Rameswaram - Kodaikanal

Day 8
Rameswaram - Kodaikanal 

Today, we are travelling from Rameswaram to Kodaikanal with a halt at Meenakshi temple in Madurai.

We got ready and checked out from Hotel Fortune in Rameswaram at 5:15am with map set to Meenakshi temple in Madurai. We reached the temple's multilevel car parking by 9am, parked our car, removed our footwear and then proceeded towards the east gate of the temple. Meenakshi temple is dedicated to goddess Parvati (Amman) and lord Shiva (Swamy). Special darshan tickets cost ₹50 per head for each of the temples of Amman and Swamy. We purchased the tickets though there didn't seem to be any difference in the general or special darshan queue. We joined the queue for Amman darshan at 9:20am to get the darshan only by 1:05pm. We went on to join the queue for swamy darshan and came out by 1:30pm. The temple was too over crowded. Drinking water was available at short distances for the pilgrims. We had good darshan at both the sanctums despite the overly long wait times. The kids were bored and tired by the end of these 5 hours. We reached the parking and exited the temple premises by 2pm. We had been hungry thus far save some light snacks. We were looking for a restaurant to have lunch. Most places were serving south Indian meals only. We finally found a place - Temple city where we were able to get dal, paneer, chapati and biryani. After having our fill, we further proceeded towards kodaikanal which was another 97kms. It was hilly drive for the last ~50kms. 
The view through the drive was amazing with clouds, blue sky, fog, a sun in the sky that was about to set and the cool breeze. Loved every bit of the view. A bit of de-tour, live location and a drive through the secluded hilly roads led to an amazing hotel. 
We checked in, parked our car and freshened up. We got some snacks, ordered tea & coffee and enjoyed a cosy dinner while discussing the plan for the next morning.

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