Cochin (…or Kochi?)
Saturday 22nd to Monday 24th November
It was a short 1 hour journey on the IndiGo flight from Goa (Dabolim) Airport to Cochin. On the plane, we were served a lovely meal, full of Kerala spices promise – lovely! Well met at the airport by our driver, Mohandas, who was to accompany us throughout our stay in Kerala, and a representative of the travel company. Interestingly, Cochin Airport presents itself proudly as the world’s first airport fully powered by solar power.
The drive to our hotel for the next two nights, Malabar House Hotel, took us about 1 3/4 hours, Mohandas skilfully negotiating heavy and chaotic traffic, which is pretty much the norm in India. Our car was lovely, smooth, quiet and equipped with air conditioning.
Our travel agent representative intimated that the government had renamed Cochin to Kochi, but the locals would have nothing to do with it! With a history as a major port for the spice trade over the centuries, Cochin has seen many races and religions. Portuguese, Dutch and English. Malabar House Hotel is a heritage boutique hotel in the historic Fort Cochin area.
The next morning, we were picked up by Mohandas and a local guide, Sebastian. The drive wasn’t long – only five minutes up the road before we disembarked! Our first stop was to see the Chinese fishing nets – marvellous cantilevered contraptions where a large fishing net spanned one side of the cantilever with heavy stones on the other side. Nearby, stalls were selling the fresh fish.
A pleasant walk along the riverside took us past more nets and stalls, both for fish and also for tourist knick-knacks and refreshments. At Fort Cochin, we turned away from the river past St. Francis Church, reputedly the oldest Church built by Europeans in India, and the burial place of Vasco da Gama.
Vasco de Gama’s Burial place
Our walk took us past the filming location of the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which in the film was supposed to be in Jaipur, but actually was here in Cochin!
We visited the very grand Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica, before we crossed the road to the Laundry area, where historically, Tamils were employed to clean and press the laundry of the military garrison, and are still there today.
Not dirty linen This iron is heavy!
We met up with our driver, who took us on a 10 minute drive, dropping us off at Mattancherry Palace, exhibiting the life and history of the local royalty plus impressive murals depicting the Ramayana legends in fantastic and fantastical detail.
Next to the Palace, we entered into a pleasant area, known as Jew Town. This was where, over the centuries, two communities of Jewish peoples lived. All have now gone, emigrated to Israel in the early to mid 1950’s and to Australia.
Only one synagogue that holds regular services remains, despite maybe the last remaining Jew, Queenie Hallegua, passed away at the age of 89 in 2024.
Bidding farewell to Sebastian, we took a pleasant walk up to Loafers Corner, primarily to figure out where we were to dine that evening. Looking for somewhere offering local food, we were disappointed to mostly come across fast food snack bars and bakeries.
As it was, we stopped by a very pleasant eatery, Kashi Art Café, also doubling up as an art exhibition, for a late lunch.
On our walk back to the hotel, we came across a lady, her husband and two friends…. and the lady just happened to have her lower arm in a plaster! Just the same as Lynne’s, but green instead of pink!
The evening saw us picked up to attend a Kathkali dance performance, which is a classical dance-drama from Kerala. Originating in the 17th century, it is based on themes from Hindu epics like Ramayana.
The two performers preceded the dance by putting on the very elaborate and colourful make-up on stage, in view of the audience. The performance was in two parts – the first showing different techniques and moves depicting emotions and situations. The second was one of the many stories of Ramayana – too gruesome to retell here…!
There was a crush when leaving the theatre – not because of the performance, but due to the torrential downpour. Nobody wanted to leave the shelter of the building! Fortunately our driver made it through the cascades and puddle-lakes with two umbrellas. One was for Lynne to protect her plaster from the rain, the other to share by Mohandas and Peter. Boy, were we grateful that we were driven!
