Hey Lovelies;
Here’s my post for the trip to Pondicherry ❤
It was quite an experience; so let’s just get to it, shall we?!
So I had a crazy stay with Airbnb (in case you’re wondering it’s Air – bed and breakfast) , it being my very first time I was quite doubtful about it, but the place that I chose to live in was a thatch cabin, quite the experience to say the least.
The host was ahmazing 😀 He’d gotten it all sorted for us (me and my friends); the only annoying part were the mosquitoes (urgh) despite the mosquito nets.
The place I was staying at had a porch, the night was quite a memorable one; me along with a few others stayed there all night chilling with a bonfire on. I’d also met so many people at this place, all of them quite friendly including the LIZARD! That literally freaked me out, big time!!!
I didn’t eat much at the place I was staying; I wanted this trip to be more about exploring around, but I did have breakfast and spoke to different people.
I missed home, but after a day or so :p and the host made sure we had good meal; he even cooked sambar rice for me; and I’d made pasta for all of them before leaving.
On my last day I’d been to Auroville; though I didn’t get to go inside of Matri Mandir; I visited the place from outside; it was such a peaceful visit.Inside the Matri mandir is the perfectly built globe and to check it out you need to pre book your stay.The place was so quiet and beautifully built, totally worth the visit even though being on a sunny day. On the way back we gave a visit to the Auroville bakery which was quite a show.
This place also had a few really good markets with hippie stuff.
But Hands down the main attraction in Pondi are the cafes! Every lane you’d go to, you will literally find two to three cafes. I spent days around them; I’ve been to like ten cafes. Pondicherry was possible because of friends and zomato, trust me they’ve been this trips best friend, truly were of great help.
Food? You get everything! Right from French, Italian to legit North Indian food 😀 Not to forget, Alcohol was really affordable
So almost all the cafes are situated in this white town where I actually stayed; all cafes were at a walkable distance.
Cafes are so my thing! All I wanted to do was visit every possible cafe which I obviously couldn’t but visited most of them.
What I noticed was majority of the cafes have French food, baguettes, croissants, toasts and fries. A complete different kinda food to live on :p
The cafes, the walls on the streets, the people; it felt like a proper French colony.
Damn were they a piece of art, literally nothing like these I’d ever been to.
So the Café’s I visited if you guys ever want to go are Fresh Farm cafe, Cafe Xtasi, Villa Shanti, Cafe Des Arts, GMT; which has the best ice cream near the promenade (beach) , Le cafe, Richy Rich, Auroville bakery and Sicily’s.
Personally my favourite cafes to summarize, Beginning with was Cafe Des Arts Serves with the best Nutella crepes ever! Cafe Le was open all through the night; A pretty cafe within a budget which had burgers, salads, fries and a range of cold coffees. All the names in the menu start with ‘le’ or ‘la’ haha :p
And finally Cafe Xtasi that had the best pizzaaaaa! This café also has another branch near Auroville as well. P.s. Most of the cafes near Auroville are vegan.
There was this place called Villa Shanti and there was Le Maison Rose if anyone of you’d be planning to go on a date. These places have it all; the wine, music and ambience.
Coming to the beaches; there is this beach named the Promenade, it was quite nearby and stretched a good of about 5 kms .
True beauty is in the evening, when there were no vehicles allowed. At night I went for a long walk after dinner and I came across every kind of group out there; from couples chilling along the beach, kids playing, to the uncles gossiping after dinner, whining about their wives (lololololll) It dint feel like India; it felt like another time, another place, my own beautiful hidden and safe.
Every day I made sure I visited cafes and the promenade beach for atleast five minutes to get some breeze.
Yet another was the paradise beach, some 40 mins ride from the French colony!
This beach was beautiful with less of population. There were so many coconut trees and loads of sea food nearby. This beach had *BEEP* load of small crabs which I swear made me almost cry every single time I saw one near me, I mean come on I find insects very creepy this beach was just not for me but it was so clean, really serene. If you’re a beach person then it’s a must go.
Next was a visit to Aurobindo Aashram. I rode a bicycle to the Aashram, what a coincidence when I visited it the same day Narendra Modi did; But God was it worth it or whaaa!
There was this dead silence and I was just lost for some time.
There were people from all over the world here, some to attain enlightenment, some to gain wisdom, while others to spend their old age, just looking for peace. It was beyond peaceful.
To Sum it up the first day was spent near the beach; The second day at Cafes, ashram and the local shopping where I bought a beautiful bohemian cape Teehee 😀 (I will be posting a picture); Day three was spent near Auroville, two days post which I returned home in the evening by the bus.
So overall the stay was pretty cheap; it was 800 bucks per day, And Shankar was really a good host 😀 Pondicherry is such a beautiful place for pictures; like every street, every wall and every date is so fascinating; Also I kept my outfits really simple because it was damn sunny there.If you are visiting in the first half of the year make sure you guys have your summer outfits there.I wish I could go back again 🙂
Let me know if this helps guys, down in the comments below; let me know if you have or would visit this place, any questions related to it, I’d be happy to know and help 😀 Cheers!!
– Meg ❤
Meghna Rentala 