I just wanted to share some pleasant thoughts of mine in this travel forum. Though I have no experience of writing travelogues till date, I am just sharing this so that atleast one of you might benefit from this. We as a family got a chance to visit to Madurai last week. I loved our visit to this temple city and I am sure it will be something I would cherish for long. The city has got tea shops for every 10 feet, hotels (small eateries) for every 20 feet and a lot of small textile and handloom shops. As compared to Chennai we found the hotels in Madurai to be cheap and nice. Even an average hotel was able to serve good quality hot filter coffee and had both north Indian and south Indian cuisines in its daily menu. There are a lot of hotels and Tiffin corners to suit all kinds of economic classes. Afternoon 2 PM, we were able to see tea shops serving hot medhu vadas directly from hot oil kadai and freshly made samosas along with tea or coffee. The city is well known for the Meenakshi Sundareshwarar temple. By God’s grace we stayed in a place from where all the four main towers of the temple were seen clearly. As soon as we got up from the bed in the morning we were able to get a Gopura Darshan of all the 4 towers. If one wants to get familiar with this temple, it might take at least 4 days for a first time visitor to get to know which entrance is on to which side, considering this there are sign boards through out the temple guiding the devotees to the sanctum, east, west, north and south towers. I was struck in the awe of the temple and its marvelous construction. The ko shala, viboothi pillayar (holy ashes vinayagar), potramarai kulam, aiyaram kaal mandapam, the beauty of the goddess Meenakshi are all spiritual feast to our eyes. There are a lot of shops on each entrance selling the very famous thalamboo kumkum, rudhraksh, thulasi mani maalai, pooja items, portraits of the goddess and play items for kids. We were able to spot a lot of foreigners struck in the awe of the temple and were involved in detailed study of each and every pillar in the temple. This place has got number of tourists from all parts of world visiting the temple, in spite of which it has not commercialized like other tourist spots and it still has the harmony, peace and happiness reserved not only for its people but also for the visiting devotees indicating the inherent presence of the god exuding divinity everywhere.
I have also been to Madurai once a few years ago and I loved the city for its easy ways. The temple is surely majestic. The food as you mentioned is really delicious. We enjoyed our hearty breakfasts of soft pongal and medhuwadas. The coffee taste in Madurai is unforgettable
Nice write up Mrudhani... I too have visited Madurai 3 times and attracted by its temples.... Madurai is one of the oldest cities....And also famous for its temples. Some Important tourist spot of Madurai. Sri Meenakshi sundareswarar temple Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal Thiruparamkundram temple Alagar kovil Pazhamudhir cholai Gandhi museum Mariamman kovil Meenakshi Sundareswara temple is the main attraction of tourists.. Ashta Shakthi Mandapam . Meenakshi Nayakkar Mandapam –Potramaraikulam (Golden Lotus tank),Oonjal Mandapam ,Swami Sundareswarar Shrine, Kadambathadi Mandapam and big hall called Velli Ambalam.
I was so proud to read your comments about Madurai, as someone born and brought up there. I have traveled around a lot and lived in many places, but Madurai is always in my mind. Madurai is a charming city with many eating places which are open late at night. Even if the hotels are closed, there are people who cook and sell a variety of food outside on the platform. The people of Madurai are helpful and friendly. Madurai Meenakshi keeps an eye on her city and with Her Blessings the city thrives. Glad to hear that you had a good time there.
I like this region for its delicious food and awesome temples. I have been there about a year ago. It is one of the most visited and third largest cities of Tamil Nadu. It has 2500 years old rich culture. It is also an important industrial and educational hub of this area.
