Travel Day 917 – Kochi, Kerala, INDIA
It was unfortunately already the last day in India for my travel-wife of the past one month and we had still a few things on the agenda…
Pardesi Synagogue in Jew Town, Kochi
After seeing Fort Cochin and the Backwaters, today we definitely had to see a bit of Mattancherry and Jew Town. Also a visit of some of the spice markets made it onto the to-do list, as a certain someone was intending to take some of the fine flavors of India home with her. The idea was to do some experimental cooking at the homey stove in order to keep remembering one of the highlights of this trip, the great Indian food…
So in the end the exploration of Mattancherry was falling a bit short because of the time constrains and we rather opted for a jump-start at the Portuguese built Mattancherry Palace. It was apparently renovated by the Dutch, but since the entire building complex looked like nothing much from the outside, we didn’t even bother going inside and we rather carried on to the Synagogue…
- Tourist Shops in historic Jew Town in Kochi
This 1568 built Pardesi Synagogue was in the middle of the old Jew Town, which today was a really busy tourist area with self acclaimed hustle free shops and lots of souvenir buying opportunities. What was good on the one hand for buying all desired kinds of spices, was a little annoying on the other, because the feel of the old town could not really be experienced between every single shop-owner trying to make a quick sale to everyone who looked like a possible touristic victim…
Nevertheless, seeing the small and tucked away Paresi Synagogue was delightful as it was a very simple structure with nice tile-work and unusual chandeliers. Unfortunately no photos could be taken inside and so we were left to simply enjoying the building as well as a brief history overview of the arrival of the Jews in India. For me it seemed surprising to find out that they had actually arrived long before the Portuguese ever knew that India even existed…
- Mattancherry Dutch Palace in Kochi, India
After enjoying all the sights in Jew Town, it was already time to jump on the bus for a long ride to the local airport. Four hours round trip on the bus and parting from my travel-wife didn’t really make for the best ending of the day that I had lately, but there was nothing I could do about it and it seemed time to re-assess my situation…
For an entertaining literary experience of this part of India and it’s history see Salman Rushdie’s novel The Moor’s Last Sigh. It’s fiction, but it does give one a good idea of how Jewish, Portuguese, English, Dutch and Moorish influences meshed together and became an intrinsic part of Indian identity today.
That sounds like a great suggestion Mayra! Unfortunately I had not read it at the time of the visit, but luckily I fortunate enough to have good company who knew all about it…