Some cities are tourist destinations because they have one superb landmark (like Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal) but the rest of the city leaves something to desired. To me, Madurai falls into this category.
A couple of weekends ago, I took an overnight train south west to Madurai, one of the oldest cities on the Indian peninsula. It is known for its magnificent Meenaski Temple, which attracts up to 15,000 visitors a day and is comprised of 12 goparums (pyramid shaped gateways). Each of the goparums is covered in colourful and imaginative stucco gods, demons, and heroes. Given that I visited Madurai's other tourist sites - a Gandhi museum (located here because this is where he first adopted his famous loincloth) and the remains of a former palace - in less than 2 hours, I ended up visiting the temple three times in two days!
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