Travel Diary : Nagerkoil Trip May 2012 - (1) - Suseendram & Vattakottai(Circular Fort) Visit:

Before the trip, while analyzing the places to be visited, I came across this place on the net. I dropped the Padmanabhapuram Palace(which I have already visited) for this place and added it to my agenda. On the second day night, I finalized the plan to go Vattakottai early in the morning, next day, by car, with Rakesh.

We planned to get ready by 5:00 in the morning and start by 6:00 from Vadachery. Our plan was to first visit the Sushindram temple, which is about 6 kms and then visit Vattakottai. But in the morning, as usual, I switched off the alarm in my mobile and continued with my sleep until Rakesh gave me a call at 5:50 to check that I am ready. Seeing his sincerity, I woke up and hurriedly got ready. There was an hour delay and we started by 7:00 AM.

That was a lovely trip. I like such long drives in the roads of Nagerkoil, sorrounded by beautiful scenaries most of the time. The only issue is that that roads are without a median, and we have to be a bit cautious while driving, as the opposite vehicles at times may take extreme rights. Nagerkoil, being a small city, the city vanishes within 5 minutes of drive and after that we are surrounded by greeneries, lakes, ponds & hills. We reached Suseendram by 7:20 AM. After paying a parking charge of Rs. 20, we took the car inside and parked very near to the temple. I dropped my initial idea of visiting the places around the temple by walk, since we were already running late by 1 hour.

Rakesh explained me about the importance of the place, and about the story behind the big snake statue(Nagaraja) in the Gopuram. A very big Ther was also parked near the temple. The Suseendram temple was lovely with a beautiful pond in by the side of the temple.

Suseendram Ther

Suseendram Temple Pond

Suseendram Temple

Can you identify the snake(Nagaraja) in the Suseendram Temple Gopuram???

We had a very satisfactory Darshan in the temple. Normally in my way of praying, I will pray the moolavar properly and just say my "hi" to the rest of the Gods in the temple. But since I was with Rakesh, I had to follow his way of praying - praying sincerely and dedicatedly to each and every God. That was enjoyable too. I found that the the temple was not much crowded since we went early.

From there we started our trip the Vattakottai Fort. We took a by-pass road from Kottaram. The road was a bit damaged and I had to drive the car at a slower speed. On both sides of the road were small villages, with beautiful scenaries. There were also a couple of beautiful churches on either side of the road. Later came to know that the best route is to go straight from Nagerkoil and catch the Tirunelveli high road, then take left and take the first right to reach Vattakottai.

A Church on the way to Vattakottai

Upon entering the Vattakottai village, we have to pay Rs. 20 for the car parking fee. There is no entrance fee to the Fort. It was a small, but magestic Fort, built by De' Lannoy.

There is an interesting story behind this Fort. The Dutch army lost to the Travancore King Marthanda Varma. The Dutch Army was lead by De Lanny, who was captured by the king. He opted to serve the King rather than getting killed. The King had asked him to train his Travancore Army. He served loyally to the King and the impressed King made him the chief of his Travancore Army. De Lannoy built several forts across the country to check the Foreign invasions. This Vattokottai Fort is one among them, built to check the entry of enemy forces through the sea.

Inside of Vattakottai

Coming back, we entered the Fort, and found that now it has been made into a big garden by Archeological department. The view of the sea and the nearby secnaries were superb. We could even see the Kanniyakumari's Thiruvalluvar statue from the Fort. Kanniyakumari should be around 5 to 6 kms from here. Also Rakesh located the Koodankulam Nuclear plant from here. It appeared as a small igloo at a distance near the sea. Also from here we saw the Aramboly(Aaralvaaimozhi) (power generating) fans.

Scenary outside Vattakottai Fort

Kanniyakumari from Vattakottai Fort

The fans of Aramboly

Kundamkulam from Vattakottai Fort

I was so happy to see the Fort and its surroundings that I called up my Friend and also my mother and started giving them live updates about the location. Rakesh said that though he is living there, he had missed to see that place all these years. I thought next time, I should visit this place with family, probably bringing food from home and having it in the lovely garden inside the Fort.

Items we bought during the trip

We spent there about 2 hours and returned back to Nagerkoil on the same route.