Trinkets
The fun of sea and sun bathing or watching the wave crash are not the only attractions of beaches. There is a belief that a dip in waters of Papanasam Beach at Varkala, 45 km north of Thiruvanthapuram, washes away sins (papam). Priests from the 2,000-year old Janardhana temple are there to assist believers to perform the rituals. The main bell of the temple was presented by the Dutch captain of a sailing ship in the 17th century. Comparatively lower hotel tariffs and cheap food draw in European backpackers and domestic tourists with lower budget to the place.
The Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama landed at Kappkadavu (Kappad), a small coastal village in the Kozhikode district, on 27 May 1498, thereby marking the opening of a sea route from Europe to India. A plaque on the beach commemorates the arrival. Kozhikode was earlier visited by Marco Polo (1254-1324) and Ibn Battuta (1304-1368 or 1377).
There is a Hindu burial ground near Payyambalam Beach, 2 km from Kannur town. The remains of Communist leaders such as A. K. Gopalan and E. K. Nayanar are interred there.
Many resorts offer Ayurveda treatment to tourists. The State Government has laid down strict standards to streamline the systems and is monitoring their activities As a result, several Ayurvedic centres were closed down as they did not conform to the norms.
Several hundred volunteers representing various organisations joined hands to clean up the Shanghumughom and Kovalam beaches as part of a campaign to observe International Coastal Clean-up Day on 16 September 2007. International Coastal Clean-up Day is an annual worldwide event organised by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the South Asia Cooperative Environment Programme (SACEP) since 1986. Thousands of volunteers across the world have cleared over 45 million kg of trash from 2,73,000 km of beaches and inland waterways.
Read more about this topic: Beaches In Kerala