Kerala Cuisine & Highlight of Fort Cochin

Today, the journey to India to enjoy an interesting Cochin shore excursion. The first activity is enjoying a Kerala Cuisine Cooking Class where you can experience and to learn how to make three delicious India recipes by yourself. These personalized classes of showcasing savory dishes which you can easily cook a healthy and delicious meal at home with simple ingredients. They also provide take-home recipes that you learn from the cooking classes. You can really feel home in there. After having an interesting cooking class, an elaborate lunch also awaits you. Not only the dishes that you already learned, the savory meal included a variety of other dishes filled by different traditional India flavors.

When your stomach is filled, move to the first place in your Cochin trip – the Santa Cruz Basilica – one of the eight Basilicas in India. The church, which is more than 500 years old, has magnificent Indo-European and Gothic architecture and the grandeur in the use of colors. The indelible charm of the monument owes a lot to its pastel-colored interior, adorned with breathtakingly beautiful paintings of Italian painter Brother Antonio Moscheni – The Passion and death on the Cross, made you remind about the famous ‘The Last Supper’ of Leonardo Da Vinci. The frescos and murals on the life of Christ that embellish the ceilings and the interior and the beautiful stained glass windows add to the charm of the place combined with the bright blue pillars at the entrance and the pulpit also bear testimony to the craftsmanship of those behind the making of the magnificent monument.

Right next to the Santa Cruz Basilica is the St. Francis Church believed to be one of the oldest churches built by the Europeans in India which has the history dates back to 1503. A lofty structure with a gabled timber-framed roof covered by tiles, a stepped pinnacle constructed on both sides of the façade, a magnificent view on the interior with two stepped pinnacles crowning the top of the chancel roof, together create the old-world charm and magnificence.

Continuing the Cochin trip by moving to the Chinese Fishing Nets that represents Fort Cochin on the tourist map. The nets are made of teak wood and bamboo poles, and skillfully use the application of balance. The slow rhythm of the net is fascinated by whoever comes here. And the sight is undoubtedly one of the most photographed sights in Cochin, suspended in midair and standing in line on the beaches when silhouetted against the sunset. What a breathtaking beauty!

If time permits, you take a look to Paradesi Jewish Synagogue, Jew Town, and Dutch Palace. As one approaches the synagogue on Jew Street, Paradesi Jewish Synagogue’s white facade begins to appear very prominently. Stepping inside, your eyes would easily go to the glass chandeliers and blue willow-patterned Chinese floor tiles. You also admire the Scrolls of the Law housed and the several gold crowns received as gifts and the brass-railed pulpit.

Then, you head to the Dutch Palace. With the elegant architecture and the magnificent murals, the Palace is a quadrangular structure built in the traditional Kerala style of architecture. The shrine dedicated to Pazhayannur Bhagavathi, the Goddess of the Cochin royal family located in the center of the courtyard. Besides, the Siva temple and Vishnu temple lied on the other face of the palace. The floor of the palace will mesmerize you by the structure made of mixing egg whites, plant juices, lime, burnt coconut shells, charcoal giving it the look of polished black marble.
Return to port and prepare for your next shore excursions.