Wednesday, 13 February 2013

Cochin first day


11 Feb 2013

We arrived in Cochin last night after a flight which was delayed by 1.5 hours and then had an hour’s drive to our hotel, The Old Harbour.  Our driver advised us to fly with anyone but Air India as their flights are always delayed!   The flight had lots of families & tourists on it.  Security at the airport was a bit over the top, we had to show our passports at every turn and that was for an internal flight.

The Old Harbour Hotel is right by the seafront in Cochin.  The hotel was fully booked when we made our reservation so we are staying at their refurbished heritage house called ‘The Dreamz House’ a couple of streets away.  It has some interesting features such as an open-air shower room and the whole place is tastefully decorated with bronzes and interesting pieces of modern art around the place.     To save electricity there is a 1 hour power cut in the morning and another one in the evening!

Cochin is very different from the other places we have visited in India, there isn’t as much poverty or begging, not too much hassling and everyone seems to be genuinely friendly.  It feels safe to walk around.  It’s also incredibly hot and humid, making the best time to sight see first thing in the morning or late afternoon.  There are a lot of Christians in Kerala and many churches.  We visited some today including the church of St Francis, built in 1503 and the oldest European church in India.  Vasco De Gama died in Cochin in 1525 and his body was originally buried her before being moved to Lisbon. We also had a walk along the seafront and watched the Chinese fishing nets.

The first ever Indian Art Biennale is being held in Kerala until March.  We bought a ticket for 100 rupees (£1) which allows both of us entry to all the exhibitions of contemporary art and today we visited the Aspinwall Centre.

We had dinner at the Old Harbour Hotel, fantastic seafood as everyone told us there would be.   We’ve noticed that although you can buy beer and wine here, spirits are not available, we think it has something to do with the cost of the licence.  John is missing his whisky (purely for medicinal purposes), as he has had a nasty cough for 3 weeks now and a tot now and then does seem to help!

 
Old Harbour Hotel

 
St Francis Church

 
Chinese Fishing Nets

 
 
 

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