Livraria Lello, Porto, World's one of the most beautiful bookshops

After buying a ticket as I entered the bookshop with simple façade,  least I expected to see the grandeur inside the book shop. Carvings adorned every corner of the book shop. Exquisitely carved ceilings, beautifully decorated walls, pillars and well organized books welcomed me. Oh! That was nothing. There in the centre was a staircase with stunning curvaceous design. It’s completely carved and its bright crimson steps brightens the wooden staircase. Undoubtedly staircase is the show stopper of the book shop.

Staircase of Lello bookshop, the show stopper




Lello book shop

While climbing up the staircase I noticed the incredible design of  the staircase with intricately carved ceilings and wooden balusters. From the first floor I could see  the skylight ceiling with stained glass. In the center it reads ‘ decus in labore’ Later I understand the translation as ‘ dignity in work’ which was the monogram of  founders of the book shop.

View from the first floor

Stained glass with monogram dignity in work

Livraria lello is the child of two Portuguese brothers who were interested in art and literature and was designed with the support of the architect Xavier Esteves in the year 1906.

On the first floor some were indulged in reading. They say that J K Rowling while living in Porto often was visiting this place and was the muse for her books. This book shop also has inspired many other writers as well.

External façade is in neo gothic style having the painting of two people symbolizing science and anthropology.

Lello bookshop façade design

Livraria Lello is located in the  center of the city very close to Porto’s iconic structure Clergies tower. Lello book shop has its place as one of the world’s most beautiful bookshops in BBC and Lonely planet’s list.

Book lovers,  don’t forget to visit this place!! Have you been to any other charming bookshop. Would like to hear from you.

Travel notes
- There is a ticket counter in front of the shop. 3Euros per person. On purchase of a book 3Euros will be waived off. I felt it is reasonable considering this is a private property
- Opening hours 10 am to 7.30 pm
- This book shop has English books as well along with Portuguese books

Babia, the vegetarian crocodile in Ananthapur temple, Kasargod

Have you ever heard about the  vegetarian crocodile ? ! Have you ever thought that a crocodile can be a pet too ?!! You need to meet Babia, the crocodile to believe this.

We were coming back from Kasaragod towards Mangalore, when we saw the board 'Ananthapura 5.5 kms ' pointing towards right. When we drove towards the direction I didn’t expect anything much but a typical Kerala style temple. Travelling with the  little one doesn’t allow much to explore. All the time goes in attending to their needs. Anyways having my little one with me I was not in exploring mode as well.

When we reached the temple it was an odd hour of the day for any temple to be open for  visitors. We were told by the priest that the temple will be opened by 5.30 pm. We thought that is too much of time to wait and decided to satisfy ourselves by taking a walk through the temple corridor.

This temple of Ananthapadmanabha is  spectacular. It is located in the middle of the  kalyani ( temple pond) . Being  away from the town the temple complex is  very serene. This temple is supposed to be the origin of Trivdendrum’s Padmanabha temple. Water around the temple is green. We could see lot of fishes. We were about to return then the priest suggested us to see the crocodile.

Being from south India, I have seen fishes living inside the temple ponds. But never heard of a crocodile within a temple complex. Intrigued, we enquired more about it.

This crocodile is believed to be living in the temple pond from the last 76 years. It is considered and worshipped as temple’s protector. He lives on temple prasadam they feed every day after the pooja and hasn’t harmed anyone till now. He doesn’t even eat the fishes in the pond!!

Story doesn’t end here. He crawls up to another pond which is above the temple pond and about 300-400 meters away. Often he shuttles between these two ponds. When we visited, he had moved to other pond couple of days back. We walked up to the other pond which was also green and had lotus leaves all over. We tried to spot him for about 20 minutes. But no luck. By the time someone from the temple came and asked us, 'did you able to spot him? ' Looking at our disappointed face, he asked us to wait and started to call ‘sweetly’ as if he is calling some one dear. ‘Babia…. Please come up … They want to see you..  Please come up Babia .. ‘ 

Whoa!! Babia the crocodile came up. He didn’t fully come up though. But we could see his face under the water. He looked very calm. We were told that his body is 8 ft long but all that we could see was only his stout. After watching him for a while we started from the place amused and wondering how could he live on vegetarian food !! Sometimes there is no answers for such questions !!

Isn’t it interesting?? Ahh! My India is incredible with such mysteries!!! It is always a treasure trove. Travels, always unveils such unknown stories. If you are travelling towards North Kerala don’t forget to meet Babia.

Travel notes

- Anantapur lake temple is 5 kms away from Kumbla on the way from Mangalore to Kasargod

- Temple timing - 5.30 to 12.30 pm and 5.30 to 7.30 pm

- Plan this place  along with Kasargod

View from front - Ananthapura lake temple

Corridor connecting the temple in the middle of the pond

Rear view of the Ananthapura lake temple, Kasaragod, Kerala

Another pond 400 mts away from the temple pond

Babia, the crocodile .. Picture is not so clear as he was inside the water

Waterfalls of Chirapunjee- Kynrem and Dainthlen falls - 2/2

This post is in continuation to the last post Water falls of Chirapunjee - Nohkalikai and seven sister falls

While Nohkalikai and Seven sister falls are the major tourist attractions in Chirapunjee of Meghalaya.  There are few other falls which are seldom visited. Dainthlen and Kynrem  are two such water falls which attract us with their distinct beauty and Khasi folk tales associated with it.

Kynrem water falls

Kynrem falls thunders down in 3stages from the height of 305 mts and it is  India’s 7^th highest waterfall. Due to its remote location and bad road condition generally taxi drivers are reluctant to go there. My driver was kind enough to take me to this waterfall along with my guide Batman. It is about 25kms from Chirapunjee and 10-12 kms from Chirapunjee holiday resort where I stayed. Kynrem falls is located in Thangkhrang  park in East Khasi Hills district. There are many view points to enjoy the waterfall.

View of the fall from a distance is brilliant though the closest view from the road connecting to Bangladesh offers magnificent view of the fall during the monsoon.  In fact, it was not possible to view the falls without getting wet by the water smoke covered around the area. No need to say Monsoon is the best time to visit. It was in its full glory as I was there in June. There were other parallel cascades which adorned the main water falls. 

Kynrem falls

View from the road below

Other parallel cascades along with Kynrem

 Dainthlen water falls

I heard about the Dainthlen falls in the restaurant where I had lunch. It is about 5-8 kms from Chirapunjee. Road to Dainthlen falls passes through the most picturesque part of Chirapunjee. As we moved ahead we reached a plateau and I was not sure whether we are on the right path as there was no mountain to see the water fall. After reaching the fall I realized that we are watching the fall and are right on top of the water fall itself. It is a soft falls without much roaring sound. There is a protective railing from where water descends. I had to do struggle to take complete picture of the water falls. It was already evening and dusk was about to cover. Like any other Khasi water fall, Dainthlen also has a legend. These Khasi folklores are interesting and some are horrific stories like Nohkalikai falls.

Dainthlen is about a serpent, Thlen, who was a monster serpent who was living in a cave nearby. He was not only a cruel monster but also cunning. He had a pattern of killing people. If a group of people were moving around the cave, he would choose half of them to kill. So the safe bet was to walk alone but people were scared to walk alone. Like any other stories, here comes a hero. A brave person from the village decides teach him a lesson. He develops friendship with the serpent by feeding goats and one day when Thlen brings his mouth out to eat goat, the brave man dropped the red hot iron lump into serpent’s mouth and kills him. The people from nearby villages pulls out the snake to the river bed and chops him into pieces. It was believed that every bit of the Thlen to be eaten up, otherwise, Thlen will be able to recreate himself. Villagers were happy that Thlen is no more and didn’t want him to come again. So happily villagers arranged a feast. Then story goes that one of the women kept a piece for her grand child who couldn’t participate in the feast and forgot to feed him. Then Thlen recreated himself and story goes on...

Whatever the legend, the bank of the river does look like pieces of chopped snake meat. It was cracked and chopped. There were not many tourists around. Weather was good. Neighborhood around the falls is perfect for picnic. 

On the way to Dainthlen

Landscape  on the way to Dainthlen

Dainthlen falls, Chirapunjee

Bank of the river from where Dainthlen plunges

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