We got up early and got a box breakfast. We decided to eat breakfast on the porch outside of the jade room. No one was around and it was lovely.
We got to the private airport, then took our Spice Jet to Karala. We got there in plenty of time, with the road conditions you never know how long a drive will take. Fortunately, we got a chance to play which gate are we actually going to leave from which took up a little extra time. The gate was changed three times. The flight itself was very easy, only an hour, which was very fortunate since we appeared to be on Screaming Baby Airlines.
From the air Karala is very green with huge rivers. It means, we found out, land of coconut trees. We drove a bit, and the pick up man asked us if we wanted to take a ferry or take the roads. He gave us a warning that the roads were very crowded. We didn't need much coaxing - off to the ferry. Kochi (or Cochin) is on several islands. The new area (where the airport is located), the harbor area (with docks and equipment provided by Dubai), and Mattancherry where Fort Cochin is located. That's the old part of the city and the tourist area. Our hotel, the Burton Boathouse sits along the waterway that the ferry crossed, and we have a lovely view of the water from our room.
Once we got settled, we went downstairs and had a bite to eat. We managed to find something small, and the prices were much cheaper than we've seen.
At 2:30 we met up with Susan who took us to see the main sights. First stop were the Chinese fishing nets. The fishermen who use these things dip them into the water at least a 100 times a day. Our next stop was the St Frances church. The locals here speak another Indian language, (we've bumped into Tamil, in Chennai, Tallagu in Hyderabad, and now Malayalam. Although the writing looks similar for all three, the later has the most circular letters. The first European to come to the area was Vasco de Gama, the Portuguese explorer. The church was his. He was buried here and several centuries later, his family took his remains back to Portugal. Then the Dutch conquered the Portuguese, then the English conquered them. All these influences in such a small area. The result is that Cochin is about 20% Christian - most of the rest of the Indian states are only about 2% Christian. There were the old fashioned types of ceiling fans in there called pangas, originally operated by pangawallas. Another interesting piece is that we had to take off our shoes.
Our next stop was a 600 year old Jewish synagog. The Jewish population of Cochin built the temple, but in recent times, most emigrated to Israel. At present only 6 Jews remain. One in her 40s and the rest far older. The temple is functional, albeit, there aren't enough people for an official service, certainly no rabbi, so they just run the services themselves.
The next stop was the palace of the Raja of Mantacherry. The palace was of Dutch origin, and the most interesting things in there were the Dolis (palanquins for the ladies which were covered) and the kings palanquins.
We visited a spice shop (Malabar is the name of the region especially concerning spices). We then went to another Kashmiri shop, and had the wonderful saffron Kashmiri tea. This time we bought the tea. We also went to a woman's weaving cooperative. Not much there. The best thing was the walk around the old town
.
After a brief rest back at the hotel, we met our driver and went to an Indian Dance demo. Interesting.
Back to the hotel and rest. We're a bit disappointed in the hotel, but really, we've been treated like kings and queens for several days, so it's hard to come down to reality, even lovely reality.
We got to the private airport, then took our Spice Jet to Karala. We got there in plenty of time, with the road conditions you never know how long a drive will take. Fortunately, we got a chance to play which gate are we actually going to leave from which took up a little extra time. The gate was changed three times. The flight itself was very easy, only an hour, which was very fortunate since we appeared to be on Screaming Baby Airlines.
From the air Karala is very green with huge rivers. It means, we found out, land of coconut trees. We drove a bit, and the pick up man asked us if we wanted to take a ferry or take the roads. He gave us a warning that the roads were very crowded. We didn't need much coaxing - off to the ferry. Kochi (or Cochin) is on several islands. The new area (where the airport is located), the harbor area (with docks and equipment provided by Dubai), and Mattancherry where Fort Cochin is located. That's the old part of the city and the tourist area. Our hotel, the Burton Boathouse sits along the waterway that the ferry crossed, and we have a lovely view of the water from our room.
Once we got settled, we went downstairs and had a bite to eat. We managed to find something small, and the prices were much cheaper than we've seen.
At 2:30 we met up with Susan who took us to see the main sights. First stop were the Chinese fishing nets. The fishermen who use these things dip them into the water at least a 100 times a day. Our next stop was the St Frances church. The locals here speak another Indian language, (we've bumped into Tamil, in Chennai, Tallagu in Hyderabad, and now Malayalam. Although the writing looks similar for all three, the later has the most circular letters. The first European to come to the area was Vasco de Gama, the Portuguese explorer. The church was his. He was buried here and several centuries later, his family took his remains back to Portugal. Then the Dutch conquered the Portuguese, then the English conquered them. All these influences in such a small area. The result is that Cochin is about 20% Christian - most of the rest of the Indian states are only about 2% Christian. There were the old fashioned types of ceiling fans in there called pangas, originally operated by pangawallas. Another interesting piece is that we had to take off our shoes.
The Chinese fishing nets
Some of the catch
Susan, our guide, and more fish
The pangas hanging in St Francis church
The white house is Dutch style, the red house was originally owned by one of the Jews from the Cochin temple
A sugar cane juice machine in operation
The next stop was the palace of the Raja of Mantacherry. The palace was of Dutch origin, and the most interesting things in there were the Dolis (palanquins for the ladies which were covered) and the kings palanquins.
Outside the palace
We visited a spice shop (Malabar is the name of the region especially concerning spices). We then went to another Kashmiri shop, and had the wonderful saffron Kashmiri tea. This time we bought the tea. We also went to a woman's weaving cooperative. Not much there. The best thing was the walk around the old town
View from the hotel cafe. The red boat is the ferry that we took to get here
After a brief rest back at the hotel, we met our driver and went to an Indian Dance demo. Interesting.
Dancer putting on make up before the show
Dancer wearing the typical white Cochin clothing
The Kerala women traditionally keep their hair in a bun to the side. The character in the dance performance, clearly a man, did too. He was creepy, but then I don't like clowns
Dancers nearing final scene of the dance
Back to the hotel and rest. We're a bit disappointed in the hotel, but really, we've been treated like kings and queens for several days, so it's hard to come down to reality, even lovely reality.
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