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#1
As usual, we have 5 families (all Senior Citizen) decided to take another family tour during the 1st week of January 2019, but due to some emergency /urgent commitment to a couple of our members the tour was postponed to February 2019.
We have hired a 14 seater Force Travller (though we have only 10 people altogether) and the departure date was set for the 2nd of February early morning (5:15AM). The ride arrived on time and picked up all members from their respective homes and the journey begins.
First halt for breakfast was just before calicut, a place called Chemanchery and the hotel name was SAR Arcade. The route we have taken was Kannur/Calicut/Malappuram/Perinthalmanna/Palakkad/Pollachi/Madurai.
Reached Madurai around 9:00PM and managed to get accommodation at Jeyasakthi Hotel, just 4kms before the Temple. The next door of the hotel was the Thalappakati Hotel (Thalappakati Biriyani has been very famous) and we all had Biriyani at that hotel.
Day-2
The next morning we left the hotel at 7:00 AM and proceeded towards the Meenakshi Temple. We had to park our traveller in the parking lot (Ellis Nagar parking area near Periyar Bus stand) and then to catch a government bus to the temple (The bus service is only to Temple and back to the parking area and they charge Rs.25 per head for up and down travel).
There was a long queue at the Temple (South Tower Entrance). There was also paid queue (Rs.100 & 50) but we all preferred to be in the normal queue for the Darshan. Mobile phones, Chargers, Power Banks, Baggages etc. was not allowed inside the temple and had to keep it in the clock room which is available in all 4 tower entrances. It took around 2 hours to get Darshan, thereafter we all had breakfast just outside the entrance and then proceeded to the bus stand to catch the return bus and reached the parking area where our Travaller was parked. We then continued our journey towards Rameswaram.
Lunch was taken at the Thai Chettinadu Mess on Ramewsaram Road, Mandapam, where there was a big crowd, but managed to get seats for all our members and had a quick bite. The food was not that good but OK. Continued the journey and next we stopped to enjoy the beauty of Pamban Bridge.
We got down from the traveller and then walked all the way to the other end on the bridge as our driver was a little worried about Police checking as there was a parking restriction on the bridge.
We then stopped at Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial in Rameshwaram. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India Shri. Narendra Modi on 27th July, 2017.
About the Memorial - Spread over 2.11 acres of land, the memorial is constructed on the gravesite of Dr. Kalam, where his mortal remnants were put to rest on July 27, 2015. In order to pay tribute to India’s missile man, The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), with which Dr. Kalam had been associated for several years of his life, came up with an initiative to construct his memorial. And with an investment of Rs 120 crore, its construction had been completed in a record time of just 9 months.
We spent around 30 minutes here (not enough, but we need to move to the other point, hence could not spend more time at the memorial), and then proceeded towards Rameswaram. Our idea was to stay at Rameswaram and see all other places. As such, we started searching decent hotels, but unable locate a good budget hotel (hotels available, but the rate they were asking was bit high i.e. above 2500 per couple per night), may be due to Sunday and there was heavy rush.
After checking few hotels around, we dropped idea of staying at Rameswaram instead decided to find a hotel on our way. We then visited Ramanathan Swamy Temple and started our journey towards Vellore.
As in the case of other Temples, no mobile or camera allowed inside the temple, hence could not take more pictures .
We reached Devakottai at around 9:30Pm and spent the night there (medium budget hotel - Rs.700 non-a/c rooms). (our idea was to drive up to Karaikudi and stay there, butsince the roads were bad we know that we will reach Karaikudi only in the midnight which may put us in difficult to get hotel rooms in that hour.)
That's end of Day 2
We have hired a 14 seater Force Travller (though we have only 10 people altogether) and the departure date was set for the 2nd of February early morning (5:15AM). The ride arrived on time and picked up all members from their respective homes and the journey begins.
First halt for breakfast was just before calicut, a place called Chemanchery and the hotel name was SAR Arcade. The route we have taken was Kannur/Calicut/Malappuram/Perinthalmanna/Palakkad/Pollachi/Madurai.
Reached Madurai around 9:00PM and managed to get accommodation at Jeyasakthi Hotel, just 4kms before the Temple. The next door of the hotel was the Thalappakati Hotel (Thalappakati Biriyani has been very famous) and we all had Biriyani at that hotel.
Day-2
The next morning we left the hotel at 7:00 AM and proceeded towards the Meenakshi Temple. We had to park our traveller in the parking lot (Ellis Nagar parking area near Periyar Bus stand) and then to catch a government bus to the temple (The bus service is only to Temple and back to the parking area and they charge Rs.25 per head for up and down travel).
There was a long queue at the Temple (South Tower Entrance). There was also paid queue (Rs.100 & 50) but we all preferred to be in the normal queue for the Darshan. Mobile phones, Chargers, Power Banks, Baggages etc. was not allowed inside the temple and had to keep it in the clock room which is available in all 4 tower entrances. It took around 2 hours to get Darshan, thereafter we all had breakfast just outside the entrance and then proceeded to the bus stand to catch the return bus and reached the parking area where our Travaller was parked. We then continued our journey towards Rameswaram.
Lunch was taken at the Thai Chettinadu Mess on Ramewsaram Road, Mandapam, where there was a big crowd, but managed to get seats for all our members and had a quick bite. The food was not that good but OK. Continued the journey and next we stopped to enjoy the beauty of Pamban Bridge.
We got down from the traveller and then walked all the way to the other end on the bridge as our driver was a little worried about Police checking as there was a parking restriction on the bridge.
We then stopped at Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial in Rameshwaram. Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam National Memorial was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India Shri. Narendra Modi on 27th July, 2017.
About the Memorial - Spread over 2.11 acres of land, the memorial is constructed on the gravesite of Dr. Kalam, where his mortal remnants were put to rest on July 27, 2015. In order to pay tribute to India’s missile man, The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), with which Dr. Kalam had been associated for several years of his life, came up with an initiative to construct his memorial. And with an investment of Rs 120 crore, its construction had been completed in a record time of just 9 months.
We spent around 30 minutes here (not enough, but we need to move to the other point, hence could not spend more time at the memorial), and then proceeded towards Rameswaram. Our idea was to stay at Rameswaram and see all other places. As such, we started searching decent hotels, but unable locate a good budget hotel (hotels available, but the rate they were asking was bit high i.e. above 2500 per couple per night), may be due to Sunday and there was heavy rush.
After checking few hotels around, we dropped idea of staying at Rameswaram instead decided to find a hotel on our way. We then visited Ramanathan Swamy Temple and started our journey towards Vellore.
As in the case of other Temples, no mobile or camera allowed inside the temple, hence could not take more pictures .
We reached Devakottai at around 9:30Pm and spent the night there (medium budget hotel - Rs.700 non-a/c rooms). (our idea was to drive up to Karaikudi and stay there, butsince the roads were bad we know that we will reach Karaikudi only in the midnight which may put us in difficult to get hotel rooms in that hour.)
That's end of Day 2
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