Welcome to Pondy
Often it is a tourist’s dilemma as to what to see in Pondicherry just between 8am to 9pm. of a day. !
There are three ways to get acquainted with Pondicherry:
- Let the hotel management arrange a guide.
- Book a seat with Pondicherry Tourism department’s tourist bus service.
- For a guided & conducted tour of the commercial units of Sri Aurobindo Ashram or Auroville book a seat with Auto Care Service near the BSNL office.
- With the help of Google, a guide book and recommendations from friends discover and have an adventurous trip.
In the category ‘D’, it is better to have one’s own transport to save time. Or else, on coming to Pondy, hire a motor bike from a bike rental shop. There are several of them on the Mission Street and the nearby streets. For the fun of it try a bi-cycle as well.
Most visited touristic sites
The most visited places in a day’s trip to Pondicherry are :
- Sri Aurobindo Ashram,
- Manakula Vinayagar Temple (Ganesh) ,
- Pondicherry Museum,
- Ashram’s Hand-made-paper factory,
- Sacred Heart Church,
- Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception,
- Church of Our Lady of the Angels,
- Botanical Garden,
- Bharathi Park,
- Chunnambar Beach & Paradise Beach,
- Auroville and
- The Promenade road or the beach road where some major historical land marks are :
- the French War Memorial,
- the majestic 19th Century Light house,
- Kargil War Memorial,
- Dr. Ambedkar’s Memorial,
- the French Consulate
For a safe sea bathing, visit Serenity / Bodhi beach or Auro beach.
Pilgrimage trip
For those who are on a pilgrimage tour, apart from Sri Aurobindo Ashram and the Ganesh Temple, there are also some other famous historical temples within the boulvard such as Kanniga Parameswari temple (dedicated to Shakti ), Varadaraja Perumal Koil (Vishnu temple) & Vedhapureeswarar Iswaran Koil (Shiva temple) on the M.G.Road, Kalatheeswaran Koil on the Mission Street, Tirupathy Devasthanam on the Nehru Street. All these temples are within 15 minutes of walk from the Chief Secretariat located on the beach road on East.
In the outskirts about 9 kms north of Pondicherry, on the old Pondy-Tindivanam highway, the Panchamukha Hanuman or Anjaneya temple has become very famous. This area is also known as Panchavatee Kshetram. The deity, sculptured out of a single granite stone, is about 36 meters tall with 5 different heads facing five different directions. On availability of tokens, relish its south Indian lunch.
The Pyramid shaped Karaneswara Natarajar temple is a fairly recent introduction to Pondicherry. It is about 7kms from the north of Pondicherry University on the East Coast Road. Its lush green and serene open ambience with the sound of breaking of waves in background is very soothing to the senses.
There is also a Shirdi Sai Baba temple in kalapet near the Pondicherry University.
Shopping in Pondicherry
Pondicherry is also a shopper’s haven. The major shopping streets are Nehru Street, Mission Street, M.G.Road, Kosakadai Street where premium boutiques, showrooms of national and international brands, local ancestral shops and new up-coming stores cater to one’s taste and budget.
Sri Aurobindo Asharm has its own commercial units where hands made products are sold. Its details may be obtained from the Ashram’s reception or its Bureau Central (near the BSNL office).
Auroville too has several handmade units. Further information on this may be obtained from the information centre in Auroville.
Tasty bites
Pondicherry though geographically small serves South Indian, North Indian, creole, French, Italian, Chinese and continental cuisine. The Jain temple on Anna Salai serves lunch as well between 12.30pm and 1pm. So enjoy mouth watering multi-cuisine – buffet or a la Carte – either in a small fast moving joint or in a posh restaurant.
One can even make a combo of sightseeing, shopping and gastronomy.!
So a lot can be done just in a day between: “Bonjour Pondy” & “Au-revoir Pondy”.!
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