On Saturday morning I finally managed to tear myself away from Varkala for good. I headed a few hours north to the city of Cochin. I took a ferry accross the bay to Fort Cochin, which lies at the end of a long peninsula. There I found well kept Dutch and Portuguese houses. Although most lodging was full, I managed to find a decent room (read ‘with mosquito netting’), and went to explore the neighborhood. I found a beautiful art cafe wich served coffee in Bodum press pots — I almost cried when I took my first sip…I guess I do miss some to the familiar things from home.

The next morning I dragged myself out of bed early and went to a closeby Syrian Orthodox Church. Supposedly part of the liturgy is still in Aramaic, but as everything is chanted, I wasn’t able to distinguish the Aramaic from the Malayalam. I was surprised at how much the service resembled western services — it seems pretty clear that even this Church was heavily influenced by the European colonizers.
After the service, and a yummy breakfast, I headed over to Jew Town. Before the middle of the 16th C. there had been a Jewish principality in Kerala — having been granted by a Hindu maharaja. The state was destroyed by the to Portuguese, and many of the Jews fled to Cochin. They were granted land and protection by the Maharaja of Cochin, and built a synagogue next to the royal palace. Virtually the entire population of Jews left for Israel after 1949. Now only two families, with 14 members remain. It seems sad to me that a community that had existed for over 2000 years has disappeared so quickly.