Lakes
As the blaze of the afternoon sun gives way to a nippy evening, the best place to head to is the landmark, Ooty lake. This was once a huge bog with a west-flowing stream. In 1824, the lower part of the stream was converted into a lake through the initiative of the collector, Mr John Sullivan, as an irrigation tank. The lake is about 2.5 km long and between 100 and 140 m wide.
There is a lot of holiday cheer around this area, with a boathouse where rowboats and motorboats can be hired out.. A Tamilnadu Tourism Development Corporation venture, it remains open from 8 am to 6 pm.
Botanical Gardens
These beautiful Botanical Gardens are Ooty’s pride and being typical of the British, who have always been fond of gardening, these were laid out in 1847 by gardeners from the Kew Gardens in London. It is a pleasure to walk through almost twenty hectares of immaculate lawns, lily ponds and beds, with over a thousand varieties of shrubs, flowers and trees. Worth marveling, is the fossil tree trunk that one sees here, believed to be 20 milllion years old.
You can go up to the top of the garden, where there is a wood hut, and enjoy a panoramic view of Ooty from here. Every year, an Annual flower show is held here during the month of May
Raj Bhavan
Ooty still has some reminders of the British Raj, and the present Government House, has the typical architecture of the stately English presence of the days bygone, with a history that dates back to 1877, when it was built by the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, in the style of his family home at Stowe. It stands at the top of Dodabetta Ridge to the south-east of Ooty and is approached through the Botanical Gardens. The grounds are very well maintained and open to visitors, although you cannot go into the building.
Palaces
Many Indian royals and maharajas built their summer palaces and mansions here, to enjoy the cool respite from the summer heat. These have mostly been turned into hotels. The palace built by the Maharaja of Jodhpur is one such example. St. Stephen’s Church. This is quaint gothic style church has some more British history, built in the 1820s and was one of Ooty’s first colonial structures On the same lines, notice two more quasi gothic red brick buildings, the Civil Court and the Club, that date back to 1830.
Kandal Cross
This is a Roman Catholic shrine, three km west of the railway station, considered as the `Jerusalem of the East'. The cross erected here is a relic of the True Cross brought to India by an Apostolic delegate
Government Museum
See some interesting tribal objects and the sculptural arts and crafts of Tamil Nadu, besides educating yourself on the district’s ecological details here.
Aquarium
This is close to the bus station and is run by the Department. of Fisheries, which rears some exotic fish varieties.
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