Day 2 - Fort Kochi.

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 Today marks the real start of the tour. We got a surprise to find that not only do we have a driver, we now have a local tour guide as well. So first off we went for a walk in the local park area that was full of stalls. Our guide (Neville) was very knowledgeable about the history of the Fort Kochi area.



One thing that that was impressed upon us was the need to haggle. We weren't too comfortable with that, but got better as the day went on.  Bought a few nik naks, including a hat !  As we walked along we came to the area where the fishing nets are. Just like yesterday's, but on the Fort Kochi side, no ferry ride today.  Neville had arranged for us to have a go helping to lift the net. Unfortunately, no fish 😥 I think the tide was wrong. I might be wrong, but I think that the guys on this particular net make more out of tourists than fish !




  

 

Next we walked over to Fort Emmanuel. It is the remnants of a much larger structure which seemed to have taken up a lot of the tip of this peninsula. It is now a museum, with lots of interesting information and the area around here is kept very tidy by women who are on a type of work scheme to enable them to have an income.


 Kochi has been ruled by a lot of nationalities. First the local Indians, then the Portuguese (Vasco Da Gama) the Dutch, and the English. All have left their mark, especially in this area. 

Next was a visit to St Francis Church, a protestant church. It was built in 1503 by the Portugese it is one of the oldest churches in India. Vasco Da Gama was buried here for 14 years until  one of his family came to take his remains back to Lisbon.




Site of Vasco da Gamas grave, inside the church


Next stop Catholic Basilica of Santa Cruz. A magnificent structure, with amazing paintings on the inside.  Not at all what we expected ! Attached to the church is a catholic girls school.



We next wandered off down Amaravathi Road towards the Dhobi khana, which is a Tamil group who have been doing washing at this place since the 1920s. These people were bought here by British officers to work as Washermen. There are at present about 40 families working here, each having thier own wash pen to work in. Washing is traditionally done by beating the clothes on a concrete block.



                                 Bananas
    

                             Engineering works

We were getting pretty tired and HOT by now, so back into the nicely air conditioned car and drove to Mattancherry. 

First we visited the Mattencherry Palace. Once owned by the local Rajahs, it was built for them by the Portugese in around 1545. The palace is now a museum, featuring portraits of the rajas of Cochin since 1864. Many orther things on display including palaquins, weapons etc and a room with a very old paintings around the walls of one room, dating from the 1600s, which has never been restored. The painting depicts some of the great Hindu epics and some of the major Hindu gods. No photos allowed of the paintings.  Fantastic carved teak ceilings


Ivory Palanquin

Very close to here is the Jewish quarter - or as the locals call it, Jew Town. (I don't think we would get away with that in NZ !) From the palace you look out one window and can see next door is a Hindu temple, and right beside that the Jewish synagogue.








 No bla bla !

Having been founded by Jewish people , this area is different again. Obviously a richer area. A quaint shopping area, with lots of interesting things on display. We enjoyed the walk through there and bought a couple of things. Learning that there is no such thing as "Just looking,thanks" here !

 Unfortunately the synagogue was closed, so we couldn't go in there. Apparently there are very few Jewish people left in Fort Kochi. Many relocated after WWII to Israel.

The tour ended about then and we returned to the hotel.  And off for a nice cool drink

The laundry turned up - same day service, and just before 7 pm the sewing I had ordered turned up too.

                               My new gear !

Dinner was at the hotel in the Terrace Bar. Snapper baked in a banana leaf !  Was very good 


We are leaving Kochi tomorrow and heading for Munnar. We'll be sad to leave here, it has been fantastic.




Comments

  1. EdApril 11, 2023 at 11:06 PM

    Kia ora Whanau, fantastic is a very positive adjective to describe an experience. Smart new ensemble delivered as promised wonderful. All well here, Love Ed

    ReplyDelete
  2. JanineApril 15, 2023 at 8:25 PM

    Loving the cultural, historical, geographical tour

    ReplyDelete

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