Day 2: Lunch, Museum, Palace and Temple

We went to lunch at a lovely place called Villa Maya.  It is a restored home of some of the royal consorts of Travancore’s visionary kings.  It is a beautiful setting and surrounded by small ponds of water with goldfish and koi.  They sat us indoors and we were thankful for the A/C because the zoo was hot.  


The toilets were outside but enclosed above the water so there were fish swimming while you were in the sink area. 

Our food was delicious. I ordered a Chardonnay chicken and he said it would take a while and I said that was ok. Evidently the chef didn’t think we should have to wait so he sent out two different Kerala specialties.

The first was an idli (South Indian spongy, round fermented rice cake) with some chutney on top. It reminded me on angel food cake.  Also, a shot glass filled with some sort berry juice.

The next one was watermelon squares topped with goat cheese and shot glasses filled with avocado smoothies.  Both were delicious.  



Chicken with mashed potatoes & vegetables





Then our food arrived.  My chicken was delicious and served on mashed potatoes and vegetables.  Marshall had the sea  bass special with scallops.  While we were eating the chef came to talk to us.  He asked how our food was and then where we were from. He was Indian but he trained in Key West and Manhattan before returning to India.  This restaurant has been voted Best Indian restaurant for many years.  We will go back there.

Sea bass with scallops







After lunch, Shaji drove us to tour the Travancore museum and then the Palace museum. Again we are charged a higher rate because we are foreigners.  They stopped us out front and made us take off our shoes.  I was barefoot and Marshall had on socks as we walked on old floors.  The first museum was filled with pictures of all of the royalty of Travancore. Mostly kings, maybe one queen. A gentleman decided to be our own personal guide and he described every picture to us. It took us much longer as we tried to understand what he was telling us.  We just nodded and said ok over and over again.  
Horses
We put our shoes back on and walked to the palace.  Again we were told to take off our shoes and they had shelves for them there.  There were guided tours with a lady pointing out highlights and telling us history in every room. Marshall and I tended to bring up the rear and I noticed she would wait until we caught up before she would start again.  She scolded me once.  At the end of the tour she approached both of us and told us she was a private tour guide.  Did I mention that we were the only Caucasians all day?  

Shoes outside the museum

Our final stop was a famous temple.  We were not allowed to take pictures or go inside.  There were many people streaming to the temple and going to the cloak rooms set up outside. Many men had no shirt on and a white dhoti. 


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