Pondicherry Heritage Walk

Pondicherry Heritage Walk:

A hectic Wednesday winded up with exciting start for our travel. Packing our backpacks ended us with cuddling all the stories heard about the place. The place fulfills and gets us to bring back a rug sack of memories.

Streetscapes of French Quarter, Pondicherry

Our journey in Pondicherry started at the promenade, east coast of Bay of Bengal just before the sunrise. The glory of sunshine raised out of the sea to lighten our day.

First sights of Sun rise through the Indian east-coast

Fishing boats at the outset of Sun

Pondicherry is a city with varied culture and thus marking territory on keeping history intact. The building pattern in the Tamil and French quarters of Pondicherry is an amalgamation of French and Indian architecture.  The storm water drain separates the French Quarter with the Tamil Quarter and stretches up to the east coast at Promenade. The peace-keeping and mutual understanding cultures were adorable.

INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art & Cultural Heritage) is doing great job in keeping the history of the place alive. The restoration and conservation work held by INTACH is remarkable.

The Tamil Quarter has typical South Indian style buildings, with a few patterns of Indo-French Architecture. Best illustration though is the Bharathi Museum on the Eswaran Dharmaraja Koil St.

Indo-French building patterns of Bharathi Museum

Main Entrance of Bharathi Museum

Interiors of Bharathi Museum

Bharathi Museum, Eswaran Dharmaraja Koil St

Cross-influence of Indo-French Architecture, Canteen St/Rue Cantine

The French Quarter on the other side is marked with important stopovers like Bharathi Park, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Manakkula Vinayagar Temple, French Institute of Pondicherry, and Notre Dame Church.  Some of the public buildings are main landmarks of the community. The lavish and cozy streetscapes will make you wonder the existence of such a varied culture at the city.

Boutique Hotels - in style

The best way to explore these streets is by walk, bicycle or by a two wheeler. We hired a two-wheeler from one of the shops on Mission Street.

Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Rue de la Marine

Institut Français De Pondichéry, Rue Saint Louis

Inside the campus at Institut Français De Pondichéry, Rue Saint Louis

Institut Français De Pondichéry, Rue Saint Louis

The Old Town is planned on Grid keeping the professions by Dutch establishments. In present-day, you can find some of the establishments of these heritage buildings as Hotels, Shops, and Restaurants. 

Gratitude Heritage, Rue Romain Rolland

The facades are marked by keeping the wall to wall construction speaking through their doors, windows, and Cornices. Although the buildings are designed in French Architecture, the roofs resemble to adapt local climatic conditions.

French doorways

Doorways at the French Quarter

Some of the famous streetscapes of the French Quarter include Saint Louis Street, de la Marine, Francois Martin St, Beach Road, Romain Rolland St, and Dumas St. Rue Romain Rolland stand with its unique streetscape marking heritage hotels.

Junction of Rue Bussy and Rue Romain Rolland

Rue du Bazaar Saint Laurent

We visited the Notre Dame church when the holy mass held in French and lit entire space at its grandeur.

Eglise de notre Dame des Anges, Rue Dumas

The long walks at the Promenade and a sip of coffee at the Le cafe’ gulping it looking at the endless horizons of Sea, was an unforgettable experience. Sit beside the rocks at the promenade and feel the breeze which does not speak about any culture or any creed.

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