You might have noticed a pattern to our explorations. It goes something like this: John hears of an interesting place. John gets obsessed with the idea of visiting said interesting place. John plans a trip to the interesting place. I go along with it, half wanting to see the interesting place and half afraid that hauling three kids to the interesting place is not really doable/advisable. I'm happy to say that every trip we've taken (so far) has been a success.
But John is not the only one around here who gets fixated on cool destinations. A woman in my writing group came to a meeting waxing poetic about a little town called Tranquebar (local name Tharangambadi), a mere 6-hour drive down the Coromandel Coast. It was a Danish colony back in the 17th century, and the governor's mansion is now a heritage hotel AND there's a fort (and here). Awesome! My friend is setting a murder mystery in the mansion. Obviously, I had to see this place.
John gave some rare resistance. I'm pretty sure it was the 6-hour drive part, because when I pointed out that Pondicherry is halfway (so it's really only a 3-hour drive plus a 3-hour drive), he was on board. We decided to go during the few days between Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Unfortunately, it rained all the way to Tranquebar -- right through our stay at the Dune resort just north of Pondicherry. We still had a great time, though. Here's Samuel enjoying lunch al fresco during a break in the rain.
Light rain didn't stop Johnny and Evie from finding some great shells on the beach.
I've written about the Dune resort before, but as a reminder, it's an "eco" resort, which really means it's set up almost like a luxury campground. Most of the rooms are nature cooled, or open to the breeze. We've stayed here before and really enjoyed it, but when John went to make a booking for this trip we discovered that there was only one room left (unless we wanted to rent out a whole family-reunion-style bungalow). The open room was the Flower House. If you follow this link, you'll notice a description that includes the words "only for nature lovers."
Look, I love flowers and trees and cute little safe animals and all that. I do not love certain other aspects of Indian nature, such as mosquitoes and snakes and Rodents of Unusual Size. But John (of course) said, "Come on! It'll be awesome!" So I went along with it. And, behold, it WAS awesome!
Here's Samuel exploring the house. It was really an open gazebo in the middle of a walled flower garden.
Playing in the garden (in the rain) ...
The kids are ready to explore the farm, armed with umbrellas supplied by the resort.
Samuel and Evie striking a strange pose in front of one of the vegetable gardens ...
Evie remembered milking the cow at our last visit, and she was dying to do it again ...
We found this cool rocking horse in the games shelter ...
Back at Flower House, here's the path from the main part of the gazebo to the open air bathroom ...
Said bathroom ... I have to tell you it took a bit of mental effort to overcome the fact that there are no walls. There's a wall surrounding the entire garden, so staff and other guests couldn't see us, but it was still a little weird at first.
Heading back to the sleeping area ...
We stayed at Flower House for one night, and it was a beautiful feeling to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean and a gentle rain. You'll be glad to know there was not one snake, though there were plenty of mosquitoes. It would have been paradise if the local temple hadn't sent music blaring our way at 5 a.m. FIVE A.M.
The next morning we set out on our second 3-hour drive, which actually turned out to be a 3 1/2-hour drive. The South Indian countryside is beautiful, though, with rice paddies and banana plantations and villages full of thatched huts. On one overpass, we could look down on a village in which every thatched roof had a satellite dish poking up! I wish now we'd stopped to get a picture of that.
It rained right up until we arrived, but then it cleared up and we had gorgeous weather for our entire stay in Tranquebar. We stayed at the old governor's mansion, now a Neemrana hotel called the Bungalow on the Beach.
When they say it's on the beach, they're not lying. Here's the view from the verandah. There's a 14th century temple to the left.
And here's a view of Dansborg Fort, across a public square that's right in front of the hotel. The square and the beach around the fort are an evening gathering place for the villagers.
The kids checking out the fort ...
Samuel and Evie especially loved the big rocking chair, though I'm pretty sure our neighbors downstairs got tired of hearing it in action.
This is the road that goes to the old temple, just over the wall from the swimming pool.
Samuel splashing happily ...
This is the common room upstairs. Each of those dark, double doors leads to a bedroom, and each bedroom has one or two doors that lead to the verandah. Doesn't it scream to be the location of a murder mystery? I can't wait to read my friend's book.
But John is not the only one around here who gets fixated on cool destinations. A woman in my writing group came to a meeting waxing poetic about a little town called Tranquebar (local name Tharangambadi), a mere 6-hour drive down the Coromandel Coast. It was a Danish colony back in the 17th century, and the governor's mansion is now a heritage hotel AND there's a fort (and here). Awesome! My friend is setting a murder mystery in the mansion. Obviously, I had to see this place.
John gave some rare resistance. I'm pretty sure it was the 6-hour drive part, because when I pointed out that Pondicherry is halfway (so it's really only a 3-hour drive plus a 3-hour drive), he was on board. We decided to go during the few days between Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Unfortunately, it rained all the way to Tranquebar -- right through our stay at the Dune resort just north of Pondicherry. We still had a great time, though. Here's Samuel enjoying lunch al fresco during a break in the rain.
Light rain didn't stop Johnny and Evie from finding some great shells on the beach.
I've written about the Dune resort before, but as a reminder, it's an "eco" resort, which really means it's set up almost like a luxury campground. Most of the rooms are nature cooled, or open to the breeze. We've stayed here before and really enjoyed it, but when John went to make a booking for this trip we discovered that there was only one room left (unless we wanted to rent out a whole family-reunion-style bungalow). The open room was the Flower House. If you follow this link, you'll notice a description that includes the words "only for nature lovers."
Look, I love flowers and trees and cute little safe animals and all that. I do not love certain other aspects of Indian nature, such as mosquitoes and snakes and Rodents of Unusual Size. But John (of course) said, "Come on! It'll be awesome!" So I went along with it. And, behold, it WAS awesome!
Here's Samuel exploring the house. It was really an open gazebo in the middle of a walled flower garden.
Playing in the garden (in the rain) ...
The kids are ready to explore the farm, armed with umbrellas supplied by the resort.
Samuel and Evie striking a strange pose in front of one of the vegetable gardens ...
Evie remembered milking the cow at our last visit, and she was dying to do it again ...
After exploring the farm, Samuel and Evie and I headed to the playground while John and Johnny went for a walk on the rainy beach.
These are fishing boats ...
Since most other guests were sheltering in their rooms, we had the wet playground (and a lot of bored staff members) to ourselves.
Evie and Samuel loved this old-school merry-go-round ...
We found this cool rocking horse in the games shelter ...
When Johnny and John came back from the beach, the kids each made some pottery (even Samuel, though I didn't catch it on film). We brought the pots home and painted them.
Back at Flower House, here's the path from the main part of the gazebo to the open air bathroom ...
Said bathroom ... I have to tell you it took a bit of mental effort to overcome the fact that there are no walls. There's a wall surrounding the entire garden, so staff and other guests couldn't see us, but it was still a little weird at first.
Heading back to the sleeping area ...
We stayed at Flower House for one night, and it was a beautiful feeling to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean and a gentle rain. You'll be glad to know there was not one snake, though there were plenty of mosquitoes. It would have been paradise if the local temple hadn't sent music blaring our way at 5 a.m. FIVE A.M.
The next morning we set out on our second 3-hour drive, which actually turned out to be a 3 1/2-hour drive. The South Indian countryside is beautiful, though, with rice paddies and banana plantations and villages full of thatched huts. On one overpass, we could look down on a village in which every thatched roof had a satellite dish poking up! I wish now we'd stopped to get a picture of that.
It rained right up until we arrived, but then it cleared up and we had gorgeous weather for our entire stay in Tranquebar. We stayed at the old governor's mansion, now a Neemrana hotel called the Bungalow on the Beach.
When they say it's on the beach, they're not lying. Here's the view from the verandah. There's a 14th century temple to the left.
And here's a view of Dansborg Fort, across a public square that's right in front of the hotel. The square and the beach around the fort are an evening gathering place for the villagers.
The kids checking out the fort ...
The rooms were furnished with antiques, and the high ceilings and doors out to the verandah (and the squeaky wood floors) made us feel like we had taken a step back into the 17th century. The curtains were fun, too ...
Samuel and Evie especially loved the big rocking chair, though I'm pretty sure our neighbors downstairs got tired of hearing it in action.
We had a late lunch, which the staff very kindly served us despite our arriving just as the kitchen closed, and then spent some time exploring the hotel and swimming in the pool. I think we were the only American guests, but there were quite a few Indian and European families around, and it was fun to try to guess the languages being spoken around us. There was one that I never identified ... maybe Danish?
This is the road that goes to the old temple, just over the wall from the swimming pool.
Samuel splashing happily ...
This is the common room upstairs. Each of those dark, double doors leads to a bedroom, and each bedroom has one or two doors that lead to the verandah. Doesn't it scream to be the location of a murder mystery? I can't wait to read my friend's book.
COMING UP: We explore the fort! Who knew the Danes were here, too?
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