World Cruise 2015: Day 71 – March 17, 2015

We are now in India, Cochin, to be exact. For thousands of years, Cochin , along the Indian Ocean and or the Arabian Sea, has drawn the seafaring trade to its canals and waterways. The Romans made their way here and then the Chinese fcame here as far back as the time of Kublai Khan. Pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves flowed out of the harbor here, headed first to China and then the Arab world. In 1530, the Portuguese arrived and the local Maharaja gave them permission to build Fort Cochin. They established a thriving colony here until the Dutch invaded and unseated them in 1663 after 10 years of attacks. The Dutch built Fort Williams and were later defeated by Indian rulers, who then later finally succumbed to the British in 1814. As you enter the harbor you can see these giant, tent-like Chinese fishing nets that have come to symbolize the city. Alternately called a ‘Mini England’, ‘Homely Holland’ and ‘Mini Lisbon’; the city has a rich architectural culinary and cultural flair.

Cochin is in the state of Kerala (Land of Coconut), which was created in 1956 on a linguistic basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principle language. The state has a 9% literacy rate (the highest in India) and has the lowest rate of population growth in India. There are three main religions in Kerala – Hinduism (58%), Christianity (19%) and Muslim (24%).

Today we took at private tour of Cochin. Our guide was very informative and spoke excellent English. The area we came in on is really an artificial island. She explained that each of the states in India is different; they have different languages, different culture and different foods. In Kerala the children in school must learn three languages – Hindu, Malayalam and English. When they are 14 they an then take a fourth language if they want. There are two parts to Cochin, the new modern city and the old part called Fort Kochi. There is no longer a fort there, but they kept the name.

We first visited St. Francis Church. This is now an Anglican church and is very beautiful, but in a very different way than the churches you see in South America or even the US. They are very old and retain that throughout the church. From the church we went to see them fishing. They have this elaborate net structure that they use to fish. Look in the pictures, as I will not try to describe it. But, our guide did say that since most of the people here are now educated they do not stay and do the menial jobs like fishing that the state was started with. So, to keep this up they have people from other states in India come and do the fishing for them. We also walked along the dock to see the fish market. We then went to Santa Cruz Cathedral, which is the church of our tour guide. Again, a beautiful old church. They had a blue (Dutch) pagoda like building on the side with a statue of Mary inside that had been brought over from Portugal. We then went to the Dhoby Khana, the local laundry. This is where they still do laundry by hand. It is a very interesting and labor intensive process. They do laundry for the hotels and restaurants as well as the people of the town. They press the clothes with the old hot iron, but also have some electric ones, which are not anywhere like ours.

The next stop was at the oldest synagogue in India. The Jews came here in 70BC as the Romans were persecuting them. They went into the spice trade and were welcomed. They went to a remote part of the city to do their business. They were honored by the kings for their work. In 1568 the king gave them the land. The synagogue is the last open synagogue in India. When Israel was formed, most of the Jew went there. Today there are only 7 Jews left in Kerala. The youngest is 40 and the oldest is 95. They created a market place called Jew Street. Today, though it is the people from Kashmir that run these markets. They were some of the nicest merchants we have dealt with.

The last stop, before allowed to shop on Jew Street, was to the Kings Palace. There are no more kings, and this palace was in use only till 1862. At that time they built a new palace and moved all the antiquities to it. Today, the one we went through is a museum, as is the new one, but with pictures of all the antiquities. There were beautiful murals painted on the walls as well. Here, as well as in one of the churches, we were not allowed to take pictures. The palace was built by the Portuguese and then renovated by the Dutch. It is called the Dutch Palace today because of these renovations. It was a great tour, but maybe we are churched out for a while.

Here are some pictures.

Scenes along the shore as we came in the channel

Fishing nets (blue and wood structure, on the channel and then close up)

Crowded Ferry

Fishermen

Lorry – Truck that looks like a circus truck that is used to transport goods

Bridge to Fort Kochi

Cows along the road

St Andrews Church – Brown church, plain interior, crypt of Vasco de Gama – body is not in Portugal

Fish Market on dock

Satan Cruz Cathedral (purple interior, has convent on right of exterior)

Beach where I got sand