A tough motorcycle day awaits us today. Ahead over 230 km to Madurai, so we set our alarm clocks very early to see sunrise and set foot in dusty!
We take a look at google maps and it seems that the road is pretty good, let's hope! We leave behind the tip of India to go inside Tamil Nadu. The first kilometers are very cool! We pass through rice fields, mountains in the distance, palm groves ... and all this accompanied by a terrible wind! Well, we exaggerate a little: P, but there is wind, the thousands of mills that have stuck here can corroborate it, eh?
We eat the kilometers as if they were gulabs jamuns, by solitary highways, which we do not have to pay to teach our accreditation of bloggers (in fact no motorcycle pays hehe). We take advantage of a stop to feed our Gambita, and by the way we also take advantage and move on.
We planted ourselves in Madurai in less than expected and today we have been able to verify what pasta our Hero is made, at an average of 60, 70 and 80 km / h! Run run! In 5 hours we have reached 240 kilometers to Madurai. The reason for this stop is none other than visiting the Meenakshi Temple, one of the most important in southern India.
Madurai is one of those cities that we like. Inexplicably.
In fact, Madurai has everything to scare a traveler: chaotic traffic, sticky heat, foul smells that mix with spices and street stalls, thousands of people who walk, drive, run, walk, ride on all sides.
Even so it is a place that has a special charm, yes you know how to look for it of course. So suddenly, after dodging a rickshaw you run into a half-naked smiling religious, after returning the smile you enter a dark alley that suddenly reveals a great open-air market (with old ladies teaching their pears included, and I don't speak of fruit!), later on you see a kitten jumping between bananas and potatoes that stops to pose in your photo, and in the distance you see them: the immense and colorful towers of the most precious jewel of Madurai, the Sri Meenakshi Temple, one of the biggest and most beautiful in India.
That's when you know that the visit has been worth it! The temple itself is spectacular: the 4 towers (north, south, east and west) are decorated and loaded with statues and figurines of gods and demons. Rober would have liked to be a Hindu child: he says that these sculptures would have used them as playmobils ... he would have taken advantage of it! A little sacrilegious we already know it.
The area around the temple is dotted with small bars, souvenir shops and jewelry stores, but the best thing is that it is pedestrian… finally a street where you can walk quietly in India! The temple is dedicated to the Goddess Meenakshi Amman who should have a curious appearance: she possessed nothing more and nothing less than 3 breasts and fish eyes (according to Tamil poetry this was the maximum of beauty and perfection!).
Once around the temple we decided to enter and this is when the show begins: hundreds of pilgrims offer bids to the statues of their gods, the smell of candles and flowers is omnipresent, as well as the funny looks of the children.
The most sacred sites (Meenakshi and Shiva temple) are only accessible to Hinduists, we are looking forward to seeing them! Of course, we rest a little looking at the life of the complex on the stairs of the large central pond. Before we leave we go to greet the elephant who with his trunk blesses the pilgrims, in exchange for a few rupees of course. The truth is that it is amazing to see how smart this animal is. And it gives a little bit of pain yes, obviously your place should not be this.
We leave Madurai to go to our next destination: Thanjavur, which the motorcycle continues and the trip with him!
USEFUL INFO
Madurai
Where to sleep? Around Town Hall ST is where most of the accommodations are located. It is best to go directly here and search. They are also a step away from the temple. We stayed at the Padmam Hotel, right, very well located, the boss (or the boss's son ... we didn't get it!) Very nice. There is free wifi at the reception.
The visit to the temple:The temple is free, although there are some areas that are not allowed to non-Hindus. Apparently a while ago it was possible to enter, after paying a ticket, but today they do not leave foreigners. There are posters that continue to indicate the price of the ticket but they told us that the rules changed a few months ago. Nor can you take a camera (you have to leave it at a box office along with the shoes). On the other hand, you can take pictures with the phone, and you don't have to pay anything. Watch how you are dressed: they will let you in only if you wear long pants and covered shoulders.
Travel
It has been 240 km all on highways, first the NH-44 and then the NH-7. All deserted and with the possibility of slipping. We have only found traffic 15 km from Madurai, and until the end.
