Hey! We made front page of the local news paper a couple of days ago. Ok, the print quality isn’t great and you might not be able to tell it’s us, but it is! Apparently it was essentially saying about how we are travelling from Mysore to Varkala by bicycle to raise money for the street children.
Today had been left free for us to enjoy the many highlights of India’s oldest European settlement. So, no cycling, but it was still pretty tiring.
Home to the oldest church and the oldest synagogue in India, the port also boasts the majestic Mattancherry Palace. Originally built by the Portuguese in the 16th century, it was extensively renovated by the Dutch roughly 100 years later, earning it the title of ‘The Dutch Palace’.
After a buffet breakfast, 9 of us caught the coach to Community of Grace church, in Kochi. We went to their English service, so were able to understand everything. It was a really lovely service, We sang a number of songs that I knew, and a couple which were easy to pick up. The preaching could have been said in half the time as he repeated himself quite a lot, he was speaking on “conviction vs preference”.
We only had a few minutes afterwards to chat to some of the church members before we had to leave for our coach, which was a pity as we were invited to stay for lunch at the church.
The lunch was divine. I had vegetable stew (in a coconut sauce) with appams (like a rice pancake), and a mango lassie to drink
We then wandered the streets for souvenirs, but if you showed any interest at all they just pestered you constantly! I didn’t like that way of doing things, so just walked out without buying anything.
From a distance we saw the famous cantilevered Chinese fishing nets, said to have been brought here by Chinese traders from the court of Kublai Khan.
After a walk to the huge nets up close, we caught a tuctuc back to the hotel. A remarkably less hair raising experience than our first ride in a tuctuc
Thank goodness!
Our total cycling distance today was approximately NOTHING!