Friday nights are usually considered as the party nights in Bengaluru. Well, we had other plans. A road trip from Bengaluru to Kanyakumari. We boarded our bus from Silk Board at 9pm and reached Madurai at around 7am the next morning. We rushed to the famous Meenakshi Amman temple to get an early darshan. You will be served with a lot of restrictions such as no mobile phones or cameras inside the temple and no short clothes inside the temple. It took us around 2 hours to complete the darshan even though the footfall was moderate as compared to the other days. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and Parvati. Notable thing about the temple is its marvelous architecture, and can be easily considered as one of the best architectures of India. The temple is also well maintained despite large number of devotees visiting the temple everyday.
Post darshan, we quickly did our breakfast and headed towards our next stop, which was Rameswaram (One of the "Char Dhams" and one of the most popular Hindu pilgrimage destination). We took a cab from Madurai and reached the Annai Indira Gandhi Road Bridge in 2 hours. This road bridge is a parallel to the rail bridge popularly known as Pamban bridge. Pamban bridge is considered to be an engineering marvel. I have not come across anything as scenic as the Pamban bridge. People park their cars and enjoy the scenic sea views from the road bridge. The road bridge offers stunning views of the sea and the Pamban bridge. A once in a lifetime experience.
We reached Rameswaram around 4 pm in the evening. We took a halt at a hotel and retired for the day.
Next morning, we woke up early for the darshan at the iconic Ramanathaswamy Temple. The queue was long enough for us to sweat it out and it took us around 3 hours to get the darshan. As expected, no mobile phones or cameras were allowed inside the temple. The temple is one of the important Hindu pilgrimage sites and one of the 12 Jyotirlingas. It is an architectural gem.
Post the darshan, we had planned to visit Dhanushkodi, the last land of India. But due to a political rally in that area, we could not visit the place. And due to time constraints, we headed towards our next stop, Kanyakumari. The route from Rameswaram to Kanyakumari is scenic and beautiful. It took us around 6 hours to reach Kanyakumari. We adjusted ourselves to the hotel, went for a short walk towards the beach area in the late evening. The night view of the Vivekananda rock from the beach was absolutely mesmerizing.
Kanyakumari is known for its beautiful sunrises and sunsets. The next morning we woke up to witness the beauty, and it was worth the wait. The best sunrise have ever witnessed. It was utterly captivating and picturesque.
Kanyakumari is known for the confluence of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian ocean meeting together at one point. One can easily identify the same from the Triveni Sangam point.
After witnessing such an enchanting sunrise, we completed our breakfast and headed towards the Vivekananda Rock memorial via the ferry. The rock is located on a small island-like place off Kanyakumari. This is quite a peaceful spot where one can simply sit and meditate, let go all his worries and just relax. One can expect mesmerizing sea views from the rock. The place is well maintained and has a serene environment. Another spot near to the Vivekananda rock is the Saint Thiruvalluvar Statue. We spent close to 2 hours on the rock and it was worth our time.
The day ended with a beautiful and enchanting sunset from the View Tower. Again, one of the best sunsets every witnessed.
The next day started with a beautiful sunrise, though not as good as the previous day, but enough for us to keep us motivated throughout the day.
We had planned to visit Poovar Backwaters (Kerela), which was about 70 kms from Kanyakumari. After reaching Poovar, we took a boat ride through the backwaters and reached the Poovar beach, which is a secluded one. The backwaters is surrounded with some beautiful resorts. We spent our entire day around Poovar backwaters and beach, also covering Thirparappu waterfalls and Mathoor Hanging Trough
We reached Kanyakumari in the evening, post which we had our buses booked for Bangalore.
Notable Pointers:
1. Visit Dhanushkodi without fail. Will surely cover the same on my next visit.
2. If you do not have time constraints, visit Kovalam.
3. Spend some more days in Kanyakumari. Its a unique town which has its own charm with beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
Hoping to visit Kanyakumari again.
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