It was all aboard the ferry for the 20 minute ride over to Ernakulem, then a trek along Shanmugham Road to the Vodafone shop. The guy who served us in the shop was about as much use as a chocolate teapot. All we wanted was to top up with 3GB of data, but he had no idea what we were talking about so we left empty handed but with a promise he would text the relevant info to us. Needless to say we never received a text message from him.

Victory, well victory of sorts. We walked up the road from our hotel towards the main commerces where we managed to top up our iPhone 4 with 2GB of data (Rs.99) but only 2G. This is not so bad because many of the places we visit are 3G free zones anyway and 2G is good enough to blog with and upload a few photos, given a bit of time.

Next it was a walk to the Dutch Palace (Rs.5 entry fee) in Mattancherry which is a few kilometres from Fort Cochin. Like most historic sites no photography is allowed inside and the exterior is rather drab and not worth snapping. The interior is interesting with some very well executed murals and well preserved exhibits.

Then it was on the Synagogue in Jew Town (Rs5 entry fee). Laura had to wait outside because shoes are not allowed and she could not risk getting her injured foot getting dirty. Aside from the historic stuff Jew Town is also packed full of shops, the owners of which hassle you as you walk past. This does rather spoil the experience. That said there is one shop worth having a look in and it is hard to miss because of the enormous statues and full size traditional boats that they sell. Inside it is packed with some fantastic architectural items and at the rear is a restaurant overlooking the water.

This morning we mooched about locally visiting a couple of the churches. First we went to the Church of St Francis which was the first church to be erected by Europeans in India. Vasco da Gama was buried there in 1524, his body was removed to Portugal at a later date. The exact age of the Church of St Francis is not known but it’s said to date back to the early sixteenth century. Inside the church there are various tombstone inscriptions in the walls, the earliest of which dates from 1562.
The next church we visited was Santa Cruz Basilica which is an impressive building and was quite busy with locals.After the churches we continued our stroll, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and miracle of miracles the XL bar was open so we thought we’d better pop in, just to be polite, and quench our thirsts with a bottle, or three, of cold Kingfisher lager.
For lunch we went to our usual haunt, Elite restaurant. I ordered the Thali which cost Rs80 and was really good. Laura ordered a slice of chocolate cake to start, followed by a vegetable pastry.
After lunch we thought we’d better pop back to the bar for another beer. We were concerned that their profits may have been down after being closed yesterday, and we would not in good conscience have been able to enjoy our afternoon nap if we hadn’t done our bit to help. Beer drank, we went back to our hotel with clear consciences and enjoyed a kip.

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