Wander Woman

Its been a long time since I went to Kashi, one of my favourite hangout places in Fort Kochi, mainly because it was closed for renovation. Kashi is an art cafe housed in one of the 200-year-old dutch/portugese(?) buildings in Fort Kochi. Apart from the ambiance, I go there for their cheese omlettes. There are other things I like about Kashi, like they use glass bottles instead of plastic ones to store water.Like the base of their tables are  actually old sewing machines.And they grind their own coffee. Kashi, in its own way, is a patron of the arts. Every month there is an exhibition by an artist in the hall. Also, when you're at Kashi, nobody bothers you. There is no hurry to eat and scramble. Sit with your favourite book and a cup of masala chai. But the place usually is crowded, especially weekends, and so by common courtesy people do not dally for long. Kashi is located on Burgar street and is open on all days.

Fort Kochi has a lot of good cafes and eateries.Some of them are by the channel and some are located on Princess street and adjoining lanes. I love going to Kashi Art Cafe . It generally hosts some artiste for a month, but more on that later. The other day while walking around Fort Kochi I felt hungry and my feet naturally gravitated towards Kashi. But due to some renovations going on, Kashi was closed. So I went further, crossed the road and found the TEAPOT cafe. Its a small cafe with teapots all around. The owner apparently likes to collect teapots from all over the world. I really loved the yellow walls and antique teapots. The food is average(typical fare, sandwiches and like) but the best part about this place is, its not crowded. You can sit for hours with a masala chai and read your book or do your work.The yellow walls, the high ceiling makes me feel as if I've come to some really old building. It must be a very old house. I wish I'd asked how old.

When I first heard o Fort Kochi , I thought of it as a real fort. I was so used to forts of Rajasthan.The rajasthan forts are magnanimous and is a pure display of wealth and power. Fort Kochi was a far cry from that.There was no fort at all!! It was a peaceful little place with a hip crowd,mostly tourists. You could lose yourself in the place and nobody would give a damn. And then I discovered Jew town, snaking my way through bazaar road. The walk is lovely flanked on both sides with age old buildings and quaint eateries and curio shops tucked away in obscure corners. Every visit to that place opened up new vistas for me. Jew town currently has five or six Jewish families living there and thousands of Kashmiris who have set up shop and who sell the most awesome antiques. On Bazaar road(which extends from fort kochi to Jew town) is the famous spice market. The entire road is filled with the wonderful smell of spices and you can see the famous spice merchants at work. Jew town i...

Fort Kochi is one of my favourite places and in that Jew Town and Princess Street are my most faourite haunts.   I love going for evening walks along the channel and having my cuppa in one of the various cafes and restaurants dotting the banks. Jew town still has a few jewish families living there. It is said that Jews came to Kerala as early as 700 BC for trade and some of them even settled here during the reign of King Solomon. The then ruling king gave them some land in Mattancherry and that is where they flourished till most of them migrated and some converted. But they still have the impressive Jewish Synagogue(AKA Paradesi Synagogue) with an 18th century clock tower.I love going to Synagogue and then walking back to the Dutch palace. Its a five minute walk and there are plenty of antique shops in between to spend your time in. I love walking into these shops and looking at things because most of them are sourced from old tharavus (traditional kerala houses). I ...