See Kochi’s top attractions independently, in your own private tuk-tuk, with this private shore excursion, which includes round-trip transfers from the cruise ship dock. You'll have plenty of flexibility to explore at your leisure, with time to stop at key attractions such as Fort Kochi Beach and its Chinese Fishing Nets, the Dutch Cemetery, the Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica, and Mattancherry Palace, to name a few.
Chinese fishing nets (Cheena vala) are a type of stationary lift net in India. They are fishing nets that are fixed land installations for fishing. While commonly known as "Chinese fishing nets" in India, the more formal name for such nets is "shore operated lift nets". Huge mechanical contrivances hold out horizontal nets of 20 m or more across. Each structure is at least 10 m high and comprises a cantilever with an outstretched net suspended over the sea and large stones suspended from ropes as counterweights at the other end. Each installation is operated by a team of up to six fishermen. While such nets are used throughout coastal southern China and Indochina, in India they are mostly found in the Indian cities of Kochi and Kollam, where they have become a tourist attraction. This way of fishing is unusual in India and almost unique to the area, as it was introduced by Chinese explorers who landed there in the 14th century.
The Dutch cemetery is among the visited sites in Fort Kochi, famous for its imperial inhabitants during the olden days who left their homelands centuries ago to propagate and expand their own empire. The cemetery was consecrated in 1724 and is today managed by the Church of South India and it contains some interesting stories around it.
St. Francis Church, in Fort Kochi (Fort Cochin), Kochi, originally built in 1503, is one of the oldest European churches in India and has great historical significance as a mute witness to the European colonial struggle in the subcontinent. The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama died in Kochi in 1524 when he was on his third visit to India. His body was originally buried in this church, but after fourteen years his remains were removed to Lisbon.
You will make your own way to the meeting points