Thanjavur to Rameshwaram via Tiruchirapalli - 5th day of our 14 days long trip through east coast of India || Noida to Rameshwaram
On Day 5, when we woke up in Thanjavur, we found that the rains had subsided and everything was shrouded by a thin mist. We started our day with a visit to the magnificent Brihadeeshwara Temple or the Big Temple. The huge Shikhara was shrouded in mist and looked incredible appearing out of it as we walked toward it.
The temple had no hassles such as a restriction on carrying mobile phones, clothes as long as one is conservatively dressed, restriction on clicking pictures, except inside the temple structures. We felt free and the weather was good too. And may be because of weather or the lingering aftereffect of Covid-19, there wasn't much of a crowd as well.
The temple was ornately carved and was an overwhelming structure overall. It felt humbling to be in its presence. It was difficult to believe that this architectural marvel was built in the 11th century. It is said that in order to construct the shikhar, a ramp several miles long was constructed and the huge stones were pulled across it by elephants and horses. I am not sure of the working conditions back then, but the temple, as it stands today, is a fine specimen of the Chola Architecture.
Then next item on our agenda was the Reverand Schwartz Memorial and Church. However, the gates of the memorial and the garden were locked. On our way back, we came across an interesting sight - that of several large pieces of wood carved into a veena-like shape. This was a veena workshop, though it was closed that day. The sight of these magnificent instruments lying on the street made us realize how culture and traditions embellish the turns and corners in this magical city.
After this, we had breakfast at the local coffee shop where fresh vadas were being fried. We had a couple of crispy vadas with coffee and couldn't have asked for anything better than that. After that we checked out and set out in our car to explore the rest of the city.
We visited the Thanjavur Palace and saw the amazing Saraswati Mahal Library along with the bell tower and Maratha Palace. After spending a couple of hours here, we started for Tiruchirapalli or Trichy. At the museum inside the Vellore Fort, we had found out about this temple and had decided to try to adjust it into our itinerary. We had found a good route from Thanjavur to Rameswaram through Trichy, which would take us about an hour extra. It seemed like a good tradeoff.
Trichy turned out to be a bit of hit and miss. While the Ranganathaswamy temple was magnificent, other attractions, such as the Rockfort Temple turned out to be a not-so-good decision. We followed Google Maps and took our car inside a lane hoping to park our place close to the temple, from where the climb wouldn't be too steep.
However, we found that the street was too narrow up ahead and the locals advised us not to go any further. All this while, google maps was still showing that the parking was 500 meters further on that very street. We decided to listen to the locals and turned back. After this we thought it would be best to continue toward Rameshwaram because it was already getting late.
The sun had set by the time we reached close to the ocean. It was fascinating to observe the land getting narrower and narrower and ocean getting closer in Google Maps. And soon we had crossed over to the Pamban Island on which the city of Rameshwaram is located via the much-photographed Pamban bridge.
After locating a suitable hotel, we checked in and headed out for dinner. We had parottas and Korma that day and then turned in for the night satisfied that we had reached the farthest point of our journey on Day 5 and that a lot still remained to be explored. We had travelled more than 300 kilometers on this day.
%20to%20see%20the%20Danish%20fort%20in%20Tamilnadu%20state%20of%20India-3.jpg "Do you know about the 'Danish' Fort in India which is located at a beautiful location round the coast of Bay of Bengal?")
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