Travel diaries — Kochi
A day of Jew Town, cafes, ferry and long walks
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I came from Wayanad to Kochi(by bus) on Nov 5th 2021.
I planned for Kochi only for one day. I wanted to visit Jew Town & Jew Synagogue. Because I started to get fascinated about a new/mixed culture and places after visiting Pondicherry.
Kochi is a big town, but I did not know about this place properly at first. I rushed to try a couple of cafes until I realised the city is full of cafes. Since I planned only one day here. Here are a few things I went to.
- Jewish Synagogue
- Jew Town Cafe
- SPR Perfume Museum (It’s a store)
- East India Street Cafe
- Ferry Ride to Ernakulam
- Marine Drive Walk
- Kashi Art Cafe
Jewish synagogue
It is a small synagogue(I don’t know the usual size of a synagogue though). If you go here. Make sure to check the history in the front hall(paintings subtitled with history of it).
Then when you walk in, there is a poster written about the importance of things you will find there. If you aren’t reading them. Then this would be just another place for you.
Jew Town Cafe
I started scouting the Jew Town Streets and found this cafe. This cafe has also a book shop, boutique and artefacts shop inside it covering town streets from the entrance to exit. The above is the cafe side of the Entrance.
I tried their homemade cake(made of dates & carrot) and masala tea. I totally loved it. If you are around, I recommend you check this place.
I asked for the washroom and the person at the counter gave me a key to the washroom on the 2nd floor. To my fascination, what I found was a kind of artefact treasure ignored(above Image). I even found an artefact of Jesus sleeping on a bed(or at least it looked that way).
SPR Perfume Museum
This is in one of the streets(there are only 2–3 main streets in Jew Town I believe). First I thought it’s a real museum and not a store. But it’s a store placing their products as good as a Essential Oil/Perfume museum.
Initially, the store lady said I should not click pictures. But then she asked me if I would blog about it. The above how it looked inside the store.
They placed the essential oils and wrote about their benefits in the backside frame. You can learn about them. If you want to smell anything, the store lady will rub a small portion of it on your hand to smell it.
These oils range from helping you sleep to getting help on reducing anxiety, muscle pains, digestion, skin, depression etc.
East India Street Cafe
From SPR Perfume museum, I took a Tuktuk (auto) to Fort Kochi Ferry. I found this near the ferry entrance. I liked the theme of the cafe which looked like a street(the above is the whole cafe).
I ordered coffee and a Green Evolution(Veg wrap). The taste is good. It’s like the same good food you will get in any Metro city. You may want to go here for the ambience of it and maybe get good pictures.
Ferry — Fort Kochi to Ernakulam
What fascinated me about this was the ticket was Rs.6/-. Ferry here is like a local bus in our city. I went to Ernakulam from Fort Kochi. It’s a one time experience but a must if you are in Kochi. Because it gives you a view to people day to day commute life here.
Marine Drive
In Ernakulam, there is a Marine Drive. Which is a street on the shore for you to walk. Above is the picture I clicked in the evening.
What you see above is the Marine Drive walk. If you are a solo traveller, it’s a nice evening walk place. If you are going as 2 or more. It’s a nice evening chit chat & hangout place with a lot of food places.
Kashi Art Cafe
This is where I had lunch. Great non veg options(people who came with me told me). so I stuck with Grilled veggies in pesto sauce.
No one told me this(read the board in the picture) before going here. So here is a heads up to you.
Miscellaneous
Kulluki sharbat
I thought these were normal flavoured sharbat until I took one. In this they added — Chilli, Sabja(kaskas), Ice, sugar, lemon, grape flavour(you can ask for any) water & Ice. The chill-ish but sweet taste was amazing. I will have this wherever I find it from now on.
Bismi Aqua Garden
I found this while going to the ferry (just before East India Street Cafe). I went in and saw a lot of birds and fish that are for sale.
I think there are 3 people inside and all looked at me while going in there. My social anxiety kicked in and I chickened out from going it. If you love birds, fish, pets. Go check out the place even if you won’t buy it. They have a huge collection of them.
Random click
This is one of those times of — Felt nice clicking, might delete later ones. I have no idea why I wanted to keep this here.
Scary looking church 🙈
I was walking back from the Ferry to Zostel (it was only 1km away). I found this church glowing with Red lights and felt like a haunted house we see in cartoons.
This is a 1 or 2 days stop. You can go to Vagamon or Allepe from here. Both are 2.5–4 hours drive/bus. Stop by for a day before you go there.
Next Location: Vagamon
