Page 648 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

646  SOUTH INDIA

0 Kochi displays palanquins and textiles.
The adjacent bedrooms and
Kochi, better known as Cochin, is Kerala’s most cosmopolitan chambers are renowned for
city. It is also its main trading centre for spices and seafood. their fine 17th-century murals,
Built around a saltwater lagoon of the Arabian Sea, Kochi is representative of Kerala’s temple
in fact a collection of narrow islands and peninsulas. While art. Painted in rich, warm shades
of red, yellow, black and white,
mainland Ernakulam boasts of concrete shopping malls and they depict religious and
glitzy apartment buildings, Mattancherry and Fort Kochi have mythological themes as well as
an old world charm, with their blend of Dutch, Portuguese and episodes from the Ramayana.
English bungalows and quaint narrow streets (see pp648–9).
The scenic location of Kochi’s natural harbour, surrounded by u Paradesi Synagogue
Jew Town. Tel (0471) 232 1132.
palm groves, green fields, inland lakes and backwaters, has Open Sun–Thu. &
enchanted visitors from across the globe for centuries. Nestling in a cul-de-sac at the
end of a narrow lane, in the heart
P Mattancherry Palace of Jew Town, is India’s oldest
Jew Town. Tel (0484) 222 6085. synagogue. The first Jewish
Open Sat–Thu. settlers are said to have reached
The Mattancherry Palace, Kodungallur (see p653) in the
constructed by the Portuguese 1st century AD. Their settlement,
in the mid-1550s, was given to then known as Shingly,
the ruler of Cochin as a token prospered over the centuries.
of goodwill in exchange for However, persecution by the
trading rights. It was later Portuguese in the early 16th
renovated by the Dutch, century forced them to migrate
and so gained the misnomer, to Cochin, where they settled
Dutch Palace. The two-storeyed on land given by the raja, and
structure, built around a built a synagogue in 1568.
courtyard with a small shrine to Cochin’s Jewish community was
the goddess Bhagavati, is today divided into two distinct groups
a museum with a rare collection – the so-called Black or Malabari
of murals and royal artifacts. Jews, who claimed to be
In the central Durbar Hall, descendants of the original
where coronation ceremonies settlers, and the White or
Murals from the 17th century, were once held, is the portrait Paradesim Jews, who came here
Mattancherry Palace gallery of the Kochi rulers; it also from the Middle East, and after

Kochi City Centre
0 metres 500 Bolghatty HighCourt Bus Station
1 Mattancherry Palace Island Jetty 2 km (1 mile)
2 Paradesi Synagogue 0 yards 500 Bolghatty Palace Airport
Hotel
36 km
3 Kochi International Vypeen Vypeen Island SHANMUGHAM RD (22 miles)
Ferry Jetty
Pepper Exchange Island
4 St Francis Church Govt Jetty Vembanad Lake Railway
Station
5 Willingdon Island 2 km (1 mile)
6 Bolghatty Island CALVATH Y RD Customs ERNAKULAM
Chottanikkara
CHU RCH RO AD Embarkation Main Boat PARK AVENUE
Temple
Jetty
Jetty
Jetty
FORT
St Francis KOCHI BRIDGE RD BAZAR Willingdon
Island
Church
Santa Cruz I ND IR A G A N DH I R D
ROAD AD
Cathedral TOWN HALL RO Jain Terminus A G M I L N E R O A D Thripunithura
Jetty
Temple
K.B. JACOB ROAD AMARAVATHI ROAD CHERALAI ROAD TOWN Palace JEW TOWN RD Paradesi Mattancherry BRISTOW RD South
Mattancherry
Jetty
L G PAI ROAD
PAL ACE RD
JEW
Jetty
R G PAI ROAD
Synagogue
Cochin Harbour
Terminus Railway
Kochi International
Pepper Exchange
JAWAHAR Station
SANTO GOPALANL RD RD SYNAGOGUE LANE Street-by-Street area:
L a k s h d e e p S e a
M K RAGHAVAN RD MOULANA AZAD ROAD Key
BEACH R O AD
STATUE ROAD
For keys to symbols see back flap see pp648–9
646-647_EW_India.indd 646 26/04/17 11:50 am
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.4)
Date 25th April 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm