Cosy Cochin

Hi again,

We arrived in Cochin early and booked into our hotel. It's a wonderful place, The Fort Heritage Hotel, a 17th century building with immense character and charm. There's a huge wooden swing seat in the large hallway outside our room. I couldn't resist trying it out. It was wonderful. We settled in and have a lovely fish lunch in the beautiful restaurant in the garden.

After lunch I went on a half day sightseeing trip and tried my hand at some fishing in the Chinese Nets (main pic above). This is a fishing method brought to India by the Chinese, whereby a net is cast into the sea, quite near the shore from a platform, and is retrieved using ropes to pull, balanced by huge stones. It's a unique and interesting method which can be seen all along the sea shore in Cochin. The local fishermen explained that the fishing wasn't too good these days and they depend more on tourism. The fish they caught today seemed very tiny, although some bigger ones had come in early, they showed me. we then continued along the sea front to see many stalls selling fish and we also saw a fish auction. There are stalls on the other side of the street where people will cook your fish to your liking after you've bought it. I have to say I was tempted .. but no - we'd had lunch and I still had some culture to attend to this aternoon !

Next stop was Saint Francis Church, built by the Portugese. It's main feature is that it was once the resting place of Vasco da Gama, who died in Cochin in 1524. His remains were later return to Lisbon. Note the fans which hang above the pews in the church. These were operated manually by men pulling ropes. They stood outside the church and pulled the ropes through the windows. The church ws originally Catholic when built by the Portugese. It ws then changed to Luthern by the Dutch and finally to Anglican by the British. It remains a practising Anglican church today.

My guide today was Alex who is from Cochin. Because I was the only one on the sightseeing trip, I had the guide to myself, so it was a wonderful private tour of Cochin.

Next stop was the Dutch Palace where we saw many beautifully decorated walls depicting the various Indian Gods and Godesses. These date back from the 1500's and are frescos on the wall, preserved by egg white painted over them. It's amazing to think that they are so old, yet still appear so vividly. Unfortunately cameras were not allowed - so no photos.

We then went to see the nearby Jewish Synagogue. This was built when there was a population of 70 to 80 thousand Jews in Cochin. There is now one community of 10 people. Nevertheless the Synagogue is thriving and the whole surrounding area, known as Jew-town is a historic hive of activity. This is the are where the original spice and tea markets were located. I visited a sari shop where a lady was weaving the gold threads into a length of fabric for a new sari .. and I went to the Spice Market .. a fascinating afternoon's activity.


After this it was back to the hotel to go to the Kathakali Dance show. This is a famous dance tradition of Kerala, where the story of the performance of told through the music and the facial expressions of the dancers, as there are no words. The performers are on stage for an hour before the show to have make up applied. This is done very publicly, in full view of the audience. The speaker later explained that the paint is very natural, no chemicals at all. It comes from a coloured stone being rubbed in coconut oil. He demonstrated for us on stage. He also explained the basis of the dancing and what the preformance was about today, which was really good, as otherwise it would have been difficult to make out what was going on ! A very interesting and enjoyable show.


Then it was back for an early night. Cathy left very early next morning for Goa .. Have a great time. I had just enough time for a last stroll around the little streets by the hotel and the sea front .. to say goodbye to a wonderful city, before flying to Hyderabad.

Bye Bye Cochin .. one day wasn't enough. I'll definitely be back.