Kochi / Cochin- Queen of the Arabian Sea (Part 1)

Visiting Kochi and the backwaters of Alleppey / Alappuzha had been on my radar for a long time. I discovered that Alleppey is just 50 km from Kochi, so I decided to combine both these trips. This trip was a bit different from others as we traveled by air from Bangalore to Kochi due to paucity of time (less holidays at disposal and also these were 2 trips combined into 1.)

Most of our travel entails car drives.

Kochi also known as Cochin, is a major port city on the south west coast of India by the Laccadive Sea and is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerela.

June is not the month when tourists venture this side as monsoon sets in by this time. Well for us the Damocles sword was hanging on our head as our travel was from the 5th to the 7th June. But anyways we took our chances and landed at the Kochi airport around 1:30 PM. Its an hours dash from Bangalore. Thankfully the weather did not play spoilsport.Infact it did not rain at all. I was actually missing the rains ....

Just landed at the beautiful Kochi Airport

The airport building was beautiful The Airport architecture has an old world appeal to it thought later I was told that it is a relatively new construction (completed around 1999).

We had an airport pick already arranged by the hotel which was to be my abode of the day. The driver was already waiting with a placard in hand. We sat in the car and from thereon Kochi had us under its spell. We were mesmerized. Clean and green and water bodies strewn all over. All possible combinations of water bodies- lagoons, inland waterways, canals , rivers, streams, harbors- all started coming to my mind. The place has unique geography - a mix of islands, small peninsulas, backwaters and a natural harbor- lending it a charm unmatched by any other place I have ever visited.

Stopping and posing for a picture en route to the hotel

I have used my Canon 1200 DSLR in aperture priority mode to capture the photographs. I must add that i forgot to take off my circular polarizing filter for inside shots..they appear 2 stops darker than Iwould ideally want them to be.

Stopped for some eatery shopping on the way as our driver told us that one gets amazing halwa (Indian sweets) here.

Halwa-multicolored in different flavours

My husband looks for namkeen (salty snacks) as he doesnt like sweets

What to buy and what to leave ?????

More picture clicking on the way to the hotel

My favorite animal- look at those tusks!!

Water..water..everywhere!!

Is that all- he seems to be thinking

Coconut land

Water on both sides of the road

I had booked our rooms online with the Cherai Beach Residency. I wanted a hotel overlooking the beach . This hotel almost had like a private beach as I could not see many people here apart from some fishermen.

Finally reached the hotel

Cross the road and enter the Cherai Beach

My room -with a view

View from the balcony- you can see the beach across the road

My balcony (side opposite to the beach)

I would most definitely recommend the hotel location wise. You can view the ocean as well as hear it roaring outside your room. Picturesque. Room rent was reasonable as it was off season ( about 3000 including taxes). The room rent varies and can be viewed on the hotel website.
cherai Beach Residency
The food was very expensive and not too tasty.

Shack like eating area

Breakfast included egg toast, juice and Kerela puttu served with channa (chickpea)

Breakfast was included but was an ok fare. I have had better breakfasts when they are part of the room rent. The manager was friendly and so was the cab driver attached to the hotel. He is the one who took us around site seeing and also dropped us to Alleppey. I wonder why the manager did not make a pucca bill for me at time of check out and scribbled the total on a piece of white paper.I am paying taxes after all. I insisted he give me a bill on the hotel letterhead.

Hotel Address :
Cherai Beach Residency
Cherai Beach South, Cherai P.O- 683514
Ernakulam, Kerela, India
Ph: 0482 2488260 . Mobile 9895117337, 9895953457

We unpacked and hurriedly had tea. We had one evening and entire Kochi to explore..phew...holidays can be more taxing than workdays. We started from the hotel around 2:30 PM with the same driver who had picked us up from the airport (Mr. Peter)

Now began an even more enchanting part of our journey as what was unfolding in front our eyes was legacy of the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British- which have all left their indelible mark...
So not only you have a unique geography but also culture /architecture seeped in history.

Kochi is spread over Ernakulam on the mainland and several islands- Vypeen, Fort Kochi (name is a misnomer-this is an island, dont go looking for a fort!!!), Willingdon, Bolghatty. These are all connected by ferry services.

If hard pressed for time (like we were), the area to focus on would be the Fort Kochi area.
Here is where you see the Dutch, Portuguese ,Jewish and English culture reflected in the architecture, shopping arcades and just the feel of the area. You can see the Chinese fishing nets, Jew town, Mattancherry St. francis Church, Princess Street et all.

We crossed over from Vypeen Island over to Fort Kochi Island via a ferry , our car included. This was a first time for me and was excited..

It is from here- Vypeen- where we got the ticket for the ferry

There was a along serpentine queue and at least 2 lots cleared before our car could be loaded onto the ferry. The ticket was for about Rs 30. Took about half an hour to get onto the ferry.