Exploring Pondicherry on a Bicycle

It was a random day in December and I was visiting my friend in Coimbatore. Pondicherry was a spontaneous plan. We had only one day at hand and we wanted to see all of Pondicherry on that day. I also have to mention, this was the trip where I decided I’m going to vlog my travels.

So, we took the next bus from Coimbatore on Saturday evening and it was an 11-hour journey. Reaching Pondicherry bus station at around 5.30 in the morning, when it was still dark, we sat at the station figuring out where and how to go to places. Once it was not very dark (around 6 AM) we started walking from the bus station to our first destination, White town.

WHITE TOWN

White town, also known as India's French colony was coming to life when we arrived. People were doing pooja and sprinkling water on the roadside. The roads were comparatively empty and that made our walk easy. It was a refreshing walk especially after an 11-hour sit back bus journey.

We started our day by attending holy mass at Lady Des Angels - Notre Dames Church. The mass was in French. It was not crowded as a normal church would get on a Sunday.

Right outside the church, there was a tea stall open. We were really hungry and not many places were open by then. So, we had a chai and dosa from there. Do I recommend it? Not really. There are nice places to eat around in White Town.

If you love photography or looking for a cute place to shoot videos, then White town is definitely for you. All of this town is designed like lanes that connect you somehow to the main road. You might have seen those street photos with yellow colored houses on the background from Pondi, this is the spot for those pics.

It was very calm and quiet when we arrived, so we explored a bit of this place and got used to the main places. There was this cute house, which belonged to a French government official in those times. And it was the cutest house I saw in there, with the colorful flowers hanging on the windows, it was just picture perfect.

BIKE RENTALS

There are several bicycle and motorbike rental options available in Pondicherry and it's super cheap compared to other touristy places.

Me and my friend, we both don't have a driver's license. We wanted to explore the place on our own pace too. You'll need to submit a copy of your driver's license and identity in case of motorbikes and identify proof was enough for bicycles. We found a place and rented two bicycles for Rs. 60 each and headed to the rock beach.

ROCK BEACH

The Rock beach is the main attraction of Pondicherry, I think. When we reached the vehicle entry was restricted and the promenade was so busy because of a "kolam" competition. So we went around the White town on our bikes soaking up the feel of this small town. After some time we came back to the rock beach and the competition was over and the walkway was filled with colorful patterns on both sides of the road.

Besides that, rock beach has rocks spread around on one side where you can sit and just look at the waves. It is a great sight to see the waves get shattered on the rocks. Rock beach is a perfect place to be for a morning jog or an evening walk. Well, in the evening the scene was a little different. We’ll come to that at the end.

For now, we started to look for more places to visit and being Sunday and early in the morning every other place was closed. Our next destination hence was this Cathedral.

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CATHEDRAL

We visited immaculate conception cathedral on our rounds before leaving White town. The cathedral has a huge hallway with nice paintings.

While in cathedral we asked locals about how to reach Auroville hoping for a short cut route.

They gave us the option of bus and rickshaw from here. Also told us to leave the bikes in church and suggested that we won't be able to make it on bikes till Auroville.

Our plan was to spend some hours in Auroville and be back to White town by the evening. Disregarding all the suggestions politely, we decided to continue with our bicycles and Google maps.

A CYCLE RIDE TO AUROVILLE

We both are not great riders nor do we have much experience. So we were pretty scared of the highway we had to take to reach Auroville. Looking back to assure the other person is following (read alive), we somehow reached a remote place.

As per our research, Auroville is a sustainable city that is being built in a rural area. So we thought we were on the right track. Then we reached a temple in an isolated place and that's when we started to feel something is wrong with the path we have taken.

There were not many travelers. So, we asked someone about the way and he said there is a route that leads to Auroville from there but it is not the one that's normally taken by people. Google showed us this shortcut which apparently wasn't nice because of the poor condition of the roads. (Yes, we blame you Google Maps for all those bumpy roads we took!)

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We spent some time at this temple relaxing. It was no famous temple, just an ordinary temple. But the statues there were huge! I mean really huge! The deities depicted are lesser known ones to us. But they were colourful and gigantic in size.

Fueling ourselves with some fresh air and water we continued on our way. Also, thanked the local who told us the further route from there. He also warned us not to take this road while returning.

AUROVILLE

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Reaching the roads that showed the signboards of Auroville was such a relief. Auroville is a concept made alive which is based on a sustainable lifestyle. There are residents who live in accordance with this concept. With only a few hours in hand, we could only get to see Matri Mantir from outside.

We benefited from our bikes as it was allowed until the last parking stop at Matri Mantir. It seems like a golden globe from the far and on a closer look, you can see the golden disks that form the exterior. Sitting in front of the matri mantir we wondered how it will be inside of that sphere.

There was a rush of people from different places to take photos here. There were also few people who sat calm meditating looking at the mantir. We walked around the place through the violet flowers and green lawns.

FINDING A PLACE TO EAT NEAR AUROVILLE

Next was the hunt for a place to eat and it wasn't an easy task. We had to ride a few KMs to reach a street with restaurants and almost all of them were filled with people. We desperately wanted to eat something after the long ride and finally found this place with few seats available. The moment we sat there with the wind on our face was bliss. A feeling that we'll never forget. With our painful legs and whole body aching that cafe felt like heaven.

We ordered pizza cold coffee and hot chocolate. It was good enough to boost our energy for the next ride. It was time to return from Auroville. We had one more beach to visit there but we were not able to locate it.

KALKI KOECHLIN

On the quest of that beach, we saw a lady on a motorbike coming opposite to us and she looked very familiar. She smiled at us and I also returned a casual smile thinking of the generic gesture fellow travelers exchange. Then my friend said, "wasn't that Kalki?". And that's when it clicked the familiarity of the face. I like to add, on our further research to confirm this, we found out that Kalki Koechlin is from Pondicherry.

Anyway, we didn't find the beach we were looking for but we ended up at a beach that didn't seem very safe. So we left immediately. Going back, we confirmed with a local if we are taking the highway in the correct direction. He also told us "you won't be able to reach the white town on a bicycle". We thanked him and smiled at each other.

That ride was comfortable in terms of the road. But what annoyed us was the people who tried to make fun by trying playfully hit us with their motorbikes and stares.

WHITE TOWN IN THE EVENING

White town when we reached back was a very different place than what we saw in the morning. The whole place was packed with people mainly tourists. All shops and cafes open. Street markets at its full swing.

We returned our bikes and started walking around. There was a museum which was closed in the morning. We spent some time in the parks of the museum and went to have some food. “Le Cafe” near the rock beach seemed like a nice place to eat.

But to our disappointment, we had a fight with the staff there. I ordered something from the lower floor and my friend wanted to eat on the first floor. We asked at the counter if we can sit together before entering the cafe.

But, once the order was confirmed they started shouted at us saying you can't take the food from this floor to the other. But we finally had our meal together. And left the place asap. Turns out it was about some internal feud they had amongst them.

Rest of the evening we had we spent sitting on the black rocks of the rock beach staring at the waves roaring and shattering. We took a shared ride back to the bus stop to catch the last bus. And that was the end of our little adventure. I wish I could go back and spend more time there and when I do that the next time I have found the place to stay too. :)

PS: The photographs from this trip are being lost and the video (amateur one) will be uploaded shortly

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