10/4/2011

Did a day of sightseeing. First of all we visited the Santa Cruz Basilisc Church (a nice catholic church) and then walked kilometres through local streets experiencing people in their day-to-day lives. There were so many butchers in the area, something we had hardly seen more north because they don't eat much meat. But here, lots of open shops with dead and hacked animal parts on show for you to buy. Only turn off was the mass of flies on everything and the choking humidity in the air. Plus the few dead rats we'd walked by! I'm not sure Tescos would be allowed to do that!

After a local man answered our prayers in the search for milk in a sachet, we found the not-so-impressive Dutch Palace. Here we visited an old, historic backstreet building learning more about the Dutch history of the area where they had an influence. Quite a few interesting pictures and artefacts but I was expecting a beautiful palace and it was far from that!

Nearby we walked through 'Jew Town' which was really interesting with all the shops selling souvenirs, spices, antiques, kashmir and silk and seeing where they had an influence on the area. The synagogue (the oldest one in the British commonwealth) was pretty dull though and hardly worth the 8p entry to see some paintings and the building.

However nearby was the sea where there were dozens of Chinese fishing nets being operated by the locals, but not appearing to be catching much! Along this stretch was a fantastic array of fish, crabs, squid and all sorts available to you at a decent price and cooked across the road there and then! I wish I had tried some now looking back!

There was an attractive and well-looked after park nearby as well with some dodgy music playing and a not too ridiculous crowd enjoying the space. We sat down for a terrible fish and chips and then quickly checked out a church, a dirty little beach and a Dutch Cemetry (marked as an area of interest) which was literally just a small graveyard. More interesting nearby where we spent the hour, was the three cricket matches taking place on one field, all protruding onto one another.

Two of the games had limited space but they were taking it so seriously with powder or paint used to mark some of the creases and plenty of arguing and batsmen waiting underneath a big tree for their turn to be introduced!

There was one match that appeared to be of much importance though, taking up most of the playing field (which was very hard and dry) and one of the teams in their own kit! However, the opposition were just in their daily clobber, most of which obviously not so great for playing sport like jeans and collared shirts! It seemed to be a Twenty20-like match with some big shots and high intensity followed by a bit of support on the sidelines and clapping!

We had bargained our checkout so after a sneaky shower (I find that you need a couple a day or more because you get so sweaty and filthy), we hopped on and off two buses via Thoppumpady Bridge to Alappuzha within two hours.

After checking out The Rough Guide's recommendations, they were too much and we had bargained 300 for a nice room, big shower room, mosquito nets (which are vital!) and free internet. Had a long walk along one of the canals in search of the beach where it began to rain on the way, and it was a long trek! Again went against the Guide's advice and had a good yet pricey meal down the road next to the beach. Haggled a tuctuc back to avoid a monster walk and I managed to catch up on a bit of blogging, a bit like now!