Our last weekend in Kerala

Three days at Xandari was just enough and we left yesterday morning for a 1 hour drive to Fort Kochi and a couple of nights at Tissa's Inn.

Bit of a shock to the system being in the busiest city in Kerala as we are right downtown with a main road junction about 200m away. Lovely place - only 9 rooms and a rooftop swimming pool - in what was originally a very grand private house owned by a British Advocate - probably an admiralty lawyer!

Some interesting wiring arrangements

Since the Portuguese arrived here in 1503, Kochi has been an important port city which was taken over by the Dutch in 1663 and then handed to the British in 1795. Alongside the Hindu temples and the mosques, there are a huge number of very large Christian churches - both Catholic and Syrian Orthodox - along with convents and church schools on nearly every corner.

These guys are selling Perfume oils and Incense - some of the coloured powder is for the joss sticks while some is just to attract customers.

We have spent our time here wandering through the streets and Bazaar, visited a few shops and a couple of museums and eaten some very good seafood. However this is the hottest place of our trip - day time temperatures reaching 34C and only dropping by 5 or 6C at night - and the temperature will  just going to keep rising over the next couple of months -  before the monsoon comes in June and cools it all down again.

Even the goats were searching out a shady spot

Feels like it is time to head home even if our overnight flight will deliver us into a cold and wet Edinburgh on Tuesday morning. Have really enjoyed our travels around Kerala and Linda is already planning another Indian trip for years to come.