Madurai - City Of Temples

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Temple Town

Tamil Naidu is famous for its many temples and temple towns, some as old as 2000yrs, most between 500-1000yrs old. Many of them still in use!

We visited the huge temple of Sundareshvara (dedicated to the Hindu gods Parvati and Shiva) - Guys favorite
In the middle of a dusty busy hot town, full of tailors and dressmakers, nothing could prepare us for the scale and beauty of this temple...12 gopuras (pyramids) decorated with 'gargoyles' of Hindu gods were the gates into the walled temple, some over 50m high!

Inside were thousands of ornately carved stone pillars... no surface had been left untouched... painted ceilings, floors and even a temple elephant on hand to bless you with her trunk (for a small fee, naturally)
We visited the temple twice it was so good to spend time relaxing in the cool and calm.
We thought it would be fun to take a truly 'Indian' tour of the town.. by cycle rickshaw. We set off mid morning to see a circa 16th century palace, but after only about 15mins our rickshaw man was sweating and panting so profusely under the weight of us two westerners we started doubting our decision.Our fears were soon realized, when the already creaky cycle contraption finally buckled under the strain...we quickly abandoned ship, paid the driver, who limped off to get his rickshaw fixed....and we, well we continued on foot! (only in India)

The palace, (when we finally made it) was a cool calm oasis, and once again the grandeur and opulence of this long abandoned marvel blew us away.

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