Friday, June 23, 2017

Swensens - IceCreams - Sholinganallur

I am not an Ice-Cream person especially "No Chocolate IceCream" for me.
I am sure you would have thought that I am a weirdo for sure but then I don't love chocolates much as well :)



We have visited Swensens in Besant Nagar numerous times and we love it there because of the Location, ambience and yumminess.

While I was passing other day via Sholiganallur spotted Swensens near the Junction and decided to take daughter-dad duo there the next time..

So the next time did happen and hence the post :)


Sholiganallur outlet is quite big and can easily accommodate more people than their Besant Nagar one and with their Trade Mark Swensens Lamps hanging it looked lovely with red interiors.

Coming to the menu its quite vast and choices are great too but I think they can improve on their toppings section.





Coming to what we had on that day Daughter had Chocolate Ice-cream topped with Chocolate sauce and strands



Me and Husband Shared a scoop of Strawberry Swirl and Coffee topped with Cream & Silvered almonds.


We enjoyed our ice-creams and our bill came around Rs.450 odd and they have ranges staring from Rs.79 but please do remember tax will be added hence might slightly shoot up the bill.
Also the service was pretty quick but then we were the only ones sitting in the place :P
Also they have ample space for parking cars.

Do go there and enjoy the yummy icecreams :)

This in not a sponsored post

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

A Road Trip to Tiruchendur - South India Tamilnadu





I feel ancient as Iam writing a post after a long hiatus ❤💗
Now let me come to the post. 

I have visited Tiruchendur a couple of times when I was a tween maybe that too with my cousin and family during our summer vacation. Those days are still etched to my memory and it brings so much nostalgia.

Weather
Its MAY !!! do I need to say more?  :P It was 42C degree
Yes Tamilnadu summers are hot, hotter and hottest and when it comes to Tiruchendur its no different. My recommendation for those who want to visit the Tiruchendur visit either post June-mid  and July onwards would be good time because of better weather and lesser crowd.

Our Journey
We started our family road trip in our car to Tiruchendur on May 26th 2017 at around 6:30 AM and it was a hot sunny day. Tiruchendur is around ~620KM from Chennai and we need to take the following route :

Route
Chennai → Trichy → Madurai → Thoothukudi → Tiruchendur

And it was not just a spiritual trip but just a break from monotony. It took us around 10hours to reach Tiruchendur and we reached around 4:30PM

                                                 

Stay
We stayed in Hotel Chitra Park and I would say its a decent place with Big, Clean rooms.
Its very close to the temple and the restaurants.

Tiruchendur

So here comes the spiritual part of the trip.
Tiruchendur is one of the six abodes (Arupadaiveedu) of Lord Murgan ( Hindu God) and this is a shore  temple.
Here Lord Murgan is called as Chendur Murgan (Thus the place name) along with Goddess Devayanai and Goddess Valli.
There is a separate sandstone cave called Valli cave which you can visit even today and its intact .
This where Goddess Valli was hidden by Lord Ganesha with the instructions from Lord Murugan.
And Don't forget to visit the beach and Nazhi Kinaru which is the Holy water of the temple



 

Food
Now comes the very important and vital part of any trip "The Food" :)
While we were travelling from Chennai we had our breakfast at Aaryas veg restaurant in the Tindivanam NH which has sumptuous southindian breakfast items along with its signature chutneys and sambhar
Next comes the Lunch part again we chose to have South indian lunch thali in Temple city restaurant in Madurai NH
And Food in Tiruchendur was done at Hotel Mani Iyer's

I think its best that I share the the pics which do some justice for the food that we enjoyed :)

Shopping
There are many shops in and around the Temple mostly religious and loads of toy shops
But if you want something as a souvenir  to take back home I would suggest buying conches and shells which is available in plenty in almost all shops.
Also don't forget to buy palm products like palm sugar candies, palm jaggery etc..

You can buy some palm Jaggery and palm sugar here.
This is very good for health and a great alternative for refined sugar


On a final note it was indeed a lovely trip but the weather was a bummer as it was too hot and crowded temple area due to weekend :)


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Don't forget to watch my Tiruchendur Vlog in YouTube and please do subscribe and like my channel :)) 

Love,
Varshini