Padmanabhapuram Palace ( 7/23/23)

Today was a fabulous day. We left the state of Kerala and went into the nearby state, Tamil Nadu.  We were able to see differences in the topography and culture.

Our first stop was Padmanabhapuram Palace.  It had beautiful carved wood and was built under the reign of 3 different kings.  It is claimed to be the finest example of traditional Keralan architecture.  It is Asia's largest wooden palace complex.  It consists of many corridors, courtyards, roofs and 14 palaces.  The oldest section dates to 1550.


This is the kings bed.  The headboard and footboard have images of dragons, snakes and other items in it. 



This is an example of the beautifully carved ceilings and beams.

One rooms had over 90 different flowers carved into the ceiling.

Marshall is standing in one of the long corridors.  The outside is open air with wooden slats. 

Notice that Marshall is wearing booties.  Every place we go, we must remove our shoes.  At this place, she offered us booties so we took them.  I think we paid a small amount for them.  NO ONE else had them on.  Others were laughing at us.  Everyone else was barefoot.  At this palace, we walked inside and out, up and down on stones, wood floors, slate floors and even sandy paths.  I don't really understand why we take our shoes off. Our feet are just as dirty.


Marshall is standing in one of the courtyards.

Also, we are the only Caucasians almost everywhere we go.  We are asked all the time where we are from.  They want to know America, not North Carolina.  


Marshall is demonstrating the royal restroom.  I just can't even imagine.  We saw a young boy demonstrate and his family laughed at him.  I then asked Marshall if he would demonstrate for me.  They actually have two flat stones the size of feet to show where you would place your feet and then a hole underneath.   I did not ask or look to see where the hole led.



The grounds were beautiful.  This view was from the porch of the guest house.  It was not a large building but rather a spread out place of multiple buildings.




This was the tallest part of the palace.

You have to pay extra to take pictures.  Some places allow it and some do not.  We did not pay extra but everyone was taking pictures so eventually we started taking pictures too.  I think we will pay for it in the future as it's just a small fee.




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