Fort Kochi and around..
Bandipur -> Wayanad -> Kozhikode -> Guruvayur -> Cochin -> Periyar
+Previous: Arriving at Fort Kochi
+Next: Kerala Backwaters
+Go to the beginning of the series
We had arrived at Fort Kochi in the evening and the atmosphere looked festive. There were many open air restaurants next to the beach which made brisk business. There were shops selling fish and restaurants with signs that read “you buy, we cook”. We walked past the restaurants and took a walk on the long beach-side stretch. It looked like low-tide and water was flowing briskly from Vembanad lake to the sea, carrying tons of Water Hyacinth.
We wandered around a bit, scanning the region and quickly got a liking to the place. Quiet boulevards, large open spaces, old fashioned structures and the smell of the sea in the air held us to the place and we decided to stay there tonight. It did not take us long to find a comfortable and sparkling clean, yet cheap accommodation. Next thing in line was dinner.
We had heard that options for food in Fort Kochi are plenty – delicious sea food and local food, starting from budget prices to going all the way to five star prices. We chose the later, as we decided to pamper ourselves for the night and celebrate the evening in Fort Kochi. A bit of homework with our guidebooks and we were on our way to Hotel History in Brunton Boulevard, a short walk away from the place where we alighted from the ferry. Brunton Boulevard is a plushly built hotel in lines of Keralan structures of the olden days. Hotel History lived up to its pricey menu and easily satiated our taste buds. It was a long dinner at the end of a long day and we retired for the day soon after.
The next morning, as it always has been during this tour, we were unsure of plans for the day. We wandered around Fort Kochi for a while and I happened to see people working with the Chinese fishing nets. It is a complex job with one commander shouting orders, and four to five people working together to bring down or lift the net. The heavy array of wooden columns holding the net would easily weigh a few tons. They controlled it with a series of ropes, would immerse the net-assembly in the water, leave it for a few minutes and lift it back up. As I watched them lifting the net, they had a catch of may be a kilo of fish in the net. It probably varies considerably depending on the time of the day and the season of the year.
We wandered around, and went to the nearby four hundred year old Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica. I have always loved the quiet, majestic feeling inside the large churches and this one was no exception. It was very similar to the well known Portuguese built churches in Old Goa.
We then talked a few tour operators to look for backwater cruises and some Ayurvedic massage packages. We were not too keen on a day-long boat trips but wanted a short backwaters trip or a house boat stay for a night. Luckily for good, we found a guy who offered multiple Ayurvedic massages combined with a two hour backwater trip, and we accepted it gladly. Before we went on it, we decided to take a trip to the town of Ernakulam and look around a bit.
Kochi is connected with Ernakulam by a set of bridges. You take a bridge to exit Fort Kochi and get to Willingdon island. From here, you take another bridge connecting the island to Ernakulam. You can see Cochin harbour at distance when you are crossing the second bridge. Ernakulam is one of the big towns in Kerala, probably biggest after Trivendrum. Keralites seem to be fond of jewellery – the main roads were full of huge jewellery shops, with nearly all of them having plenty of customers inside. Ernakulam is a crowded city, but is very clean compared to similar sized cities elsewhere in India.
We came back and headed to get our Ayurvedic massage. The journey to their place took us through the spider like grid of narrow landmasses which intertwined between the large mass of Kerala Backwaters. It was a scenic 30 minute drive which we really enjoyed. After a refreshing massage, we took the boat to the backwaters at 4.30pm and wandered in the waterways till beyond sunset. We returned to Fort Kochi in the evening, checked out from our hotel and had good traditional Kerala food at Gokulam Restaurant in Ernakulam before we started our drive towards Thekkady.
To be continued..