A walk around Fort Kochi is like walking through a history lesson. From Chinese fishing nets, ancient Portuguese churches and Dutch houses.
This is the 15th century St Francis church. India’s oldest Christian church and Vasco de Gamas original burial place. A short walk away around the harbour entrance you’ll find giant Chinese fishing nets introduced in the 1300's the design of which is still used today along this coast.
I visited Mahatma Gandhi Beach on the evening after Eid and the beach was swarming with people enjoying the sun setting over the Arabian Sea.
Parts of the old Portuguese fort are still visible around the waterfont.
The Bristow Hotel drawn in the cool of morning while dozens of people stop to introduce themselves and talk – about cricket and the Black Caps mostly!
An interesting combination of architectural style – old Portuguese and Dutch colonial to modern Middle Eastern styles.
The harbour entrance is fascinating. It wasn't easy but I found a place on the waters edge that sold beer, bought a large Kingfisher and spent an hour sketching the huge variety of vessels coming and going.
They included narrow, nimble 1-2 man fishing canoes right through to large container vessels. As I finished the beer, packed my sketchbook and drawing tools away, an impressive Indian navy aircraft carrier cruised past at what seemed like 20 knots.
