I arrived back in India after several years, first via Mumbai, then a domestic flight down to Chennai, before bus to get to Pondicherry. Here I had an easy start to my three month trip in India, with a relaxing week in Pondicherry.

Pondicherry is a former French colony so retains some of their influence, with French cuisine and nice cafés. White Town is the former French area and this is where you will find a lot of cafés. Nice places to check out include; Coromandel Cafe, Le Petit Four, Bread and Chocolate, French Loaf.

Across from White Town, Pondicherry is of course a much more Indian town complete with traditional Indian coffee house. These are always a good spot for local South Indian breakfasts & filter coffee.

I cycled south to see the Pondicherry Lighthouse, where you get good views of the city. Cycling north from Pondicherry, you can soon reach Auroville.

Overall it was a good week and fairly relaxed start to my time in India. As next week I will move across Tamil Nadu visiting some temples.