Travel Day 915 – Fort Cochin, Kochi, Kerala, INDIA
It was our Arrival Day in Kerala and in terms of arrival in Kochi, it was much to early my personal taste…
Sunset with Chinese Fishing Nets in Kochi
The train was scheduled to arrive at 4am in the morning and since Kochi wasn’t the final destination on this train, we had to make sure to wake up and get off at the right time and at the right station. After consulting the conductor twice about the actual arrival time, he kept insisting that the train would be absolutely punctual and arrive at the scheduled time in Kochi. Even after I mentioned that we had left already at the originating station with a 30 minute delay, he still insisted that we would arrive on time…
Of course we did not arrive on time and for almost two hours we kept jumping up and down the narrow bunk beds in the sleeper compartment in order to figure out which station we were passing by. Obviously this was a little challenge in the darkness of the night, but everyone else was fast asleep and we couldn’t expect much help at all. Needless to say that we didn’t get quite the goods night rest we were hoping to get when we boarded the train…
Chinese Fishing Net at the tip of Fort Cochin
Some breakfast with a chai at the station later and the world looked different again. We had to catch a rickshaw to the ferry terminal and then a boat over from Ernakulam to Fort Cochin where we intended to stay. Fort Cochin was supposed to be the colonial part of town that was first settled by the Portuguese, then by the Dutch and finally by the British. While the actual fort did not exist any more, at least a lot of the colonial architecture was supposed to be still in tact and all the accommodation was supposed to be in nicely restored colonial buildings…
Well, when we arrived we had to realize that obviously some accommodation was situated in amazingly restored buildings but similarly to Pondicherry, none of these fine buildings suited our budget. So we made good use of the still bearable temperature in the early morning and went all over town to compare prices and quality. Once more standards varied greatly and as we soon found out, bargaining and asking around definitely paid off. In the end we settled for a nice place with private balcony overlooking the main street, yay… : )
St. Francis Church in Kochi, Kerala, India
Once we had used our balcony for an extended breakfast, we were off to some city exploration. The immediate historical area was quite manageable on foot and we saw all the main sights within one afternoon. Besides the nice colonial architecture, for me personally the highlights were the Chinese Fishing Nets, St. Francis Church and the amazing Seafood…
The Portuguese St. Francis Church was the oldest European built church in India with the original structure dating back to 1503. This was also the place where Vasco de Gama was originally buried. The Chinese fishing nets on the other hand were some 400 year old amazing structures. These spider-like looking fossils were the crowning glory on the tip of the peninsula where Fort Cochin was located and for some strange reason these nets were still somewhat in operation and a great tourist attraction. But for us, the nice fresh seafood that could be ordered right at the shore really made the deal for us. Yeah it was definitely nice to be in Kochi… : )
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