First POI covered. From kozhikode airport I hired a cab to Tirunavaya as I wanted to reach there before 11:30, the temple closure time, and it reopens at 5 pm in the evening. The cab driver tried his best, but there was one police checkpost on the way and they were doing some additional checking which took almost 10 minutes of my time, derailing my schedule. But still we managed to reach at 11:20 and guess what, temple closed early today!
Ok, so plan change... Spend the afternoon in this town. It's situated on the banks of Bharatappuzha river. Spent good time in the water, cooling down... Later had lunch in temple paakashala or kitchen in simple terms... Kerala special food, rice grains three times bigger than usual, spicy curries and payasam - the rice pudding.
Being centuries old religious place, it has many old and huge trees in premises. Spent few more hours wandering around, taking pictures, and finally at 5, temple door opened. Temple architecture is pure Kerala style. Outermost protective wall has 4 entrances in 4 directions. Inside that, another wall completely covered with lamps which are lit in the evening. Imagine the view, 8 feet tall, 50 feet wide wall glittering with 20,000+ lamps lit with coconut oil. Inside that wall, the main sanctum Santorum, with sculpture ornamented stone foundation, the upper half is wooden, with amazing carvings. The presiding deity here is Mukund, or Vishnu. The life size idol glitters in the ghee lamps mild aura.

After visiting the temple, now I'm in bus for inward journey to guruvayur. In another 10 minutes I should be reaching there... Next blog after next temple visit,