A visit to the once french colony - Pondicherry

Pondicherry also known as Puduuchery - 'new town' in Tamil. One of the union territories of India located in sea shores of Bay of Bengal in Tamil Nadu. Formerly a French Colony, I was expecting a lot from the place when we planned to visit in August. It was good if not the best place I have ever visited so far.. It was my first visit to any of the Union territories of India.We were there for only one day. So we might have missed some places (in & around pondicherry). The review given here are based on my experience only.

Overall: 
Aurovilla, Mahe beach, French war Memorial (It is just a garden with one Statue), Museum near Arabindo  Ashram, Nehru Road(It is like commercial street of Bangalore) are the only places we visited and that sums up most of the tourist places in Pondicherry I guess. However, what I liked the most was its well planned city architecture. We do get to see French style of architecture and probably that is what attracts the tourists.

Roads within  Pondi, are great even the ones which connects Pondi from Tiruvanamalia. We started from Bangalore at around 11AM in the morning. The route is pretty confusing especially in Krishnagiri where we almost went towards Kanyakumari! Throughout the journey we hardly found any board written in English and none of knew Tamil, so it was bit difficult but then we somehow managed.We also come across no-man's land, a stretch that looks more like a going through forest and villages - which were nice. 

Food & Hospitality: 
People in Pondi were nice & friendly. Food was good as per south Indian standards. Especially the Sea food. It was fresh & delicious. So for that I will have to give a Thumbs up. 

City & Cleanliness: 
 
In some places it was very neat and clean. But then you know how some people are. Keeping a city/tourist spot clean is not only the responsibility of the Governing body but also the people who live there and who visit as tourists.

Weather:  Humid & pretty hot at night.
Traffic: Moderate
Petrol Price: Good! I mean, it is less compared to other cities. When we had gone there it was 10 Rupees less than Bangalore Prices. 
 
Verdict: 
Good place for one time visit...

Now I shall leave you all with some pictures we took.

Clicked while we were on the way...


Awesome roads...


A statue of some goddess



 * If you know the proper directions from Bangalore to Pondi, you will not find this. We lost the way and went about 15KM on the wrong way. May be we were destined to meet her!
 


Hotel Sabthagiri - where we stayed. It was not a 5 Star, but good choice for middle-class.







White lotus @auroville

 
Auroville plan - a miniature of Arial view.

 
The meditation center - Auroville Matri mandir

Local handicraft shop
  
One of the many statues in Town..
 
Sculptures in Museum near Arabindu ashram 

Sculptures in Museum near Arabindu ashram -2


One of the many "French medal of honor"  - in Museum near Arabindu ashram



Pondicherry beach / Mahe beach - It looks great @ night 
 

Mahatma Gandhi Statue @ Pondicherry beach / Mahe beach


La Cafe @ the Pondicherry beach / Mahe beach - we get nice chocolate milkshake here

 
Pondicherry butterfly :P - Fortunate/ unexpected click @ la cafe


Main attraction of Pondicherry - Dawn @ bay of bengal - how butterscotchy :)


One more... Butterscotchy sun rise


Some french viceroy statue standing on the beach...

Credits: 
Thanks to Vignesh & fly, Raghu & fly, My wifey, RC & Padma - the travel mates :)


Comments

  1. Saru Singhal25 October 2012 at 10:59

    I want to go there. There are few places in India which I want to visit and this is one of them. Thanks for sharing. I can use it for my travel plans.:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Krishna/കൃഷ്ണ28 October 2012 at 22:07

    beautifully narrated with photos..

    thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sunil Padiyar11 September 2013 at 04:31

    Thank you Saru, Krishna, Anna Maria & Nishitha :)

    @Anna Maria - Sure, I will be looking into the same..

    @Nishitha - I have been to BR hills - although didn't like it much. Bandipur resort is in my to-be-visited list :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown5 August 2015 at 23:16

    Hi..It was great reading about your travel experience. Also known as 'The French Riviera of the East', Pondicherry exhibits a heavy French influence, which is more evident at the destination's old quarters. To experience luxurious stay, check out these 5 star hotels in Pondicherry.

    ReplyDelete

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