Trip members: Karthik, Sathish Raja, Sankarganesh, Murugan and Nirmal
Trip date: 17, 18 Nov 2018
Trip Plan : Chennai - Kasaragod - Kannur - Thalassery - Mahe - Thalassery - Chennai
This is one trip where none of us had explored North Kerala and were looking forward to as it accounted big for us. We planned a weekend to revel and relish the beautiful beaches, forts by the waves and thick history of the coastline. The plan was to get down in Kasargod, see places around and goto Kannur for overnight stay. Then, see places in Kannur, Thalassery and Mahe and get back to Chennai from Thalassery - using much of the day light between our trains on both days.
Day-1
We had started by Mangalore SF express on Friday evening and reached Kasaragod by 7:45 am - on time. We had pre-booked our cab as usual and took a room at Century plaza for refreshing. We paid Rs.100 per head and quickly refreshed as the day was declared as Hartal (Bandh) owing to reasons around Sabarimala. The breakfast was served till 9 AM and we rushed to have our portions of dosas and pooris. The room we took for refreshing was worth for refreshing; a small pucca budget room in the centre of the town of Kasaragod. The plan was to visit the popular temples to begin with as they would close by noon, while forts and beaches can be accessed even after noon.
We first reached to Kote Sri Veera Anjaneya Temple at Arikkady in Kumbla. Kumbla is a small town also called Kumble - YES - home town of the great legend Anil Kumble ! Kumbla is around 14 kms from Kasaragod. The Anjaneya temple hosts a small beautiful idol of Lord Anjenaya and a sanctum of Udipi Krishna. We spent around 10 minutes in this temple and then walked to Kumbla fort - 100m from the temple.
Kumbla fort is said to be a part of Tuluva kingdom ruled bu Kumbala kings. Kumbla fort is quite small - hosting a fortress and a slope to climb upon. The view and tall grass around gave a nice opportunity for photography. We spent around 20 - 25 minutes here and next went to the ancient temple of Lord Gopalakrishna.
Kanipura Sri Gopala Krishna Temple at Kumble (Kumbla) is that of Lord Krishna as kid. This temple is one of the ancient temples in Kerala and being said that the idol was given by Lord Krishna himself and Yasodha was worshipping this idol. Since the day was a bandh, we were the only devotees in the temple and spent time peacefully for 10-15 minutes.
Next, we visited the Ananthapura Lake temple. Ananthapura temple is around 7 kms from Kumbla and is said to be the Moolasthanam of the Ananthapadmanabhaswamy temple at Trivandrum. This temple is located in the middle of a lake. The lake hosts a crocodile called Babia, serving as the guardian for the temple. It is said that the crocodile eats only the food that is served to the Lord. This crocodile is said to be vegetarian and never harmed anyone till date. We could not see the crocodile but took a snap of the photograph that was put up. We spent around 20 minutes in this temple and around.
8 kms from the Ananthapura Lake temple is Madhur Shree Madhanantheshwara SiddhiVinayaka Temple. When we went, the temple was undergoing massive restoration work. We could not see the main deity; however, the temple is quite big and getting a re-build.
Enroute to Madhur, we stopped and saw Bela Church - Our Lady of Dolours Church, in Bela. There was a marriage going on, and few visited for couple of minutes and started back.
We then started back towards Kasaragod. We had take small detours to avoid impact of bandh. We reached Chandragiri Fort by 11:30. This fort is by the banks of a river (Payaswini) overlooking the Arabian sea. The fort gives scenic views and seems to be built by Naiks. This fort is around 7 kms from the town of Kasaragod. The fort offers sites to picture beautiful memories. The garden inside the fort is also maintained quite well with colourful flora. We spent almost 30 minutes here.
Next, the driver drove to a beach - Chembirika Beach. The beach was very lonely and hardly saw anyone. The loneliness and the sound of waves hitting the rocks was a treat to eyes and ears. We spent around 30 minutes in this beach clicking photographs, enjoying the nature and seeing hundreds of crabs.
We stopped at Melparamba for lunch. The veggies had lunch at Hotel Udupi SreeKrishna Bhavan. We had parottas, paneer masala and veg curry. All were ok and good enough to help us beat the tiredness. The food was cooked fresh and served.
Post lunch, we went to Kappil beach. Kappil beach is around 10 kms from Chembirika beach and 12 kms from Kasaragod. Kappil beach was almost a virgin beach with beauty in abundance - white sands, steep beach, noisy waves banging the land, coconut trees and none around! What a combo ! We definitely had a great time in this beach.
Finally, we reached the most awaiting place in our itinerary - BEKAL fort. This fort was made very popular through the Uyire song from the movie Bombay. Bekal fort is around 16 kms from Kasaragod and by the Arabian sea. The fort is open for public from 8 AM to 5:30 PM. There is an entry fee of Rs.25 per person and Rs.25 per camera. Bekal fort is well preserved and one of the biggest in Kerala. It is mentioned that the Bekal fort was built by Sivappa Nayaka and re-constructed / maintained by many other kings later. The fort is massive hosting water storage, granary and much more inside the fort. The Fortress is multi-layered intrusive into the sea and giving a grand view of the sea than one can imagine. The zig-zag entrance and the multi dimensional massive fortification walls are a treat to watch. We spent almost 1:30 hours in this fort.
The Bekal beach complex is also just by the fort and gives a nice view of the fort on the sea. There is an entrance fee of Rs.20 per person to enter this beach and this is more like a park maintained by the government. The beach is very clean, one of the finest white sands by the beach and view of the fort. This makes the beach one of the beautiful beaches to visit in Kerala.
We then started to Kannur. We had booked beach resort in Kannur. Kannur is around 75 kms from Bekal and took around 2 hours for us reach. We had rooms booked in Mascot Beach resort. This resort is by the rocky cliffs of Kannur sea line. The check-in process was quick but got rooms in different floors. The rooms are spacious, clean and comfortable with a balcony overlooking sea or garden. We had some snacks and water ordered for our quick hunger and it took quite a bit of time. This trend continued and became only worse and worsened further for dinner and next day morning. All food provided were tasty and fresh; however, the time taken serve were in hours. Most disappointing and frustrating factor was that we asked for water at our room, and with infinity clock running for 3 hours and multiple reminders we never got water next day. After reporting to reception during check-out, they had a blank face and did not still serve water ! Horrible service !
Day-2
The plan was to visit few places in Kannur, Thalassery and Mahe before we board the train to Chennai by 4 PM. We decided to spent time at the resort till 11 AM as the facilities were good and then check-out. We booked a cab for the day trip and drop at Thalassery - we planned to board in Thalassery when we prepared our travel itinerary.
By 7 AM, few of us went out for a walk by the rocky cliff of Kannur and the Kannur lighthouse and basked in the nature. We came back, had tea and spent almost an hour at the swimming pool. The water in the swimming pool was very clean and fresh, no chlorine. We had a soothing time at the pool and followed it with a buffet for breakfast - oothappams, steamed banana, poori, sabji, semmiya upma accompanied with sambhar and chutney. Here too, service was an issue, as we got water at our table while completing our breakfast! UUFFF !
We checked out by 11 AM, and went to the Kannur Lighthouse. The Kannur lighthouse is on the cliff next to Payamabalam beach, by the entrance of KTDC resort. The light house is not that tall however gives a beautiful view of the cliff, sea and the beach. Kannur, then Cannanore, was an important sea port for trade from 15th century onwards. One needs to pay Rs.20 per person for the lighthouse entry, Rs.20 per camera and the place is open from 10 AM to 6 PM, 1 PM to 2 PM being lunch hours; closed for lunch.
The lighthouse premises also hosts a lighthouse museum helping us understand more about the history of lighthouse, types of equipment and related. There are lots of photos and equipment helping us understand more about lighthouse; and a 10 min interesting video being played in loops.
We, then visited, St.Angelo Fort also called Fort of Kannur. St.Angelo fort is around 3 kms from Kannur overlooking Arabian sea. This fort is exactly where Portuguese navigator Vasco Da Gama first visit Malabar cost in 1498 AD. Then, the Portuguese viceroy obtained permission to built this fort and named St.Angelo Fort. The fort with built carefully with more security and lots of fortress portions hosting canons facing the sea. The fort hosts granary, water tanks, offices and prison. We walked around the perimeter of the fort and enjoyed the amazing views of the natural bay and the sea around.
Next destination was Thalassery, 22 kms from Kannur. Thalassery fort is open from 8 AM to 6 PM. The fort is known as Tellichery fort, shares similar architecture and objects of similar kind like St.Angelo fort. One notable difference was that the Tellichery fort is little inward in the land and not just on the sea side. We spent around 20 minutes in this fort and moved on.
Mahe - a part of Pondicherry was next on our list. Mahe is 9 kms from Thalassery. We first visited a church in Mahe - the St.Therasa's shrine. This shrine is on the left side just as you enter Mahe. St. Theresa's Roman Catholic Latin Shrine is quite big and was busy on the Sunday.
We next went to Mahe River Side Walkway. This is just 500m from the St.Therasa's shrine. Mahe River Side Walkway is a well maintained place by the Mahe river leading into Arabian sea. The walkway is quite clean and perfect place to kill time. We spent around 15 minutes here and moved on as it was already 2 PM.
We reached back Thalassery for lunch. The driver took us to Hotel Paris Presidency. We ordered for thali, biryani and chappatis. The service was quite slow, the food was ok. We had our lunch fast and reached to Thalassery railway station by 3:45 PM to catch our train back to Chennai. Fortunately, we got fresh and hot dinner at Shoranur junction - Aapam and curry.
Trip date: 17, 18 Nov 2018
Trip Plan : Chennai - Kasaragod - Kannur - Thalassery - Mahe - Thalassery - Chennai
This is one trip where none of us had explored North Kerala and were looking forward to as it accounted big for us. We planned a weekend to revel and relish the beautiful beaches, forts by the waves and thick history of the coastline. The plan was to get down in Kasargod, see places around and goto Kannur for overnight stay. Then, see places in Kannur, Thalassery and Mahe and get back to Chennai from Thalassery - using much of the day light between our trains on both days.
Day-1
We had started by Mangalore SF express on Friday evening and reached Kasaragod by 7:45 am - on time. We had pre-booked our cab as usual and took a room at Century plaza for refreshing. We paid Rs.100 per head and quickly refreshed as the day was declared as Hartal (Bandh) owing to reasons around Sabarimala. The breakfast was served till 9 AM and we rushed to have our portions of dosas and pooris. The room we took for refreshing was worth for refreshing; a small pucca budget room in the centre of the town of Kasaragod. The plan was to visit the popular temples to begin with as they would close by noon, while forts and beaches can be accessed even after noon.
We first reached to Kote Sri Veera Anjaneya Temple at Arikkady in Kumbla. Kumbla is a small town also called Kumble - YES - home town of the great legend Anil Kumble ! Kumbla is around 14 kms from Kasaragod. The Anjaneya temple hosts a small beautiful idol of Lord Anjenaya and a sanctum of Udipi Krishna. We spent around 10 minutes in this temple and then walked to Kumbla fort - 100m from the temple.
Kumbla fort is said to be a part of Tuluva kingdom ruled bu Kumbala kings. Kumbla fort is quite small - hosting a fortress and a slope to climb upon. The view and tall grass around gave a nice opportunity for photography. We spent around 20 - 25 minutes here and next went to the ancient temple of Lord Gopalakrishna.
Kanipura Sri Gopala Krishna Temple at Kumble (Kumbla) is that of Lord Krishna as kid. This temple is one of the ancient temples in Kerala and being said that the idol was given by Lord Krishna himself and Yasodha was worshipping this idol. Since the day was a bandh, we were the only devotees in the temple and spent time peacefully for 10-15 minutes.
Next, we visited the Ananthapura Lake temple. Ananthapura temple is around 7 kms from Kumbla and is said to be the Moolasthanam of the Ananthapadmanabhaswamy temple at Trivandrum. This temple is located in the middle of a lake. The lake hosts a crocodile called Babia, serving as the guardian for the temple. It is said that the crocodile eats only the food that is served to the Lord. This crocodile is said to be vegetarian and never harmed anyone till date. We could not see the crocodile but took a snap of the photograph that was put up. We spent around 20 minutes in this temple and around.
8 kms from the Ananthapura Lake temple is Madhur Shree Madhanantheshwara SiddhiVinayaka Temple. When we went, the temple was undergoing massive restoration work. We could not see the main deity; however, the temple is quite big and getting a re-build.
Enroute to Madhur, we stopped and saw Bela Church - Our Lady of Dolours Church, in Bela. There was a marriage going on, and few visited for couple of minutes and started back.
We then started back towards Kasaragod. We had take small detours to avoid impact of bandh. We reached Chandragiri Fort by 11:30. This fort is by the banks of a river (Payaswini) overlooking the Arabian sea. The fort gives scenic views and seems to be built by Naiks. This fort is around 7 kms from the town of Kasaragod. The fort offers sites to picture beautiful memories. The garden inside the fort is also maintained quite well with colourful flora. We spent almost 30 minutes here.
Next, the driver drove to a beach - Chembirika Beach. The beach was very lonely and hardly saw anyone. The loneliness and the sound of waves hitting the rocks was a treat to eyes and ears. We spent around 30 minutes in this beach clicking photographs, enjoying the nature and seeing hundreds of crabs.
We stopped at Melparamba for lunch. The veggies had lunch at Hotel Udupi SreeKrishna Bhavan. We had parottas, paneer masala and veg curry. All were ok and good enough to help us beat the tiredness. The food was cooked fresh and served.
Post lunch, we went to Kappil beach. Kappil beach is around 10 kms from Chembirika beach and 12 kms from Kasaragod. Kappil beach was almost a virgin beach with beauty in abundance - white sands, steep beach, noisy waves banging the land, coconut trees and none around! What a combo ! We definitely had a great time in this beach.
Finally, we reached the most awaiting place in our itinerary - BEKAL fort. This fort was made very popular through the Uyire song from the movie Bombay. Bekal fort is around 16 kms from Kasaragod and by the Arabian sea. The fort is open for public from 8 AM to 5:30 PM. There is an entry fee of Rs.25 per person and Rs.25 per camera. Bekal fort is well preserved and one of the biggest in Kerala. It is mentioned that the Bekal fort was built by Sivappa Nayaka and re-constructed / maintained by many other kings later. The fort is massive hosting water storage, granary and much more inside the fort. The Fortress is multi-layered intrusive into the sea and giving a grand view of the sea than one can imagine. The zig-zag entrance and the multi dimensional massive fortification walls are a treat to watch. We spent almost 1:30 hours in this fort.
The Bekal beach complex is also just by the fort and gives a nice view of the fort on the sea. There is an entrance fee of Rs.20 per person to enter this beach and this is more like a park maintained by the government. The beach is very clean, one of the finest white sands by the beach and view of the fort. This makes the beach one of the beautiful beaches to visit in Kerala.
We then started to Kannur. We had booked beach resort in Kannur. Kannur is around 75 kms from Bekal and took around 2 hours for us reach. We had rooms booked in Mascot Beach resort. This resort is by the rocky cliffs of Kannur sea line. The check-in process was quick but got rooms in different floors. The rooms are spacious, clean and comfortable with a balcony overlooking sea or garden. We had some snacks and water ordered for our quick hunger and it took quite a bit of time. This trend continued and became only worse and worsened further for dinner and next day morning. All food provided were tasty and fresh; however, the time taken serve were in hours. Most disappointing and frustrating factor was that we asked for water at our room, and with infinity clock running for 3 hours and multiple reminders we never got water next day. After reporting to reception during check-out, they had a blank face and did not still serve water ! Horrible service !
Day-2
The plan was to visit few places in Kannur, Thalassery and Mahe before we board the train to Chennai by 4 PM. We decided to spent time at the resort till 11 AM as the facilities were good and then check-out. We booked a cab for the day trip and drop at Thalassery - we planned to board in Thalassery when we prepared our travel itinerary.
By 7 AM, few of us went out for a walk by the rocky cliff of Kannur and the Kannur lighthouse and basked in the nature. We came back, had tea and spent almost an hour at the swimming pool. The water in the swimming pool was very clean and fresh, no chlorine. We had a soothing time at the pool and followed it with a buffet for breakfast - oothappams, steamed banana, poori, sabji, semmiya upma accompanied with sambhar and chutney. Here too, service was an issue, as we got water at our table while completing our breakfast! UUFFF !
We checked out by 11 AM, and went to the Kannur Lighthouse. The Kannur lighthouse is on the cliff next to Payamabalam beach, by the entrance of KTDC resort. The light house is not that tall however gives a beautiful view of the cliff, sea and the beach. Kannur, then Cannanore, was an important sea port for trade from 15th century onwards. One needs to pay Rs.20 per person for the lighthouse entry, Rs.20 per camera and the place is open from 10 AM to 6 PM, 1 PM to 2 PM being lunch hours; closed for lunch.
The lighthouse premises also hosts a lighthouse museum helping us understand more about the history of lighthouse, types of equipment and related. There are lots of photos and equipment helping us understand more about lighthouse; and a 10 min interesting video being played in loops.
We, then visited, St.Angelo Fort also called Fort of Kannur. St.Angelo fort is around 3 kms from Kannur overlooking Arabian sea. This fort is exactly where Portuguese navigator Vasco Da Gama first visit Malabar cost in 1498 AD. Then, the Portuguese viceroy obtained permission to built this fort and named St.Angelo Fort. The fort with built carefully with more security and lots of fortress portions hosting canons facing the sea. The fort hosts granary, water tanks, offices and prison. We walked around the perimeter of the fort and enjoyed the amazing views of the natural bay and the sea around.
Next destination was Thalassery, 22 kms from Kannur. Thalassery fort is open from 8 AM to 6 PM. The fort is known as Tellichery fort, shares similar architecture and objects of similar kind like St.Angelo fort. One notable difference was that the Tellichery fort is little inward in the land and not just on the sea side. We spent around 20 minutes in this fort and moved on.
Mahe - a part of Pondicherry was next on our list. Mahe is 9 kms from Thalassery. We first visited a church in Mahe - the St.Therasa's shrine. This shrine is on the left side just as you enter Mahe. St. Theresa's Roman Catholic Latin Shrine is quite big and was busy on the Sunday.
We next went to Mahe River Side Walkway. This is just 500m from the St.Therasa's shrine. Mahe River Side Walkway is a well maintained place by the Mahe river leading into Arabian sea. The walkway is quite clean and perfect place to kill time. We spent around 15 minutes here and moved on as it was already 2 PM.
We reached back Thalassery for lunch. The driver took us to Hotel Paris Presidency. We ordered for thali, biryani and chappatis. The service was quite slow, the food was ok. We had our lunch fast and reached to Thalassery railway station by 3:45 PM to catch our train back to Chennai. Fortunately, we got fresh and hot dinner at Shoranur junction - Aapam and curry.
