A Study in Contrast

The shops on the pier & the Sapphire Princess

We are docked next to a large cruise ship, the Sapphire Princess.
All 4800 of its passengers and most of our 900 passengers were at the same 4 places - The oldest church in India (St. Francis), the Mattancherry Palace, the Jewish Quarter and the Chinese nets.

Vasco Da Gama's grave

The church had Belgium tiles in the main aisle, so you had to take off your shoes to go in and see the grave of Vasco Da  Gama, except that he wasn't really there.  His son took his remains back to Portugal almost 500 years ago.

The palace was a small stucco building with 4 small rooms decorated in Hindu art with coins, documents and some mannequins in old dress.  To view this you went up a steep stone stairway from the outdoor heat into an even hotter interior, moving in a single line through the rooms and back out.  Once we were inside the main rooms, no photography was allowed.

Wall painting

One of the designs on stone step risers

The Jewish Synagogue was supposed to have a beautiful interior, but we could not go in since it was Passover.  The narrow streets are lined with shops selling tourist goods and spices.

The net being lowered

Some of the counterweights

The Chinese, or cantilevered, nets use a system of huge stones balancing the weight of the nets stretching out into the sea.  Because of the balance, it was possible to stay on shore, lower the nets into the sea, wait for the fish to be trapped and pull up the nets.  That is how it used to work until a tsunami filled in the area with sand, so there is not enough water to lower the nets into.  Now the fishermen are out of work and they, for a fee, will demonstrate how is was done.  The nets  now go about 2 feet into the water.

Weights on ropes to the left are pulled to raise the net.

The heat, humidity, crowds, noise and smell made for a less than pleasant day.

Some of the meager catch