Chettinad and Madurai

A Chettinad Palace

In Chettinad temples were trumped by grand palaces and villas built by rich locals in the early 1900's.

Leaving Thanjuvur proved quite challenging - outside the hotel Max attracted quite a crowd while packing the bike and this led to a lengthy photo session before we finally managed to get away 😂. We stopped briefly on the outskirts of town to get a picture of the museum - a beautiful old red brick building 🤩. 

After a few more miles we turned onto a smaller road and after passing through a few small villages and settlements we reached the open countryside. The landscape was different and also quite mixed - at times it was desolate and quite barren; and then ploughed fields with rich, red, fertile soil came into view. 

Towards the end of the ride, and just when the heat was starting to destroy us, we came across a delightful troop of monkeys 🐒.  I hopped off as quickly as I could in an attempt to get a photo but they were very shy and incredibly quick 🫣. Meanwhile Max had attracted a huge crowd back at the bike 😂. It was just the welcome distraction we needed and kept us going for the final leg. We arrived at our accomodation around 1pm feeling quite hot and bothered 😅. Nothing a nice shower followed by a delicious lunch (dhal, saag aloo curry and plain naan/plain rice) couldn't fix though 😉😁. It was so tasty we decided not to venture out into town, just managing to do our washing and watch some telly before heading back down to the restaurant for dinner - more of the same delicious food 😋 

We set off again the next morning - a little later as this was going to be a relatively short ride. We made a very quick stop just as we hit the main road to check out a beautiful red stone building that caught my eye and which turned out to be another museum.

As we continued along the main road out of town we both commented on the pleasant temperature and cool breeze. Although it wasn't raining I noticed some cyclists had already donned their waterproof ponchos and within minutes we had stopped to do likewise 😂. It rained on and off several times during the ride, sometimes quite persistently, but we agreed it was still bearable cycling weather. 

We arrived at our hotel around lunchtime. I hadn't realised quite how muddy we both were until we stopped 🫣🫣. A hot shower soon fixed that though! 

We we're staying in the Chettinad Heritage hotel for three nights - hoping to avoid the next approaching storm that was being forecast🤞. It was a beautiful old building, very colourful and lots of character. It was situated in a very quiet area but as we ventured out to explore we soon discovered a number of other similar styled buildings - one of which being a 5* hotel we popped into for coffee/lassi early one afternoon. We sat in the most beautiful courtyard - and sheltered from a sudden downpour that came from nowhere and then disappeared just as quickly! From a quick google search I discovered that Chettinad architecture is known for it's wide courtyards, spacious rooms, and verandahs. The basic floor plan of a Chettinad house includes an outside verandah, an interior courtyard, and a series of small rooms. That was very much the style of this hotel and the one we stayed in, and both were exceptionally beautiful 😍 

With the rains hitting us again we opted to use the laundry facilities at our hotel. This was our third laundry attempt while in India and unfortunately the results were the same as the first. The washing came back with items smellier than when they were handed in like it had been washed in dirty water. A quick hand wash in the sink recleaned the clothes, but getting them dry while it was pouring with rain outside was a bit of a headache. Luckily the ceiling fan in our room did a pretty good job instead. 

We stayed three nights at the Chettinad Heritage and took a short trip out one afternoon to visit an old fort (Thirumayam Fort) that we'd passed by briefly on our way into town. It was very impressive, as was the beautiful red stone temple adjacent to it. Our tuk tuk driver kindly took us round the Fort giving us some history along the way and answering random questions posed by Max as well as anyone ever can 😂. 

On leaving the Chettinad Heritage hotel we faced a fairly lengthy ride to our next stop, Madurai, so were hoping for an early start. One look at the rain outside persuaded us to wait a while but after half an hour of no real let up we had no choice but to don our raincoats and press on 😬

After about half an hour the rain did ease off and we stopped to take off our waterproof jackets, only to stop again after another ten minutes for me to put mine back on again 🫣🫣

The rain wasn't constant initially but, as the ride progressed, it definitely became more persistent and we noted how quickly the water levels seemed to rise. Soon it was torrential and there were deep puddles starting to form everywhere. We were getting soaked by the cars and buses speeding past us and it was a real test of endurance. The bus drivers in particular can be very intimidating and I still jump out my skin when they sound their horns!! Despite torrential rain it was evident they weren't slowing down for anyone 🫣

At one point we passed the site of what looked like a very recent bus crash - the first (and hopefully the last) we've seen on the trip. It looked like the bus had done a slow skid into the opposite side of the road and ended up in the ditch. Although quite dramatic it didn't look as though there were any casualties - all the passengers were sitting in a bus shelter/standing on the opposite side of the road. I felt sorry for them - it would have been a nasty shock and now they were probably facing a long wait before any replacement bus turned up 🥲

With about 15 miles left to go, we were probably at our lowest ebb! I spotted a sign for a roadside restaurant about 6km away that looked appealing so we agreed we'd stop, if only for a drink and a chance to escape the rain. Just when we'd almost given up hope there it was and what a lovely welcome we were given - the doorman escorted us to the restaurant door with his very large umbrella 🌂 😀 

It turned out to be a real godsend and after a fab lunch and some warm hospitality we were ready to set off again and tackle the last leg. The rain had subsided too which was an added bonus! 

As we approached Madurai the traffic became very chaotic. The bike was playing up - probably aggravated by the rain - so the last few miles were quite stressful. We stopped a few times and Max eventually nailed the problem - being a link in the chain that had seized. A few minutes later we arrived at the hotel - it looked quite posh whereas we looked like two drowned rats 😂😂.

The cycling is ramping up a gear from now on, so Max has been out tuning up the brakes on the tandem in anticipation of the first couple of 100k rides and some big hills ahead.  He's angling for some load lightening before we do our first big ride but I'm putting up a very strong defence case for every single item in my luggage 😂.

We stayed in Madurai for a couple of nights and having spent the first day catching up on chores and relaxing we booked onto a food tour for the second evening. We were picked up from our hotel around 5.30pm by our host for the evening, Mukuthan, in his very posh car 🚗.  He took us to about five different restaurants in all and the dishes we tried were definitely some of the best we've tasted on our trip so far. Max particularly enjoyed the Ghee roast dosai whereas I thought the Special Rava dosai (a thin crisp fried crepe made with semolina, rice flour, spices and ghee) was particularly divine 😋. He also took us around a bustling street food area situated along the banks of a huge lake with a temple in the middle. It was a beautiful night-time setting, bright lights reflecting on the water and a really great atmosphere. Mukuthan introduced us to a couple of very traditional food stalls - we sampled a health drink which a family had been making for several generations. Apparently it's a very healthy drink made from cotton seed milk and ginger. We both eagerly downed it hoping it would help ward off the cough/colds we're battling with. Last stop was dessert and for this we went to a small cafe famous for producing the best Jigarthanda - a cold beverage made with milk, almond gum, nannari syrup and special ice cream prepared using caramel and sweetened khoya. It was absolutely divine but probably loaded with an obscene amount of calories 🫣🫣. A good job we were back on the bike again the next day I thought to myself as I tucked in  😉. 

We thoroughly enjoyed the food tour, not just because the food was awesome (which it absolutely was) but it was really interesting chatting to Mukuthan about all manner of things - his background and life in India more generally. He gave us some great tips and recommendations for our onward travels - excellent food recommendations that would definitely come in handy as we entered the next phase of our trip heading towards the mountains. It was, without doubt, a highlight of our trip and when Mukuthan dropped us back at our hotel we were certainly very full and happy. I told myself all that food we'd eaten would provide the extra fuelling we'd certainly need to climb the mountains - which we were now within spitting distance of 😉. 

Max attracting attention as we depart Thanjuvur

The photo shoot continued 😂

The Chettinad Heritage Hotel 

The 5* hotel where we had coffee/lassi

The beautiful hotel courtyard 

More Chettinad style grandeur 

The courtyard at the Chettinad Heritage Hotel

The upper courtyard 

Our own private balcony 

Max standing in our hobbit style doorway 😂

Our room at the Chettinad 

Thirumayam Fort 

Loads of monkeys outside the Fort 

Very playful 🥰

Rush hour one morning 

Hard at work but they did stop to wave and smile 

Max gathering another crowd while I try to photograph the monkeys 

Very shy 🤭 

A bit braver 

Bananas 

Very fertile fields 

Another friendly pitstop 

Beautiful museum outside Thanjuvur 

The Indian version of a busy tube train 😂

Enjoying dessert on our food tour in Madurai 

The cotton seed milk drink stall 

A selfie with our food tour guide Mukuthan 

Paniyaram & Aapam with coconut milk on our food tour 

The bus crash we passed - not that you'd probably guess it from this shot I took 🤔

The lovely roadside restaurant that saved us on the road to Madurai 

The delicious feast we enjoyed there 😋 

Thirumayam Fort - with a temple built inside that huge rock!

Exploring the Fort