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Fort Kochi, Ernakulam Location: About 13 km from Ernakulam town.
Welcome to a 60-90 minute walking tour of the old streets of Fort Kochi. This is the ideal way to discover a historic town brimming with tales of myriad seafaring visitors who came here to trade and then stayed on to cease their work on this impressionable land. 'Walking through Fort Cochin' is a tour organised as part of the conservation and development initiatives taken up by the Corporation of Kochi. The eventful history of this city began when a major flood in AD 1341 threw open the estuary at Kochi, till
then a land locked region, turning it into one of the finest natural harbours in the world. Kochi thus became a haven for seafaring visitors from all over the world and became the first European township in India when the Portuguese settled here in the 15th century. A few interesting sites
included in the tour are the Chinese fishing nets along the Vasco Da Gama Square, Santa Cruz Basilica, St.Francis Church, VOC Gate, Bastion Bungalow etc. Apart from these architectural
splendours, an array of restaurants serving fresh
seafood are also popular among tourists. The Santa Cruz Basilica, a church built originally by the Portuguese and elevated to a Cathedral by Pope Paul 1V in 1558, was spared by the Dutch conquerors who destroyed many Catholic buildings. Later the British demolished the
structure and Bishop Dom Gomez Vereira commissioned a new building in 1887. Consecrated in 1905, Santa Cruz was proclaimed a Basilica by the Pope John Paul II in 1984. Getting there : Fort Kochi is accessible by bus or ferry. The bus ride from Ernakulam town, which is nearly 13 km away, takes about an hour and the ferry ride from Main boat jetty at Ernakulam about 20 minutes. Nearest railway station : Ernakulam about 1 1/2 km from the Main boat jetty.
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