This is as far south as you can get in India and where the Arabian Sea and the Indian ocean meet. We never quite worked out if there was a reason but there were hundreds and hundreds of Indian tourists there, many queuing for hours to take a little boat over to an island where the Vivekananda Rock Memorial which commemorates the life of an spiritual teacher from the 19th century and the neighbouring statue of a local poet which we assumed was an ancient monument but was actually built in 2000. We decided not to join the masses with a visit to the island and instead took a rickshaw to the outskirts of town and visited the Vivekananda ashram. We strolled around the gardens, Steve got his portrait unknowingly drawn by a student and we visited the exhibition about Vivekananda's teachings, very relaxing and informative. We then wandered back via the huge gleamingly white cathedral and the fishing village and enjoyed the view from our balcony.

We were also there for the full moon which is celebrated by people coming down to the ocean and watching the sunset as the full moon is in the sky. Lots of kids got pretty excited and cheered as the last glimpse of the sun went down.

We benefited in particular here from the greatest Indian practice - 24 hour check-out - meaning whatever time you check into a hotel your check out time is 24 hours later. Brilliant, no more feeling hard done by when we arrive at 10pm and have to leave at 10 the next morning. We have been getting our 24 hours of money's worth everywhere we go now.