Fort Kochi

Fort Kochi is a low-rise headland at the mouth of the backwaters where Portuguese, Dutch and British administrations each left a layer and then moved on. The shorefront is lined with cantilevered Chinese fishing nets, counterweighted timber frames worked by teams of men, which no longer catch very much but are still raised and lowered through the day. Behind them run streets of tiled bungalows and godowns that smell of ginger and pepper whenever the doors are open. St Francis Church, plain and whitewashed, is where Vasco da Gama was first buried before his remains were taken to Lisbon; Mattancherry, a walk or short ride away, has a palace with dense mural paintings, an old synagogue and lanes of antique dealers.

History

Before the Europeans came, Fort Kochi was a fishing village in the Kingdom of Kochi, a secondary port to Kozhikode, and Arab and Chinese traders had sought the region's pepper and other spices since the beginning of the Common Era. The Portuguese arrived on the coast in 1498, and the district takes its name from Fort Manuel, the first European fort on Indian soil; St Francis Church, built by the Portuguese in 1503, is where Vasco da Gama was first buried (Wikipedia, Fort Kochi).

What's there

• The Chinese fishing nets - cantilevered timber frames on the shorefront, lowered and raised by hand.
• St Francis Church - a plain early European church with the original burial site of Vasco da Gama.
• Mattancherry Palace - a low Portuguese-built palace with dense Hindu mural paintings inside.
• Jew Town - a narrow lane of spice godowns, antique shops and the old Paradesi synagogue.

When to go

November to February is dry and least humid; the southwest monsoon from June brings serious rain, and April and May are heavy. Early morning at the nets is when the fishing crews actually work them. In some winters an art biennale takes over the warehouses and empty buildings for several months, which changes the town completely.

Before you go

The net operators expect payment if you photograph them or step onto the platform, and they ask directly. The beach beside them is scruffy and the water is not for swimming. Prices in the tourist quarter are well above the rest of Kerala. Humidity is constant, the synagogue closes on Saturdays and Jewish holidays, and Mattancherry Palace bans photography inside.

Nearby

Ernakulam across the water has the mainland city, and the backwaters around Alleppey are two hours south.

Key facts