Day 2 - Karaikkudi

01.10.2022

Day 2

Fulltankers had a good night’s sleep and as planned our daily routine started at 5.00 am with a brisk walk / exercise, fully refreshed and after breakfast, we drove to our next destination Karaikkudi at 8.00 am. After a fairly short drive of about 150 kms we reached Karaikkudi at 10.30 am.

Karaikudi’s several gorgeous temples, Chettinad delicacies and the grandeur of their houses (palaces to lesser mortals) makes it a must visit place.

We were honoured by a traditional greeting at the Visalam Heritage hotel. The hotel itself is a palatial Chettinad mansion converted to a hotel by CGH Earth group. We had a tour of the property led by Mr. Sam John, resident manager of the property. The hotel also arranged a demo on preparing Chettinad, heritage trail etc, to get a feel of local flavour and culture. 

A visit to see the making of Athangudi tiles at Ganapathy tile factory, was an unique experience. It’s basically cement tiles like mosaic, but unlike the machine pressed mosaics, they are handmade over glass surfaces.

Grandeur of Chettinad palaces was clearly visible during our visit to Athanngudi palace, built 90 years ago with 64 rooms spread over a footprint of 1.5 acres. Chettinad Palace and VVR mansions are places worth a visit. An impressive audio visual presentation of Chettiars at Chettinad mansions was another highlight.

We were impressed by the cuisine served at local favourite Sri Priya Mess - where we had some awesome food and excellent service. Chettinad lip smacking cuisine got its name from the Chettiars of Poompuhar who migrated in later years to the place now known as Chettinad. We had dinner at The Bangala Restaurant, rated top ten in India. Mr. Yakub, who runs the show explained the various cuisines and gave us a tour of the place. The place also serves as an important shooting location for South Indian cinema. Bumped into Chemban Vinod, Malayalam movie star, who obliged for a photo with fulltankers.

At end of day two - 841 kms on our tracker.

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