Pune to Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu

This is travelogue of my trip to Pondicherry and Tamil Nadu in my XUV. This is my first long trip since I bought XUV 5 months back. Visited Gingee Fort, Pondicherry, Chidambaram Temple, Pichavaram Mangrove Forest, Gangai Konda Cholapuram, Mahabalipuram, Srirangam Temple, Brihadishwara Temple and Palace in Thanjavur, Airavatesvara Temple Darasuram, Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi.

Route Plan:

Total distance covered 3700 km.

Day 1:

Started from Pune at 3.30 PM and crossed Bengaluru somewhere around 5:30 AM next day.

At the stroke of the midnight hour I completed one milestone...

Day 2: Gingee Fort
Had breakfast at Krishnagiri and continued journey towards Gingee Fort

On the way towards Gingee Fort

British era bridge on the way, alternate bridge under construction parallel to this one which seems abandoned before construction of this old bridge :) 

Road from Krishnagiri to Gingee is very pathetic it took me 5 hrs to cover 150 km.

I just covered half part of Gingee, i.g. Krishnagiri Fort as I was tired driving on bad roads and overnight journey from Pune and I have to reach Pondicherry asap.

Rajagiri fort from Krishnagiri.

Day 3: Chidambaram Temple, Pichavaram Mangrove Forest, Gangai Konda Cholapuram

Chidambaram Temple

Pichavaram Mangrove Forest

Gangai Konda Cholapuram

Day 4: Mahabalipuram

Light House

Day 5: Thanjavur Palace and Brihadishwara Temple

Thanjavur Palace

Brihadishwara Temple

Day 6: Airavatesvara Temple in Darasuram

Day 7: Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi

Rameshwaram TTDC nice place to stay when you visit Rameshwaram.

Sun setting over Rameshwaram Temple

Dhanushkodi - Ghost  Town

After 1964 powerfull cyclone which hit Pamban island Government of Madras declared Dhanushkodi as Ghost town and unfit for living. Only a few fisherfolk now live there.

The Dhanushkodi railway line running from Pamban Station was destroyed inthe 1964 cyclone and a passenger train with over 100 passengers drowned in the sea. The 1964 Rameswaram cyclone (also known as the Dhanushkodi cyclone) was regarded as one of the most powerful storms to ever strike Sri Lanka (known then as Ceylon) on record. 

Crystal clear water at Dhanushkodi

Old church

School building

Church

Railway station

Railway station

Day 8: Pamban Bridge

The Pamban Bridge is a railway bridge connects the town of Rameswaram on Pamban Island to mainland India. Opened on 24 February 1914, it was India's first sea bridge, and was the longest sea bridge in India until the opening of the Bandra-Worli Sea Link in 2010.

In December 1964, a cyclone damaged parts of Pamban Bridge. The Railways set a target of six months for the bridge to be repaired while E. Sreedharan (who built Kokan Railway and Delhi Metro) restored the bridge in just 46 days.

After taking few pics of Pamban bridge, started my return journey towards Pune.
Somewher around Dindigul saw this lambu pakoda, didn't dare to taste it just had tea and continued my journey.

After overnight journey reachd Pune on day 9.