Pondicherry or Puducherry as its called now, is the first place that comes to anyone’s mind when thinking of a weekend getaway from Chennai. Driving down is the best way to get there if you’re from Chennai, as the roads are pretty good. Depending on which route you take, you can even have a mini sight-seeing on the way, either in Vandaloor Zoo if you’re taking the Tindivanam route or Dakshinachitra and Crocodile Park if you’re on the ECR Highway. In the last six years, I’ve visited Pondy thrice and I still have so many restaurants pending in my list.
En-route Pondy.
No matter how you reach Pondy, the best option to get around there is to rent bikes. There are different options available, ranging from bicycles to Vespa for minimal daily rental charges (around Rs.150- Rs.400, depending on the bike). Since the city itself is pretty small, with even smaller roads travelling around in any other means of transport is almost impossible. The roads can get pretty crowded during the Holidays.
Accommodation is pretty reasonable, even service apartments are available if you’re going as a big group. They have plenty of home stays and Heritage Hotels as well.
I’m not getting into the History and Geography of Pondy more (what is your Wikipedia for?). For me Pondy = Beaches. Heaven of Italian food. Alcohol. However make your New Year plans elsewhere as it could pretty chaotic here, considering the steady flow of cheap liquor (Trust me, its bad). Tourist attractions are limited, so visiting with your family could get pretty boring, if your parents are not much into Italian food or alcohol.
The Promenade beach is the most popular and crowded beach in Pondy. There’s a long side walk (which is quite well maintained), for all of you who love to take a stroll by the beach. There are rocks laid out on the sides of the beach for safety, as the waves are pretty rough.
The next popular but less crowded beach is the Paradise beach. This is a good spot to take a dip for those of you who fancy swimming in the sea or have a good time with your friends.
If you’re done with beaches we can move on to the next stop- Auroville. For those of you who’s never heard of it before, “Auroville is meant to be a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and progressive harmony, above all creeds, all politics and all nationalities. The purpose of Auroville is to realize human unity.” (Yup, copied right from wiki).
Since it required absolute silence and calming of your mind to visit the Matrimandir, I chose not to and instead did some shopping in the boutiques inside Auroville. They have some pretty good stuff. (organic food, potpourri, scented candles n shit like that).
The White Town in Pondicherry still retains the colonial French architecture. I could take pictures (of myself) here forever.
Its quite a sight even at night.
They even have some of the oldest and beautiful looking churches.
Yes, I prayed before taking the picture.
The best part of my visits have always been the food of course. They have a chain of good restaurants and bars, some of which are a must-visit if you love to eat.
Don Giovannis, a restaurant in the heart of the city, run by an old Italian chef serves some of the best Italian food in the city. Old age has caught up with him from the last time I visited, still the food remains the same.
The Indian Kaffe Express, yet another spot if you wanna grab a hot drink on a rainy day and chill with your friends.
For all those pizza lovers, I strongly recommend TANTOS- the hub of authentic wood fired pizza. I have dreams about this British pizza from time to time. (Beef ban you say?)
The Gambas Pasta is one of their signature dishes, because big prawns why not!
Since I’m a glutton I couldn’t resist but to order another Lasagna when I saw it on another table. Finished off my meal with one of the best Tiramisu I’ve had in my life. (Judge me not).
If you’re looking for some good and cheap liquor and decent food, you can even drop into The Asian House, which is near the beach.
If you dont mind spending a little more, check out Le Club by the beach. Their pork ribs and seafood sizzlers are perfect! Its an open air restaurant, which also serves alcohol.
Those ribs though!
Nobody goes to Pondy and leaves without going to Baker Street. You could either grab some breakfast or satisfy your sweet tooth.
After spending 90% of my time eating while I was at Pondy, I couldn’t help but make a quick stop at the Auroville Bakery on my way back, as one of the chefs in Pondy recommended this place to me. The best way to get there is to depend on your google maps. The place was quite packed as I entered. I scanned the entire display and narrowed down my choices to around four of them. Unlike the usual bakeries, this place had nothing creamy. Everything looked freshly baked, even the bread. They even had some vegan brownies and giant sized cookies. Everything was very reasonably priced and fresh. The Apple crumble, Choco nut and Peanut Butter cakes have all my votes.
Everything is done by the local women around there and the place is kept quite neat and tidy. As I was exploring around, I spotted some building behind the bakery. Turns out they had a cafe as well. I had to have lunch somewhere so I decided to check it out. Quite limited options but very reasonable and well done. It’s a simple home kitchen and everything was done with regular equipment as I could see from where I was sitting.
So that’s about my Pondicherry adventures, Speaking of adventures, I’ve had so much more during my visits to Pondy. Unfortunately it’s not something people will wanna read about 😀
This is me trying to stand up against a cyclone(two of my visits were during a cyclone) in the middle of the street, because I’m a rebel.
Eat Well. Be Well.
Little Miss Know It All 