Trivandrum

Just hit Kerala border

The ride on the East coast road started off on 27^th December 2018 from Kanyakumari and although its just 100 kms from Trivandrum, we took 3 hours due to the narrow roads and the number of times we halted to relish the scenic villages. Our first stop was this cute little village where I quickly checked their local fish market and was so delighted to see the happy faces of the villagers, who looked so excited to see me.  After our short ride, we had our lunch at Hotel Green Valley in Virivilai – we had a Malayali meal with buffalo fry and fried tuna called Choora locally. The food was delicious and the best part about this place was that the manager earlier lived in Meghalaya, such a small world!!

Tuna Fry - Kerala Style

We arrived in Trivandrum and stayed in a homestay through Air BNB in the heart of the city and I must say that this couple is the one of the most amazing people we have ever met in our lives and treated us like a family. After we freshened up, we headed to Kovalam beach and I climbed the Kovalam Lighthouse, which was a wonderful experience especially the last climb on the ladder and the view from top was mesmerizing. 

Kovalam Beach from Light house

The beach is beautiful and pleasant to walk on the promenade and it’s lined with quirky and colourful stalls selling curios, clothing and accessories. There are plenty of restaurants and we hopped into this amazing restaurant called Malabar café, where you can choose fresh seafood and weigh it too. It was a candlelight dinner and we treated ourselves to buffalo fry, fish & chips and the star Malabar Prawns Masala with rice. The food was excellent and very delicious with awesome ambiance and staff. Later we took a stroll by the beach, where the gleaming colourful lights reflected on the gentle waves.

At Kovalam beach

We had a delicious breakfast, which our host had prepared then headed to the Napier palace museum. If you love history then you must visit this place as it houses rare collection of archeological and artifacts, bronze idols, ornaments, temple chariot and ivory carvings. We visited the Sri Chitra Art Gallery in the same compound, which had beautiful paintings by famous artists from around the world. My personal favourites were Raja Ravi Verma’s called Gypsies of South India and other one by Frank Brooks called Lady with the fan.

At Indian Coffee House

During lunch, we went to Indian Coffee house, Thampanoor, which is a circular red brick tower designed by Laurie Baker that has a spiral concrete pathway that climbs it's way up the tower with fixed concrete tables and benches on the right, the waiters climb the walkways and take the orders with a unique style and the food is delicious, please don’t forget to try out their chicken cutlets. Later we headed to the Valiathura Sea Port, which is in business since King Solomon’s times so one can imagine so much of hustle and bustle however the pier was under maintenance and the place was all yours, it was really enthralling and fascinating to imagine of those ancient times. We winded our late noon and evening at Kovalam beach just relaxing.

Please keep watching all our videos and all the exciting places we travel during these 14 days bike ride. Like, share and subscribe – Your support means a lot!!

Places we stayed & ate on our tour:

Homestay Vilayil Garden https://www.airbnb.co.in/rooms/16120599?eal_exp=1508842979&eal_sig=6a4c648ffa35ab5fb88a578295c633e0f65554e9e6bc26179fa41ae4aeeccbc1&eal_uid=151346185&eluid=2&euid=eb55655f-ed59-8d73-b46c-d5269923c9c0

Hotel Green Valley, Virivilai https://www.google.co.in/maps/place/Hotel+Greenvally/@8.2746156,77.1586494,17z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x3b050077e4e72e8b:0xa9ff443abc02dd8e!8m2!3d8.2746156!4d77.1608381

Malabar Café, Kovalam beach

Indian Coffee house Thampanoor

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