Pondicherry, aka Puducherry, was a trading place for the Romans over 2000 years ago. In 1521, the Portuguese arrived to trade followed by Dutch and Danish traders. In the late 17th century, the French purchased the town and stayed until 1954, leaving behind a strong French influence. The city is also home to the Ashram dedicated to Sri Aurobindo, one of the founders of the not too far Auroville. The city is filled with Europeans who come to visit and end up staying to work and live.

We arrived in Pondicherry around 5 am and began trying to orient ourselves. We made it to the boardwalk near the water and, like so many other early mornings, we waited for the sun to rise and the city to come to life. While we were sitting on the bench, watching the sky get brighter and brighter, a woman stopped to talk to us. Seeing our luggage, she assumed that we would be heading out to find some lodging soon and, since she lives in Pondi, she gave us the names of a few good hotels in the city. During the conversation, we also learned that a cyclone had hit Pondicherry on December 26th, a few weeks before our arrival, leaving behind many broken trees and windows. She explained to us a little bit about the city and the layout and wished us good luck before continuing on her way. We ended up staying in one of the hotels she recommended.

Pondicherry is divided into four neighborhoods. Along the water in a long narrow strip is the French neighborhood, adjacent to it are the Muslim neighborhood, the Catholic neighborhood and the Tamil neighborhood. The cleanliness of the streets and the architecture of the buildings in the French neighborhood make it difficult to believe that you are in India and easy to imagine that you are in Europe.

Our first day was spent looking for a place to stay followed by walking around the neighborhoods and visiting the tourism office. We also took a look around in the Sunday Bazaar, where everything and anything is sold.

To use our time more efficiently, we decided to rent some bicycles for our second day in Pondicherry. We cycled through the different neighborhoods, stopping at churches, the city's only mosque and the many temples spread throughout. At one of the temples, we were able to be blessed by an elephant, which, like in Hampi, was a unique experience.

There was a delicious bakery not far from our hotel where they served croissants, ham and cheese sandwiches on a baguette, and even hamburgers. We spoiled ourselves with the yummy pastries and sandwiches, not knowing when we would find some again. We also ate the first steak of our trip at a Bistro in the French neighborhood.

Our second night, after having enjoyed our steak, we returned to the hotel where, on the terasse of our floor, a birthday party was being held. We declined cake and proceeded to our room to find out that we had locked the keys inside. The hotel manager went downstairs to get the spare set of keys which did not work. A few people were trying to find a way to open the door when one if them decided to climb to our window, sit on the window air conditioner and, with a long stick passed through the window, try to unlock the door. Thankfully this worked and we were able to retrieve the good set of keys!

Because of the lack of vacancy, we only stayed two nights in Pondi before moving on to the neighboring Auroville, a city based on a concept developed in the 1960s.