Pondicherry

4th - 6th August 2006

It was a long weekend and the car trip was planned to Pondicherry, an erstwhile French colony and now a union territory.

We (Myself and my Wife Chaya) started on 4th August, at 6 AM. The NH 7 till Krishnagiri was superb and we reached Krishnagiri at 8AM and finished our breakfast there.

After Krishnagiri, the drive was on NH 66 till Pondicherry. The nice view of the country side after Krishnagiri.

The major town on the way was Thiruvannamalai, which is famous for temples. The main temple was Arunachala and the whole town was centered around it.


After Thiruvannamalai, was Gingee, Which has some nice forts. I wanted to climb the fort, but the hot sun prevented from doing so.


We reached Pondicherry at 12:30PM and the nice entrance to the town deserved a click from the camera.


Evening saw us at the promenade, a nice 1.5km walk along the beach. It has several landmarks like the Gandhi statue, lighthouse and a war memorial.


The beach itself was quite rocky.


Next day, we went to Auroville, an international village 14 kms from Pondicherry. The main attraction was Mathri mandir and the gardens. Visitors are not allowed inside Mathri mandir. It looked great and some maintenance was going on for the structure.


Our next visit was to Paradise beach on the Cuddalore road. We had to cross Chunnambar back waters on a motor boat. A Government owned company runs the boat services. The beach was clean and well maintained.


Next day, we started back to Bangalore at 9AM and reached Bangalore at 4PM.

Route: Bangalore-> Hosur -> Krishnagiri-> Thiruvannamalai-> Gingee-> Tindivanam->Pondicherry

Distance:

Bangalore - Hosur: 40kms

Hosur - Krishnagiri : 52 kms

Krishnagiri - Thiruvannamalai: 112kms

Thiruvannamalai - Gingee: 38kms

Gingee - Tindivanam: 28kms

Tindivanam - Pondicherry: 40kms

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