Dravidian and the Kerala style of architectures featuring high walls, a 16th century Gopura or Tower and a large water tank at the entrance of the temple.
One can refer to this link below in case you want to delve more into the history of the temple :
Some traditions call out the Ananthapura tempe in Kumbla in Kasaragod as the original spiritual seat of the deity while the architecture of this temple resembles the Adikesava Perumal Temple in Thiruvattar in Kanyakumari District which incidentally is not very far off from Trivandrum.
The main deity is enshrined in the Anantha Shayana posture which depicts the eternal yogi asleep on the 5 hooded infinite serpent Adi Shesha.
This is also the tutelary deity of the Travancore Royal family who are the current trustees of the temple.
The hoods face inwards signifying contemplation while the deity’s right hand is placed over a Shiva Linga.
Lord Vishnu’s 2 consorts, Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and Bhoodevi, the goddess of Earth are by his side.
The deity is said to be made out of 12,008 Saligrammams which are black fossilized stones or ammonite sourced from the banks of the Gandaki river in Nepal.
There are quite a few other shrines which can be visited inside the temple and it would typically take one, an an hour and a half to two to have a complete darshan of the temple.
Photography is banned. In fact one cannot carry his or her mobile and they need to be deposited in safe lockers which are available on both sides of the road leading to the temple.
The dress code is very strictly followed and as a matter of caution to visitors, one can only enter the temple wearing a Dhoti/Veshti (a loose piece of white cloth wrapped around the loins) and an Angavastram (a kind of stole or shoulder cloth) on top or be bare chested.
Women are required to be draped in sarees or half sarees and in case of using a Salwar-kameez or Churidhar, a dhoti has to be wrapped around the legs while for girls under 12 years of age, a skirt and blouse would do.
The dhotis can be bought/rented near the entrance to the temple.
The temple underwent major renovation during the reign of King Marthanada Varma.
Subsequent rulers and members of the royal family continued the tradition of maintaining the temple well and formed a trust headed by a member of the royal family.
A petition however filed in 2011 seeking transparency in operations of the temple unearthed some startling facts. 6 subterranean vaults were discovered during the investigation of the temple complex.
Only 5 of these vaults were managed to be opened after lot of struggle with the mega locks.
And what was discovered were precious stones, gold coins, statues, jewelleries and thrones made out of gold valued at over Rs.1 lakh crores, making it the richest temple in the world.
One vault has however remained unopened and its said that a bad omen would befall people who try to open it.
Its rumoured that past attempts to open it have made temple authorities and even Britishers who attempted it give up when they heard the sound of waves crashing and venomous snakes all around.
So very Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom like.
We were out of the temple by around 10.30 AM and the next half an hour was spent going around the shops in the right side of the temple’s vicinity as we exited. Specially handcrafted Sarees, artefacts, magnets, dress materials, dolls and god knows what got picked up as I was soon heavier by almost 2 Kgs.
The Puthen Maliga Museum
We entered the Kuthira (meaning Horse) Maliga (Mansion) Palace and Museum by around 11 AM.
This was on our right after we exited the temple entrance and a few yards away.
The entry tickets were Rs.50/- per head. A separate charge of Rs.20/- is levied for using one’s mobile camera and that too only outside the Museum. The Palace is closed on Mondays and the timings of visit are between 9.00 AM to 12.30 PM and 2.00 PM to 4.45 PM.
The Palace has been so named because of the figures of 122 horses carved in teak wood in a unique pattern, supporting the Southern roof.
This museum forms part of the large complex of royal buildings in the vicinity of the temple and were left unoccupied for more than a century following the demise of Maharaja Swathi Thirunal in 1847.
16 rooms of the palace got opened for the Public in April 1995 as a Museum and during 2016-17, these rooms were upgraded and re-organized.
Each of the room is different with respect to the ceilings, the carvings in wood and the lovely floral decorations made along the upper edges of the walls.
Granite Pillars support the roof of the Palace and these bear some very intricate designs.
Egg whites, black charcoal, coconut shells and slaked lime have been used to build the floor of the Palace.
The use of these have rendered the place to remain cool even in the peak of summer.
Lot of exhibits are on display ranging from wooden Kathakali figures to various arsenal comprising of swords, daggers, spears, weapons made of horns of antelopes with metal tips, shields made of rhino skin, ivory thrones of Swati Thirunal, bronze sculptures and various gifts received by the Kings during their tenures.
There is also a section with paintings done by the famed Raja Ravi Varma.
The Palace showcases the Kerala school of architecture predominantly and extensive use of Rosewood, teakwood, Marble and granite have been done here.
As we stepped out of the Palace, shops on the left side of the temple’s exit caught the attention of the ladies and after hustling them, we finally left for our hotel by an auto at around 12 Noon.
We had booked a cab from the hotel to go to Poovar at 1.30 PM which was to be our next halt.
The Magic of Poovar
We finished the check out formalities, had our lunch once again at their restaurant and off we were to Poovar at sharp 1.30 PM.
A 50 minute drive from our Hotel and another 10 minutes to locate the boat jetty where a boat would have to ferry us to the Island Resort where we had booked ourselves in.
Interestingly the Poovar Island Resort where we were to stay does not have any connectivity by road and can only be accessed by boat.
A further wait time of 25 minutes before the boat which was to pick us up came and as we kept riding, out of the blue, a series of floating cottages appeared out of nowhere.
A beautiful sight to behold against the backdrop of the serene backwaters on one side and a long tract of a beach and the Arabian Sea on the other side.
Finally reached the resort and completed our check-in formalities by 3.30 PM.
A tropical paradise in its truest sense, this lovely resort with 86 cottages, set amidst a picturesque landscape of swaying palm trees and verdant greenery all around.
The property has a nice swimming pool and some right through our stay, the excellent cuisine on offer was worth every penny spent.
The rooms were very well laid out and spacious and very comfortable.
Our idea was to basically chill over the weekend for a day with no sightseeing to do and just let our hair down and relax and the resort perfectly fitted the bill in all respects.
We unfortunately did not have time for a longer stay which in hindsight should have been planned but yes, there is always a next time.
There was a complimentary pick up and drop to the nearby beach by boat which we could opt for on either of the days but we decided to combine it with an hour’s backwater cruise planned for the next day.
After a hearty and well spread out breakfast the next morning, we got into the boat for a backwater cruise.
The chirping of birds, the rustle of the gentle breeze and the smooth gliding of the boat across the Mangrove Forests, the spotting of migratory birds was a surreal experience and we wished it could go on and on.
We then headed for the beach on the way back to the resort and spent around half an hour lazing around.
Nothing much to do since the tract of the beach has the backwater on one side and the Arabian Sea on the other.
An early morning or late evening cruise would always be recommended since it otherwise becomes quite hot and stifling, given all the humidity around.
We reached our resort and after having completed the check out formalities by around 10.45 AM got into a boat which was to drop us back to the Welcome Area where we had boarded yesterday.
We had asked the same cab guy to come and pick us up presuming that he would be familiar with the place.
We had booked ourselves to go by train to Kochi since Fort Kochi was our next port of call.
A place visited in the early 2000s and having read so much about how much this place had been transformed in terms of its tourism potential over the years. The 12.30 noon train brought us into Ernakulam (renamed as Kochi) Town station by around 4.30 in the evening.
Very vivid description Mohan…well done!