“Further south brought us to Pondicherry which is a really busy Tamil town and also has an old colonial French quarter and promenade.”
We stayed here for 3 nights in an ashram (spiritual centre) more for the clean rooms with little balcony and sea view than our spiritual wellbeing!
Once we’d sussed out how to fit the mossie nets over the frames we were able to sleep with windows open and the sea breeze drifting in.
We had to put all tsunami thoughts to the back of our mind even though the elevated deck restaurant next door had only just been opened again after the 2004 tsunami.”
Pondicherry itself is an interesting place with a strong French influence, French street names, shops selling baguettes and damn good cups of coffee.
The locals also like to ‘promenade’ by the sea-front along the promenade which is closed to traffic during the evening.
There are some good eating places in the town including the more expensive Promenade Hotel where we had two evening meals and the odd iced coffee during the day.
The Tourist Board’s tour took us to churches, temples, museums, outlying villages as well as the Auroville meditation centre.
Wandering around the town was very pleasant and we even found an internet café where the PC’s worked.
