Chennai and Pondicherry
"Its better to see and explore by yourself something at least once in your life, than to hear about it thousands of times."
Where the Indian and French culture blend
While living, and working in India I have been fortunate enough to travel and explore this enchanting and ancient country.
Out of many locations I have visited, each place welcomed and cherished me with its own beauty, charm, diversified culture, architecture, history and unique gastronomy.
With this post, I will walk you through these two remarkable places by sharing my experience and three-day travel itinerary. Hope on!
Chennai and Pondicherry
Chennai
Chennai – Cultural hub of South India, famous for its classical dance and Marina Beach.
Is a great shopping destination for Indian ethnic silk sarees, a place to rejuvenate spiritual bond with various temples and churches.
Pondicherry
Pondicherry (Pondi)- known by many as the “La Cote d’Azur de l’Est, French Riviera of East”.
Pondicherry, lies in the southern part of India, about two and half hours’ drive south from the coastal city of Chennai.
Day 1 - Chennai
We landed in Chennai amidst ocean side feel, probably due to its salty air.
Planned the three-day trip in a way, that first we explore a bit the historical, ancient city of Chennai. Temples, churches, fishing area, beaches, markets and restaurants were waiting for us.
Was very excited and looked forward to reach our hotel to check in, drop bags and start the discovery.
“The Leela Palace”, a dream place with ocean view, roof top swimming pool. Great service and smiling staff. Location wise is very close to Marina Beach, Fisherman’s village and city center.
When you enter the hotel, you have the impression that you are back in time, waking up in a Maharaja luxurious palace, surrounded with fresh flowers, rose petals, and marble. The royalty of the place is elevated by the red velvet decorated chairs and, candles every ten meters, royal classic chandeliers.
Our first stop was to Vivanta by Taj – The Fisherman’s cove for great bay view and dining of sea food. An open-air restaurant, on the ocean side where the only music which surrounds your ears is the sound of birds and the turbulent waves– watch out of birds flying all over the dining area, looking to grab some food. J
After an amazing sea food cuisine, drove to the famous Marina Beach. Wikipedia site writes that Marina Beach is a natural urban beach, along the Bay of Bengal. As per some of the online websites this is considered as the second largest beach in the world with the stretch of 13 km (http://www.chennai.org.uk/beaches/marina-beach.html). Sandy beach, bathing and swimming are prohibited because of the dangers, as the undercurrent is very turbulent. It is one of the most crowded beaches in the country. You can also see fishing villages and their way of living near the beach.
Day 2 - Pondicherry - Riviera of the East
Finally, we reached the long-awaited destination, Pondicherry “The Riviera of the East”.
Started the drive early morning via scenic beach side drive, via East Coast Road (ECR) with a sensible good infrastructure. This drive took us around 3 hours. Once in Pondicherry, first thing was to get coffee at Le Cafe – at Beach Road, White town, next to Mahatma Gandhi’ss statue, with beautiful views of the sea at Seaside Promenade with some cane topped umbrellas, which protected visitors from the sun.
Energized by coffee we started to walk around Pondicherry beach, which has beautiful French architect, souvenir shops, chic boutiques, cafe’s, eating places, clean roads with trees on both sides, parks and beach facing hotels. Was pleasant to walk and enjoy the beautiful view.
After our stretch, we headed towards Paradise Beach, which can be approached either from Chunnambar backwaters by boat. A regular boat on a regular basis takes around 15-20 minutes of the time to reach on the island of paradise beach. These boats leave from Chunnambar boat-house, which is situated on the Pondicherry – Cuddalore highway, around 7 kms from the main city of Pondicherry. The other option is to drive up till Le Pondy Beach Resort (or adjoining resorts which open towards the beach) – with direct beach access – long stretch of clean waves extending till paradise beach and connecting to beach side of other nearby resorts. With little to no water sports/ activities, we could connect to nature and majestic sea waves of clear waters in serene ambience. Great invitation to walk bare feet on the soft clean sand and get lost in the sound of the ocean.
Later in the day we drove back to Pondi city centre to discover French quarter where there are a lot of nice and very well preserved houses. We planned late lunch in “White Town”, which has a couple of nice cafe and shopping options.
Our lunch was at La Villa Shanti, which had French Menu. Nice place just two blocks inside the beach road. The Green Mango Chicken dish was awesome.
After lunch we planned to drive to Auroville – great Nature walk and place where all cultures and countries live together in perfect harmony. Visited Matri Mandir – Golden Dome, which is shaped in a form of golden ball. You can spend almost half / full day to enjoy complete place – it has a nice souvenir shop as well. Do check for the opening hours before planning your trip to Auroville as some of the parts are not open full time.
Day 3 - Back To Chennai
The day was dedicated to visit City Centre, majestic and vibrant Parthasarathy Temple, peaceful San Thome Church standing tall in all its grandeur white structure and shopping areas like Nagar which is full of most famous shops selling authentic Silk Sarees (Kanjeevaram/ Kanchipuram Silk).
Slightly short, but definitely a beautiful visit to South India, where food is amazing, people are welcoming and history is recalling.
