Travelogue: Kannur

As I have said before, my new city Bangalore provides zillions of options for weekend getaways and we have been travelling more than ever before since we moved here!

Now, even though places like Pondicherry, Ooty, Coorg etc. are temptingly beautiful and all in stone's-throw distances from Bangalore; but all these places are pretty commercial & too popular, thus being full of tourists most of the time.

But sometimes, the heart craves some solitude, respite from the madding crowds and a place where one can just let go of everything & just breathe. While craving a weekend of much-needed peace and browsing through hundreds of websites looking for a name that'll not sound popular, I chanced upon the existence of a quaint seaside town located in beautiful Kerala - Kannur.

Fortunately, it proved to be just a overnight bus journey from Bangalore and I knew I had found my weekend haven.

Quick online bookings and a sway-ing sleep on a KSRTC bus (their overnight AC Sleeper buses are really good - awesome buses, great service & perfect punctuality - totally worth a mention) later, me & the husband found ourselves in the small town of Kannur, Kerala.

Our homestay was near the ocean and an early morning auto-rickshaw ride took us through a quiet town and burgeoning green outskirts to Ocean Green Homestay - our abode for the weekend. The owner, Mr. Sajeev, courteously welcomed us into a tiled white house with a porch & a dense garden and it was almost love at first sight.

After freshening up and a hearty breakfast, which the owner's wife herself cooks & serves, we set out down the garden path, through a li'l gate, down a flight of rocky steps into a coconut grove that was as dense as it was green. The monsoons had washed over this town in all its glory and the .lush green view everywhere was a refreshing sight for city-sore eyes!

Through the coconut grove, there was a meandering stream of backwater, flanked by tilted coconut trees on both sides and which opened up into the ocean. The backwater was quintessentially Kerala and proved why this state is called "God's Own Country".

We followed the backwater and climbed a rocky embankment to witness one of the most beautiful views ever! There lay a pristine beach, with an azure blue sky seamlessly merging with a serene sea. We finally congratulated ourselves for choosing Kannur over other seaside towns, as there was not a person in sight and we literally had the whole pretty beach to ourselves! #win #neverpossibleinGoa

Picture-postcard perfect, eh?

So, apart from chilling at this amazingly beautiful beach, we also played tourist and went to visit the St. Angelo's Fort which used to be a Portugese fort in older days and which still stands tall in the town. The fort was not very big, but the view from the turrets is impressive and the canons are still holding their heads high all around the fort walls, as if guarding the city from any possibilities of attack from the ocean-side till date.

We spent a happy & lazy rainy afternoon strolling around the fort, exploring its turrets, dungeons & courtyard.

You can understand that this fort was a pretty active one back in its day by the fact that there's still a moat running around it.

There's nothing much else to see in the town, but you mustn't leave Kannur town without visiting the MRA bakery & restaurant near Kannur railway station. I went there on the recommendation of a fellow blogger who hails from the town, and to say I was impressed, would be an understatement. I was blown away by the sheer size of the place and the variety of confections it had to offer. I was told to try their fish biriyani, but unfortunately, this popular dish gets sold out by afternoon, so we had to be happy with our numerous boxes of cookies and snacks.

But, we did satiate our quest for the famous Fish Biriyani at yet another recommended restaurant, MVK and it was a yummy dish of awesomeness - spicy & fragrant rice with a well-fried fish - another must-have when in Kannur.

The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing in the homestay, taking strolls on the beach and exploring the lush green gardens & groves around.

The monsoon had painted the whole area in gorgeous shades of green and my walks in the garden gave me a lot of pretty captures - of beautiful blooms, majestic trees, lovely plants & even unperturbed insects.

On one of our explorations, we even came upon a beautiful temple nestled in the woods, its serene beauty shining like a beacon of peace in the lap of nature.

Even though officially monsoon is off-season in Kannur and most homestays were closed, and we hardly saw any other tourist around; I found this time to be perfect for visiting the place due to the lush green hues painted by the showers and the vivid colours we got to see all around.

Thankfully, we didn't get much rains and could enjoy the tourist-less town to our hearts' content.

Leaving you with a stunning panoramic view of the lovely beach at Kannur that still makes up a chunk of my dreams.

Can't wait to go back and spend another rejuvenating weekend at this beautiful Kerala town.

I bet most of you didn't know about this lovely place. But I hope I have convinced you to plan your next vacay there!

Let me know how it was!