Chennai

Bangalore – Tiruvannamalai – Chennai – Mahabalipuram – 3 days (Dec 2013)

We reached Chennai around 5ish in the evening. We had to reach T. Nagar for our hotel, and a rather long drive we finally reached it.

Sree Devi Niwas is a pretty nice place, and reasonably priced given its location. It is just off North Usman Road, on a small road/lane called Griffith Road (or Giriffith Road as some boards say) which boasts of being The place for clothes/sari shopping. The dinner fare here was mainly North Indian cuisine, and the waiters speak Hindi, which was a great thing, since none of us spoke Tamil.

The nearest restaurant that we noticed on the way was Murugan Idli Shop. We also noticed Adayar Ananda Bhavan on the way in. So we decided to try out Adayar Ananda Bhavan. But after going some distance, we realized that it was actually a lot further than we thought! It was right at the beginning on the flyover on Usman road, and we were near the end. Also there were just too many shoppers on the road taking advantage of the holiday season and discounts. The roads we so packed there was no space for people, let alone vehicles. So we turned and made our way to Murugan Idli Shop on South Usman road.

Having enjoyed a hearty dinner, we made our way back, and decided to take a short walk around on Griffith Road. Here we came across Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, where there were some classical dance and music programmes being performed. It felt so good! We didn’t go inside and watch the performance, but the very fact that there is so much importance given and appreciation shown towards Fine Arts felt good.

After a short stroll, we called it a night.

The next morning, my Sis-in-law and her kids joined us, and we all enjoyed a heavy lunch at Murugan Idli Shop.

Post lunch, and some sleep ;), we decided to take the kids to Marina Beach. The place was packed as it was a Sunday, and there was hardly any space to pack the car! The driver dropped us off at the start, and asked us to call him when we were done. We all had a great time playing in the water, and were all pretty unhappy that we had to return back to the hotel as it got dark! 🙂

The lighthouse at Marina Beach

Dinner at the hotel was a pretty nice affair, where they were quite accommodating towards every request we had, especially regarding food for the kids. The food was hot, and tasty.

The next morning we had a late breakfast at Hotel Saravana Bhavan, an all-time favorite! Since it was “only” 11 am, Hubby decided that we should go to Mahabalipuram right then. So a quick call was made to the hotel to have the kids’ lunch ready, and off we went!

Hotel Saravana Bhavan