Trip to Nagarcoil and kanyakumari

Started my journey from Chennai to nagercoil. After my long train travel,I took little fresh up from my hotel room and took our rented two wheeler, started our journey towards mathur hanging bridge(Kanyakumari district).Mathur dam was built across pahrali river for purpose of carrying water from one hill to another.As sun started rising, to cool down the heat we took palm fruit rasna as refreshing drink on the high way and continued our journey,condition of road to that bridge is not so good it's full of ridge groove.It seems there is two ways to reach bridge ,a road way that will take you to directly to top of bridge and another way is steps.We choose to climb step(nearly 150 steps) to reach the top.
View from steps

Top view from bridge

The view from bridge is awesome.you will be able to see western ghats from top.Its a perfect place for taking photos.A small water canal passing along the bridge.At bottom of bridge you will able to see a small play area and river pahrali

Due to time constraint we skipped thiparappu falls it's about 20 km from bridge.Next we went to padmanabapuram palace,(6 km from mathur bridge).It was constructed by travangore kings.It is under the control of Kerala archaeological department.If your student you can get proof letter from your principal and get concession in entry fees.For camera photography,you have to pay extra.Timing for palace is 9 am to 4.30 pm.Guides were inside the palace,they explained about each section of palace.

For us it took one and half hour cover the palace.There is also a small museum present on one side of palace(Spear,sword and other historical things of kings were kept here).Rest room facility was available inside palace.Outside the palace lot of hand craft shop are there.

Our plan to chitharal jain monuments was cancelled(We enquired about this place to locals ,they said like, evening time won't be safe to visit that place).Next we planned for nagaraja temple .On the way to temple we stopped in udayagiri fort.Only the outer rampart looked like fort.Inside the wall we are able to see a park with few animal and birds(For me its not worth watching).

Then we reached our destination nagaraja temple. Nagercoil got its name from this temple only(In tamil coil/koil mean temple) Snake is the main god here, you will be able to see different type of snakes statues here.Some people said like colour of god nagaraja's nest changes during some season of year.One more speciality is outside the temple people are anointing milk over snake god for their wellness.

We thought we can roam for few more hours.So we left for our last unplanned place sanguthurai beach.When we reached there, almost dark every where.The road way to that beach from nagercoil itself very scary because there is no proper lightening .When I was reached that place only 5-6 people were there.But breeze of beach made me feeling relaxed.

Next day morning vacated hotel and started our journey at 4.30 am from nagercoil to kanyakumari. Distance between nagercoil to kanyakumari is around 20 km.We reached kanyakumari by 5 am to see the sunrise.There are two different place for sunrise and sunset(Enquire locals about this,they also added like,there is no fear of two wheeler theft so you can park vehicle anywhere).Sunrise point is like stone extension .Sunrise and sunset vary based on season.we went kanyakumari in January month,Sunrise came at 6.45 am.

Next we went for Vivekananda memorial.For that we have to take ferry service.Ferry service will start at 8 am and ticket dispatching will start at 7.45.We thought of going early to buy tickets because I have already heard that ferry service will be always crowded .I reached ticket counter by 7.15 am I was shocked as there was already queue for half mile.I joined that queue and got my ticket around 8 am.As it was 26th January,people hoisted flag inside ferry service centre and distributed candies for the passenger. It was only a 5-10 mins journey to Vivekananda memorial rock.Entry fees for this ferry charge was Rs50 and Vivekananda memorial is RS.20(This ticket you need take in vivekananda memorial)

Got window seat in ferry and admired the beauty of sea.

Memorial have two parts Shaba mandapa and Shri pada mandapa.In pada mandapa you will be able to see foot path of parvathy who did penance here.And in sabha mandapa there you will see a big statue of swami vivekananda.

Shaba mandapa:

There will be meditation hall where you can meditate with continuous om chanting with group of people for energy & peace of mind.

If you want to buy any book about vivekananda ,totally 3-4 book stalls available.There is also a sun rise calendar and compass encrypted on floor.

One more good thing I saw was rain water reservoir in that place.

You can admire the whole beauty of sea from vivekananda rock,that is unique experience

Ferry service for thiruvallvar statue is stopped temporarily due to low tide at the time we went.

Once you came out of memorial you will be able to see kumariamman temple within 200 meters.One more place near by temple is mukkadal sangamam(place where three sea meet).Three more place to visit near by, gandhi memorial,the spot where ash urn of gandhi ji is kept for public view before immersion,later a memorial was bulit in memory of him(Place where photographs of gandhi ji from childhood to his death is placed) and Kamarajar memorial (Built in memory of kamarajar here you can find rare photographs of kamarajar ),there is no entry fees collected for both memorial and the last site is,view tower ,from there you can get full aerial view of beach

Next our planned place is vatta kottai(It is about 6 km from kanyakumari beach),it was built in 18th century by travancore king as coastal defence fortification.Vatta kottai mean circular fort,but the fort is in rectangular shape only.

Note:Plan your food in kanyakumari itself,because there is no good hotel,from kanyakumari to vattakottai route

Man made shelters are built for keeping weapons and slop is made for lifting cannon and weapons during war

Top view from fort: vatta kottai beach

Way to vattakottai balck sand beach is surrounded with bushes ,it will come before vattakottai (around 200m distance),enquire locals about the way.I saw only few people in shore.Many local people were collecting sea shells.As this our last spot in our plan we spend few hours in the beach and enjoyed beauty of nature