Day 7: Off to Pondicherry

It is our first full day of tourism, and we started off with eating at the most beautiful breakfast buffet in Chennai. I think we all could have stayed there for the whole day and would have been happy.

Afterwards, we met up with our tour guide, Mirunalini and we headed off for our drive to Pondicherry, a French colonial settlement in India.

On our way there, we stopped at three temples, where we heard the history from our tour guide. They were stunning sights and I’m very thankful to see them in person. We also saw the Butter Ball, which is a huge rock that despite its size, it does not roll down the hill. 

While there, we also all did some light souvenir shopping for postcards and silk cloths. 

Before getting to Pondicherry, we stopped in Auroville, an eco-friendly town, for lunch. I had watermelon and goat cheese for an appetizer, mango fish curry for my main meal, and a jaggery and coffee parfait for dessert. Also, the restaurant itself was absolutely stunning.

After a delicious lunch, we headed to Pondicherry.

Our first stop was a pink Catholic church. Some of us took a pitstop afterwards to a cafe to grab a drink. We headed to the beach afterwards since it is only a block away from our hotel! 

We dropped our stuff down at the hotel afterwards, which had beautiful architecture and was super colorful.

After a few minutes of rest, we were back up and  decided to walk around to do some shopping. Lots bought traditional clothing while others bought some jewelry like bangles. 

I wrapped up my night early once again… but the rest of the group figured the night was still young and explored more to grab dinner.