SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 2010
NOTE: We included eleven pictures; nine of which are from our visit to Cochin earlier today.
Picture one taken where the buses were waiting for us about a five minute walk from the Jewish Synagogue. Picture 2 from along the street/area referred to as Jew Town. Pictures 3 and 4 outside of the Jewish Synagogue. Picture 5 outside the Mattancherry (Dutch)Palace. Pictures 6 and 7 of the infamous Chinese Fishing Nets. Picures 8 and 9 of the Church we visited and Pictures 10 and 11 before dinner last evening.
We enjoyed a very nice dinner in the Main Dining Room last evening. We each had a nice salad, Keith had the salmon entrée and Anne Marie had a veal entrée, and we had side order of steamed vegetables and berries for dessert. The food and service were wonderful as it always is. We really enjoy the entire wait staff including the waiter, senior waiter and the headwaiter plus we have really enjoy our sommelier. We realize that there are some who enjoy open seating but we have experience both open and fixed seating and we really enjoy fixed seating where the wait staff is familiar with what we prefer and we can develop a nice rapport with the entire team.
After dinner, Anne Marie attended the show, which included Comedian and Magical Entertainer Bruce Gold and International Flautist Gary Arbuthnot. Keith went back to the room to get some rest.
Today, we after seven consecutive days at sea we arrived at our first of three stops in India. This is our second time to Cochin, India.
Cochin is one of the major seaports of India. Its population totals approximately 600,000 inhabitants.
It is situated in the state of Kerala, and it has been considered a trading post since the days of the Romans given that it is strategically located between Europe and China. It has a beautiful harbor.
Cochin boasts a very diverse architecture that came from those that ruled this city including the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British.
The Portguese ruled this aeras in the 1500. The British settled this city in 1634 nly to be driven out by the Dutch who made this city into an important center for trade. The British seized this city when it conquered India but they allowed the Dutch to run the city until 1814 when it became part of the East India Company.
The major attractions of this city include the Paradesi Synagogue, which is the oldest synagogue in al the Commonwealth of Nations. There are the Chinese Dipping nets and it is believed that they were introduced by Chinese rules Kublai Khan. Another attraction is the Mattancherry Palace, which is also known as the Dutch Palace, which was built by the Portuguese in 1555. Other attractions include the Santa Cruz Basilica which is a Roman Cathedral., the Indo-Portuguese Museum, and the St Francis Church.
This morning we awoke early but not to work out but to have a relatively early breakfast as we had an early shore excursion.
We had a nice breakfast in the room and afterwards got ready for today’s tour. Originally we decided that Anne Marie would go ahead with the tour and Keith would stay back at the ship, but then Keith decided to go as well. On each leg of the World Cruise there is one complimentary that all guests can take if they care to and this is the tour that we chose for today.
Security in and around the pier was much tighter than our last visit to this port in 2008. While we do remember some guards, there were several more this time around with machine guns. This time we had to provide a landing card along with a copy of our passport and we showed the a couple of times as we entered and departed the port for our shore excursion. We also showed it once upon our return and each passenger was required to place the landing card in a box located near the gangway as we boarded the ship at the point in time we were boarding the ship for the last time today.
We took a motor coach and then drove approximately thirty minutes to Fort Cochin. As was the case on our last visit here we stopped to see the famous Chinese fishing nets, which we saw on our last visit here in 2008.
As we walked through this town we passed by other sites including the Church of St. Francis, which was the first European church, built in India.
We got back into the motor coach and traveled to the Jewish Settlement of Mattancherry. We visited the Mattancherry Palace, which is also known as the Dutch Palace. As is the case with most tours in India time was given to explore the surrounding area where those on the tour could go into some nearby shops. We also stopped by the Synagogue, which we had gone into a couple of years ago but this was not possible since today was the Sabbath.
In comparison to the large city of Mumbai which we will visit in a few days, Cochin is much smaller and a more logical and orderly city. It does not have the extremes that one experiences in Mumbai with the distinction between the upper class and the very poor lower class where millions upon millions of people live in poverty. Our other observation is that there has been some improvements around the city of Cochin since we last visited here two years ago.
The tour got back to the ship at around 12:00 Noon and we spent the rest of the day on the ship. Unlike most places that we visit the local taxi association in India prohibits the ship from running buses between the pier and other areas in order to maximize taxi fares for the local drivers.
The majority of passengers took the tour we were on but there were also a few other tours to choose from. In addition, there were several overland programs offered of varying lengths of up to six days that passengers could book.
We enjoyed lunch on the ship at the Lido Café. As usually we each had a very nice salad entrée.
This afternoon we each took a walk on the ship. Anne Marie sat out by the pool and Keith wrote, read and sat with a couple of passengers.
This evening was open seating in the Main Dining Room and we had plans to dine with the Rabbi and his lovely wife so we changed the plans to dine at Silk Road with them. There was also a special evening dinner buffet offered around the indoor Neptune Pool.
We will post more tomorrow about dinner and the evening activities.
TODAY’S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY……….
“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”
Keith and Anne Marie
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