Today was a relaxed touristy day at Kochi. Rashid's co-brother Mr Shani had brought along breakfast from his house - home-cooked idlis and vadas. So the day started well.
From west to east, we get the outlier Kochi, Willingdon Island (formed through channel dredging) in the middle and then modern Ernakulam. Aluva is even further east. Vypin, Vellarpadam and Bolgatty Island hover around the top. Everything is connected to everything else by water metros (launches) and bridges, so there are more than one way of moving from A to B, without falling into the C.
Lake view point at Kadamakudy (11.30 am)
Mornings should not be wasted, so we did a quick outing to Kadamakudy area, which lies on the eastern side of the channel separating Vypin's island. We had to drive around 40 mins from our place in Aluva.
Kadamakutty is a backwater area, with big water bodies flowing slowly to and fro with the tides. One strip of road with water bodies on both sides seemed to be a particularly popular place, going by the number of shanties waiting to open in the evening. At High Noon, it was pretty deserted, and I could almost see Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly shimmering on the culverts. Water hyacinth plants with their lilac flowers were gently floating about, carrying out their part of beauty duty. It was a warm and lazy scene, like that evoked by the drone of bees and the aroma of spices.
Vypin to Fort Kochi by Ro Ro boat (4.00 pm)
All these may sound Greek and Latin, if not Malayalam, so let me put things in perspective.
On Viju's advice, which was aimed at giving us a variety of experiences, we drove to Vypin island (being the port area, roads were quite empty). There we shoved our car onto a Ro Ro Boat, viz a catamaran capable of holding 10 cars, 20 bikes and 100 people. It was hardly a patch on Fred Nelson in the ferry business, though. The crossing was over in 7 minutes, and we were in the Fort Kochi area. Very smoothly done.
Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica (4.45 pm)
Kochi has changed hands a large number of times.
1500-1663: The Portugese (remember Alphonso de Albuquerque?)
1663-1795: Dutch
1795-1947: British
Portugese architectures are all over the place and the Basilica is a prime instance. It was supposed to close at 5 pm, so we rushed around a bit, taking pics.
Mattancherry Palace (5.00 pm)
The MP, also known as the Dutch Palace, was actually built by the Portugese as a gift to Kerala. This lay on the east edge of Fort Kochi, and though we drove like a hot knife through butter, we could not enter the palace museum on the first floor (it closes at 5 pm). It was being promoted heavily by google as THE place to see in Kochi.
The Paradesi Synagogue (5.30 pm)
Kochi has only 8 known Jews, and a separate synagogue for them seems to a bit of overkill. The approach road to the synagogue is also known as Jew Town.
Built in 1568, it is the oldest active synagogue in the Commonwealth!
According to an exhibition hall at the synagogue, the Jews first landed at Cranganore in 72 AD (modern Kodangallur) and were welcomed by the Rajah there. They got kicked out of Cranganore by the Moors and the Portugese in 1524 AD and so Joseph Azar, the last Jew prince, swam the river and surrendered to Kerala. Jew town is a long street where most of houses sport arts and artifacts of a bygone age.
Sunset at Fort Kochi beach (6.30 pm)
By the time we wrapped up in Jew Town, the sun had already set. Still, we had to complete the experience of Fort Kochi, so we parked at the beach and spent a few minutes there, enjoying the breeze, the relaxed crowds, and an old French lady who seemed quite interested in our road trip.
Dinner at Grand Hotel, MG Road (7.30 pm)
This place was also suggested by Viju, and it did come with one big plus, especially for MG Road - private parking. We stopped here on the way back and had a well-prepared dinner of appam accompaniments - chicken stew (Panna) and Aleppy fish curry (I). One does need fortification when leaving Fort Kochi.
Though totally local, we still managed to travel 110 km today. Tomorrow morning we leave for Palakkad.
Photo credits: Panna Rashmi Ray