Travel Day 966 – Varkala, Kerala, INDIA
After seeing all the waterfront areas up and down the shore, today I decided to explore the actual settlement of Varkala Beach a little bit…
Dirt Road of Varkala Beach Settlement
When I first arrived in Varkala I noticed already that there was the town itself, but then there was also Varkala Beach, which was the touristic area. This area consisted of a nice long beach framed by a high cliff on which all the tourist restaurants were located to provide the finest sea views to customers while they were enjoying an expensive meal. The hotels seemed to be mainly in second row behind the restaurants and when I settled for a place, I walked to about 5th or 6th row to find a place with a somewhat decent price. But beyond where I was staying, the settlement of Varkala Beach was continuing…
Actually as I found out, there was a whole network of little dirt alleyways and even a little back road, giving access to the mayor properties somehow. These little alleyways I thought to explore today and I decided to walk them up and down as they continued parallel to the coast. Unfortunately there were only very few connections back to the cliff with its waterfront restaurants and so this whole area felt like and an entirely different place altogether…
Intersection of Dirt Roads in Varkala
It actually felt a bit more like real India, but only a few original properties seemed to remain. Some lots were empty, some were under construction, but most were occupied by some low scale hotel complexes of varying size. In-between all these walled properties I could only find one local restaurant with home cooked food and pretty decent prices in comparison to all the expensive tourist restaurants at the cliff. Naturally this little restaurant became my new go-to place and I was almost upset with myself for not finding it earlier…
Besides the restaurant I also found a nice home-stay with a little garden, tree-houses and a nice little communal space. Since I didn’t really wanted to stay for that much longer any more in Varkala anyway, I couldn’t be bothered to actually move, but at least I decided to come back and hang out with some fellow backpackers. What I never found on the other hand were any local shops, but at least after my past few exploration days I had quite a good idea of the surrounding area within walking distance… : )
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