Kochi

February 19, 2019 

We took a day trip to Kochi from Alleppey, taking a local bus in the morning. It was crowded. We got seats, but I was someone’s arm rest for about an hour of the 1.5 hour ride. Kochi is a port town, slightly more populous than Alleppey, with significantly more foreign tourists. We first wandered into Jew town – a name that somehow feels less appropriate than a Chinatown or Little Italy – and enjoyed our first western-style breakfast and coffee in weeks before heading to the nearby synagogue. There is a rich Jewish history in Kochi, with the first arrival in perhaps 70 CE. Eventually the Jewish community there all moved to Israel after WWII, and the synagogue is maintained as a historical monument. No photos allowed inside. 

We walked past some ancient Chinese fishing nets (400 CE). The huge nets are counterbalanced by boulders tied together with rope, and are still in use (although they weren’t catching too many fish as we watched). We also wandered through the Indo-Portuguese Museum, which was maintained by the local Catholic diocese and largely consisted of Catholic relics dating back to 1600 CE when the Portuguese took over the city for a time before being ousted by the Dutch. Mariel found some expensive pants ($18!) at a fairly high-end shop, then we caught an uber back to the train station to catch the express back to Alleppey. The short uber, at $3.40, cost more than our bus tickets and train tickets combined. 

The highlight of Kochi was the beautiful street art and architecture, especially in the bazaar district north of Jew Town.

Tim reading on the train back to Alleppey