The long Marina Beach of Chennai

The people of India have marketed this sandy beach along the Bay of Bengal as the second longest beach in the world. It has been marketed so successfully that people often believe this is true. That is something to be really proud of. And great marketing I would say! While checking a few facts you learn that Marina Beach is included in the top 15 list of long beaches, but still a bit far from the top.

Anyhow, it is damn long beach measuring a distance of 13 km, making it the longest natural urban beach in the country and the world’s eleventh longest beach. It´s a beach that is pretty empty during the day, due to the heat, and fills up in the evening as the locals gather here for food, happenings and socializing. If you however are looking for a nice clean beach for sunbathing, swimming and relaxing, this is not the place to go. Although the ‘second longest beach in the world’ offers empty spaces, you would compete for the best spots with fishnets, piles of garbage and closed street food stands during the day. The wavy sea offers color scales from gray and beige to brown instead of clear postcard blue and turquoise tones. What you might long for on a hot day in Chennai, with temperatures rising above 40 degrees celsius in April-May, is cooling down and swimming – bet your horses on a nice hotel with a refreshing pool instead. Or hit the road and head down to the beach resort Fisherman´s Cove, ca 50 km south of Chennai. It is definitely one of the best beach resorts on the southeast coast.

Colourful boat art

Beautiful boat art

A fisherman and his boat

Fishnet storage

The colors of India

A closet beach food stand

Beach food stand

Marina Beach definitely shows it’s better side in the evening when the locals enjoy horseback riding, streetfood and roller skating. It is also a pretty nice place to watch the sunset. And a great way to get to know the local culture. Enjoy!

Local families enjoying the beach

Active local kids ❤

Beautiful sunset over Queen Mary´s College

Getting to know Chennai, India

Chennai, the sixth-largest city in India and 31st-largest urban area in the world. Chennai, on the list of Lonely Planets top ten cities in the world to visit in 2015. Chennai, the only city in South Asia and India to figure in the “52 places to go around the world” by The New York Times. In addition to that, National Geographic ranks Chennai as world’s 2nd best food city. Not bad at all. Well, here I am, exploring what Chennai has to offer.

After a long travel I am eager to get out there, but let´s get started with breakfast and some local news before that.

 

Chennai – it is lively, colorful, smiling, full of traffic and of course… hot. Today we have 36 degrees celcius and hitting 39 degrees in the afternoon. Hot hot hot. One of the main attractions in Chennai are the temples. After consulting my driver for the day, which I was happy to have, I decide to postpose the temple visits to another day. The local recommendation is to visit the temples in the mornings, as the Gods are present only then. Instead I decide to hit the markets of T. Nagar and Teynampet to explore the local bazaars and do some fabric shopping. Oh boy, what I found. Shop after shop full of fantastic saris, kaftans, indian dresses and silk and cotton fabrics. Beautiful stuff!

In other words, the perfect place to look for fabrics for interior decoration :). Even without bargaining I got this beautiful piece of cotton fabric that I will use as a table cloth for 650 INR (Euros 9,50€) for 5 meters. So happy about this, will definitely go back and do some more shopping!

 

Chennai, that was a good first day, looking forward to explore some more.

All pictures are taken with iPhone 5S. Better quality pictures will follow fore sure.

Good Morning Saturday!

Oh yeah, waking up to a new day full of amazing possibilities. Starting this day with testing a new blog post, random test and checking some settings. This is how I feel today, let´s get inspired 🙂

 

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