Cochin, India

Cochin is located in the state of Kerala on the southwest coast of India. The city has 1.6 million people, speaks the Malayalam language (it's a palindrome, spelled the same way forward and backward!), and claims to have no caste system, which is prevalent in other areas of India. Compared to Chennai, our first stop in India, Cochin was a cleaner, more modern city.

The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama was the first European to explore India. He died in Cochin in the early 1500s and was originally buried in St Francis Church there, but later his remains were moved to Lisbon.  Our tour of Cochin included the Mattencherry Palace (built 1555), which had beautiful murals painted on the walls; the Jewish synogogue (built in 1568); the Spice Market; St Francis Church (built 1503 as a Catholic church, but now an Anglican church after British rule); a look at the cantilevered Chinese fishing nets along the Arabian Sea, and a walk along the fish market.

A row of vendor stalls were set up along the dock next to our ship, so passengers from the Viking Sun and Sapphire Princess, which was also in port, shopped for clothing, jewelry, rugs and souvenirs.

Cochin is known for its spice market -- ginger, cloves, cardamom, turmeric and pepper
are commonly sold here. Pepper used to be called "black gold" it was such a valuable commodity.

Weaving cotton cloth at the spice market. 
High quality paper cotton clothing popular here.

Bindi powders, used by married women to apply a dot of
color between their eyebrows.

Lots of sari stores

St Francis church, oldest European church in India,
built 1503 by Portuguese explorers

Unique Chinese fishing nets along the Arabian Sea

Lowered into water during high tide to catch fish

Fresh fish at the market

Vendors set up on the Cochin dock