Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum) : Named after Shri Anantha, the thousand-headed, divine serpent on which Lord Vishnu reclines, the State capital is built on undulating terrain of seven low coastal hills. It has a distinctive ambience - a spacious layout where the old and modern are surrounded by gently swaying coconut palms an majestic, gabled, pagoda-roofed traditional buildings.

Kochi (Cochin) : Kochi has a history of visitors who came, saw and stayed on, leaving their imprint on the city and its people. Christianity came to India through Kochi not long after the Crucifixion. The oldest European settlement in India, that of the Portuguese, is Pallipuram Fort in Vypeen Island, Kochi. The Chinese influence is seen in the old tiled houses built in the pagoda style and giant Chinese fishing nets that rim the shore particularly at the mouth of the harbour. The sight of these fishing nets silhouetted against the glow of the setting'sun is unforgettable. The oldest Jewish Synagogue in the Commonwealth, built in 1568, is in the 2000 year old Jewtown area. Ancient scrolls of the Old Testament and copper plates inscribed in the Hebrew script recording the privileges granted by the rajas to the Jewish community can still be seen here. Other places of interest in Kochi are the Mattanchery Palace, now a museum, the Dutch Bolghatty Palace on Bolghatty Island, the St. Francis Church, India's oldest European church where the tombstone of Vasco da Gama can still be seen (his mortal remains buried here were transported to Portugal after 14 years), and Kerala's first ever heritage museum, the Hill Palace Museum.