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The area in front of the temple, where devotees bathe in a huge tank, is thronged with stalls selling religious souvenirs, shell necklaces, puja offerings, jasmine and marigolds, along with the ubiquitous plaster-cast models of Kathakali masks. As you approach, the red-brick CVN Kalari Sangam, a Kalarippayat martial arts gymnasium, is on the left. From 6.30am to 8am (Mon-Sat) you can watch the students practicing Kalarippayat fighting exercises.
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Foreigners may join courses in the gym, arranged through the head teacher, although prior experience of martial arts and/or dance is a prerequisite; three-month courses are also available, but the fee of Rs500 does not cover accommodation. You can also come here for a traditional Ayurvedic massage, and to consult the gym's expert Ayurvedic doctors (Mon-Sat 10am-1pm & 5-7.30pm, Sun 10am-1pm). A path along the north side of the tank leads past the north, west and southern entrances to the temple. It's an atmospheric walk, particularly in the early morning and at dusk, when devotees make their way to and from prayer (a closed iron gate bars the northern side, but everybody climbs through the gap). These neat little streets, in the old days of Kerala's extraordinary caste system, would have been a "no go" area, possibly on pain of death, to some members of the community. Behind the temple on West Fort, set back from the road across open ground, the Margi school of Kathakali dance drama and Kutiyattam theatre is housed in Fort High School. With prior notice you can watch classes; this is the place to ask about authentic Kathakali performances.
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Explore Thrissur
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A
solid but unremarkable fort gateway leads from near the Kovalam bus stand at
East Fort to the Shri Padmanabhaswamy temple, which is still controlled by the
Travancore royal family. Unusually for Kerala it is built in the Dravidian style
of Tamil Nadu, with a tall gopura gateway, but it's surrounded by high
fortress-like walls, and is closed to non-Hindus; little can be seen from
outside, apart from the seven-storey gopura. 
Most of the temple buildings date from the eighteenth century, added
by Raja Marthanda Varma to a much older shrine. According to legend,
the temple was founded after Vishnu, disguised as a beautiful child,
merged into a huge tree in the forest, which immediately crashed to
the ground. There it transformed into an image of the reclining
Vishnu, a full 13km long. Divakara, a sage who witnessed this, was
frustrated by his limited human vision, and prayed to Vishnu to
assume a form that he could see in its entirety. Vishnu complied,
and the temple appeared.
