Day 2 in Fort Cochin, Kerela

 Day 2 in Fort Cochin- my first full day and I have been exploring.

The weather is still overcast and muggy so I booked a tuktuk tour of Fort Cochin,  with the nextdoor neighbour at the ‘Tajmahal Homestay’ 

and a fellow guest, Tina , joined me. 

Fort Cochin, it is  just 1 island of many and the mainland in the metropolis of Cochin, it’s  the oldest original part and the main fishing port, the streets are narrow and winding with tiny shops and workshops and kiosks. 

We started off at the spice bazaar which was more of a street of spices. As we drove down it I could smell the spices as we passed the little shops. The Old Market Spice Bazzar is the oldest in India and is overlooked by houses over 300 years old. There are alleyways crammed with spices of every kind. We visited a manufacture and wholesaler. In the courtyard we saw an acre of ginger drying in the sun and a 2m of Star Anice! Up some rickety stairs, every one of their 300 years, was a wholesale shop filled with spices and the 3 or 4 grades of each spice! 

Next stop was Jew Street and the Jewish Synagogue

This was a really picturesque street with lots of craft and embroidery shops. The quality of the embroidery and the pashminas were extraordinary. 

The Paradesi Synagogue , at the end of Jew Street, is tiny, just one room and a balcony for the women. It is the oldest active synagogue in commonwealth and means ‘foreigners synagogue’ as it was built by Portuguese Jews (1500’s )who settled here with the local Malabar Jewish community. 

 Next was a perfumery. We were shown  the largest joystick in the world and the largest perfume bottle in the world!! and had a tour of the perfumery which uses oil not alcohol . It was fascinating and we enjoyed the sampling but by  this point we realised we were on more of a shoping trip than a tour so we put our foot down and said ‘no more shoping , just sightseeing!’ 

IRS Natural Incense and Perfume 

Our guide took us to  Mattancherry Palace  also known as the Dutch Palace,  it was built by the Portuguese as a gift for the maharajah of Cochin when they were allowed to settle here.  It was the palace for many generations and has  wonderful murals of Hindu spirituality and serif acts from the days of the maharajahs. At the bottom of the steps leading up to the palace is a small wooden door which is an accent functioning temple and across the path was a much bigger low built temple. 

We tried to visit Santa Cruz church but it was closing as was the nearby main temple so our last stop was the traditional laundry.

I would not have thought I would go to a laundry on a tour , let alone be taking photos of some poor persons laundry!!!. It dates back to the 1700’s and laundry is still done there in the traditional way although it was concerning that many of the people working there were very elderly. I had a go at ironing with the traditional hot charcoal iron done by a tiny lady with fantastic arm muscles and a gentleman with an electric one - he had an English book propped up and was learning English as he ironed!!!