Kochi, of Old World Charms

From Alappuzha ( Alleppey )  we started for Kochi at around 2:30 PM.We had a wonderful boat ride in Alappuzha. We reached Kochi around 4:30 PM. Though the distance between Alappuzha and Kochi is about 50 kilometers but it may take time depending upon the road traffic.

  We didn't know previuosly that Kochi is the old city and the new Kochi is actually Ernakulam, about 7Km from Kochi. Old Kochi is beautiful in its own way.... with its narrow lanes, old buildings, palaces, streets and all. We looked for hotels in Kochi ( Mattancherry ) but could not find anything immediately, so we went to Ernakulam.

  We went from Kochi to Ernakulam, but crossing the Thoppumpady BOT bridge (more commonly BOT bridge) via Wellington Island. The surrounding 
looks very scenic while crossing the bridge. We got into a hotel Chandrika Residency on MG Road. Non AC double bedrooms cost Rs 900 but the hotel is not worth the money. Though it has a restaurant but it is not good,the plates and cups dirty and the restaurant is closed most of the time.Maybe if you plan 
to visit Kochi try to avoid this hotel,I am sure you will get better staying options.

  After we got fresh,we took an auto and went to the Boat Jetty. There are sundown cruises available from Kochi Boat Jetty which starts from 5:30 PM(well its always 15 minutes late). You can book your tickets immediately before getting into the boats, there is no requirement for advance booking. It is roughly an hour cruise on the Vembanad lake costing Rs 150 per person. You can see the beautiful sunset from the river and some chinese fishing nets from far. We took the sunset tour in Kochi from SeaLand Tours and Travels (0484-2372122, 93429 80832). One thing that requires special mention is that the auto drivers in Kochi are not like money sucking vampire autowallas in Bangalore. The autowalla just took Rs 15 (minimum fare) from us to take us from our hotel to Boat Jetty though he understood us as tourists!! In fact I could not believe my ears and thought the fare was Rs 50. :)

At Marine Drive Boat Jetty

Sunset from the boat.

Government building and Chinese fishing nets during sunset.

KTDC cottages on the Vembanad Lake.

  The next day we left this hotel. We wanted to stay in Old Kochi for a day. Though the number of hotels is less but its a lot more cheaper there. Moroever all the important sight seeing places in Kochi are in old Kochi. We booked a hotel "Udupi Hotel". It was simple, yet comfortable and largely less expensive. We kept our things from our car and headed for Dutch Palace also called Mattancherry Palace and Jewish Synagogue. Both of them are close to one another.

Dutch Palace.

  Though the roads get narrower but all the important tourist places are properly shown on sign boards. So we did not face any problem in navigating.
After parking our car we went to the Dutch Palace.The entry is congested with vehicles and people. But inside its clean and less crowded. The palace was built by the Portuguese and gifted to  the then Raja of Kochi, Veera Varma. It is a rectangular shaped palace, looks pretty unconventional unlike other palaces. The fantastic thing about this palace is the murals that heavily decorate the walls. The murals have stories from Hindu scriptures mainly Ramayana. The entry ticket is Rs 5 for Indians and photography is not allowed inside.

Synagogue.

   From the Palace it is a very short walk to the Jewish Synagogue. The street is called Jew Street. This street is vibrantly colourful with shops selling artefacts, handworks, masks, clothes. Almost all the restaurants on this street have a small collection of old statues and antiques for its patrons to buy/see. As a lot of European tourists visit the synagogue (more than Indians ), so Jew Street looks more like an European alley. The synagogue is closed on Fridays. You need to deposit all your things before entering the synagogue. Entry tickets to synagogue is Rs 5 and photography is not allowed inside.

Jew Street

Handicrafts shop

Wall hang-able replicas of different types of masks. 

Restaurant displaying antiques.

  Since the midday sun was getting hot, it was becoming intolerable for us.We went back to hotel. For evening we had St Francis Church, Dutch cemetary and Fort Kochi(for Chinese fishing nets) to see. All these places are close to each other.

  Since the noon heatwaves took time to become soothing so we were also a little late for our afternoon sightseeing. By the time we reached St Francis Church it was closed. The church closes at 5 PM. From there we saw the Dutch cemetary which falls on the way, and a little further away is Fort Kochi. We came here to see the sunset along with the Chinese Fishing nets from very close. Fort Kochi has numerous homestays.

St. Francis Church

A shop next to the church. It was selling cotton dolls.

   There was one incident that I found sad yet funny. A Chinese fishing net owner was only allowing non Indians to walk on the platform where his fishing net was tied. He himself being an Indian was shooing away other Indians. I observed his actions for sometime then I realised he was doing that because he thought that foreigners will tip him for allowing them to walk on the platform of the fishing net and Indians will not... it feels bad to see discrimination in your own country... People in Kerala are just too good ( I fondly have so many anecdotes of nice helpful people ) so this must be well a worthless fellow, I laughed off the incident.

Chinese fishing nets.

Fish market at Fort Kochi.

  My Kerala trip came to an end, with Kochi as the last stopping point. The next day I was off for my good old Bangalore. Kerala was such an awesome place and it was such a wonderful trip. Kerala is so true to its name "God's Own Country".

Ernakulam city as seen from Vembanad Lake.

Trivandrum, capital city of Kerala

The third destination in our itinerary of Kerala trip was Trivandrum or  Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala. After Periyar, we wanted to drop the anchor at Trivandrum mainly because it was near to Kovalam beach. 

  We left Periyar at around 2 pm and reached Trivandrum city close to 8 pm. The distance isn't that long; however, as it mostly passes through different cities, the pace of driving gets slow. Add to that, most of the roads are two way. For the first 10-20 kilometers you can see rubber, banana and pineapple plantations on either side of the road.

  Anyway, just after entering the main city, we spotted a hotel on MG road called "City Tower Hotel". Tired out of the journey, we quickly checked into the hotel. They had their own parking and a restaurant. 

  Though not luxurious, the rooms were decent with clean toilet. Only few things were left to be done for the day. Food and sleep. The food at the restaurant was superb. We savored parathas, chettinad chicken and fried rice and chilly chicken. WOW! That's a big menu, isn't it? 

   After this huge meal, we headed back to our room and crashed for the day.

  Our plan for the next day was to cover the sight seeing places in the city and  spend the sunset hours at Kovalam beach.

  So after breakfast, we headed for Shanghumugham beach. Since the daytime temperature in Trivandrum rises very fast, we thought of covering this beach first. This beach is within 6 KM from city center. It's very close to the airport. It's a nice long beach. During that early morning hour, we found it very less crowded. 

Sanghumugham beach

Crab and the sea

Schedule of cultural program that happens by the beach

  From Shanghumugham beach, we went straight for Veli, or rather Veli Tourist Village. We parked our car within the paid parking space. There's a lake surrounded by a park at this place. If you cross one bridge within the park, you get to see the sea as well. There's also a floating KTDC restaurant, in case you feel hungry after the walk in the park. If you are a butterfly lover, you will find this place well suited for you. There are different types of butterflies within the park. We spotted different tiger butterflies and eggfly butterflies.

Swan at Veli Tourist Village

Beautiful butterfly at  Veli Tourist Village

Blue tiger butterfly at  Veli Tourist Village

Eggfly butterfly at Veli Tourist Village

Colorful wasp at Veli Tourist Village

  Next on our list was Napier Museum and Sri Chitra Art Gallery. Both of these places and many other tourist attractions are within the Zoo complex of Trivandrum. Parking is available either inside or outside the zoo complex.

Map of zoo complex

Napier museum from outside

  Napier museum hosts different antiques. Ranging from old coins to big statues, this museum is a collection of different art forms. Statues made of ivory were also in abundance in here. We specifically remember one statue where we found cherubs flying over a statue of  Shiva and Parvati. It was also made out of Ivory.

  We also visited the fish aquarium within the zoo complex. It was nothing special.

Fish Galaxy within zoo complex

Fish within fish gallery

   Sri Chitra Art Gallery was also on our list. However, as the temperature was becoming unbearable with midday, we decided to give it a miss and headed back to our hotel.

   We also wanted to get to Puthenmalika palace, but couldn't reach the place as parking was not available. The palace is situated next to Padmanavaswamy temple. In case you are planning to visit the palace, please note that it is closed on Mondays.

  After a lite lunch and small nap we started for Kovalam. Kovalam is around 14 KM from Trivandrum city center. It takes around 25 minutes to reach Kovalam beach. We started a little early for we didn't want to miss the sunset. If you want to read more about the time we spent at Kovalam, you can read our blog post here.

Sunset at Kovalam Beach

  We came back to hotel at around 8 PM and went for an early dinner to the same restaurant. This time we had parathas, Nilgiri chicken and chicken 100. Food was awesome as usual and very reasonably priced. 

  It was all for the day. We were both excited to see all the snaps that we took throughout the day and here are some more for you.

Tiger butterfly at Veli Tourist Village

Fish within fish gallery

Squirrel at Veli Tourist Village

Sunset at Kovalam beach

  Trip info:
  City Tower Hotel: Double Room Non- AC Rs. 650/-
  City Tower Restaurant: Average meal for two: Rs. 300/-
  Veli Parking: Rs. 10/-
  Veli entrance: Rs. 5/-
  Napier Museum entrance: Rs. 5/- (Photography is not allowed inside the      museum)
  Aquarium entrance: Rs. 5/-
  Kovalam parking: Rs. 20/-