The Bunder area is the oldest commercial district in Mangalore, clustered around the old port where the Gurpur River meets the sea. For centuries this was where Arab, Portuguese, and later British merchants traded pepper, cardamom, and cashews from the Western Ghats interior. Today it's still a working port district, with fish markets, warehouses, and the particular smell and noise of a port that hasn't been sanitised for tourism.
The fish market at Bunder is best in the early morning — arrive by 7am and you'll find the day's catch being sorted and auctioned, with an energy and volume that's unlike anything in the city centre. The old port buildings around the market show traces of colonial-era architecture mixed with later concrete. It's gritty rather than pretty, but it's the most authentic corner of Mangalore.