If you, like me, love sunsets but not beaches then my friend Madavoorppara is the best place to catch a beautiful sunset without travelling a lot. It is situated around 15kms away from Thriuvananthapuram city. It is at that perfect distance which makes you feel you have travelled a lot but you actually haven’t. This was my first trip to this place and I had heard a lot about it.

The place is famous for an ancient Rock Cut Shiva temple. You can access the top of the hill either by going taking the temple stairs or there is a new easier way constructed by the Archeology Department. Unfortunately on the day of our trip the latter was closed. So we took the route via the temple.

The way to the temple. Cameras are not allowed inside the temple.

The climb to the rock from the temple is a little hard. They have tied a rope for support but it doesn’t really make the climb easier. I was too scared to balance myself with just one hand so no pictures of the climb. Sorry.

I had heard from some friends that you can see the whole trivandrum city from the top of the hill(which turned out to be a load of bull). But the view from the top is spectacular.

There were a few groups of friends lounging around, enjoying the calm atmosphere. Even though you can’t see the whole city the view more than makes up for the scary(for me) climb.

There is a bamboo bridge like way built to connect the crest of the rock to the bottom because the precipice is too steep to climb. The bridge is broken at places, so walking on it is another adventure.

At the crest they have constructed a bamboo hut which has fallen into disrepair. But makes a nice frame for those bitten by the photography bug. You can see the moon just rising

We reached the crest just when the sun disappeared below the horizon, painting the sky in vivid colours. I wish there were a few more clouds. This was a surreal experience because it felt like day on one side and night on the other.

While we were making our way back a guard from the Archeology Department asked us to put our cameras away because we needed permission to take photos there. There is a children’s park at the top. This is a cool, calm place which is yet to see major tourist thoroughfare, If you’re living in Trivnadrum and tired of Museum, Sanghumugham and Kovalam do head to Madavoorpapra. If you know morep laces like this. Please let me know.

My friend Arjun taking some “bokehlicious” pictures