Our bus arrived in the bustling town of Kochi at around midday on Sunday 14 October. We set off down the road to catch a local bus accross to the island of Fort Kochi - the old quarter where the first Portuguese settlers arrived. We were fortunate enough to get the last room in a nice hostel, within walking distance to most of the main sights. After some relaxing time in the room we wandered accross the square to watch the sun set behind the huge chinese fishing nets that line the coast. Afterwards we wandered back into town to watch a traditional Indian dance/play performance called Kathakali, where the artists are known for their elaborate makeup and colourful, detailed costumes. It was a very unique thing to see and quite interesting. We stopped at an Italian restaurant on the way home for dinner (which didn't have any pizza or pasta?!?) and then got drenched as we walked home in the rain :-/ With no hot shower to warm up, we went straight to bed.

Monday we went off to find a cool-sounding breakfast spot called Teapot. Turned out it was quite close and we had a super relaxing morning eating waffles, drinking tea/coffee and reading Indian newspapers (there are a few in English which are actually quite good!) We took it easy in the afternoon - spent some time reading, did a bit of admin, had a nap - anything that didn't involve being out in the heat :-) Later that evening we walked along the coast past the chinese fishing nets admiring the sunset. We found a random little restaurant on the far side where we had supper and then strolled home through the streets back to the room and to bed.

Tuesday we again had breakfast at Teapot (we had enjoyed it so much the day before) and then walked into town to do some sightseeing. We first visited the Dutch Palace (the Dutch took over from the Portuguese) where they have a pretty boring but quite exhaustive history of the town. Afterwards we walked to Jew Town (thats really what it's called) and visited the old synagogue and browsed around some of the shops. After a quick stop at the police museum, we caught an auto-rickshaw back to out hostel. We relaxed in the afternoon and then headed out to a little artsy place round the corner where we ate a delicious meal and planned a bit more of our Europe leg. It was raining again as we left so we dashed back to the room to bed.

Wednesday we packed up our things, checked out and then had another great breakfast at Teapot. Afterwards, we caught an auto to the jetty where we did a whole lot of waiting in lines before finally making it onto the ferry. The ride wasn't very long and we arrived back on the mainland just before lunch time, where we had a good, cheap traditional meal at the nearby Indian Coffee House... mmmm! Feeling much better, we got another auto to the train station where we boarded our 14:00 overnight train up the coast to our next stop - Goa Old Town.