This gallery contains 37 photos.
The name Goa conjures up these images of golden-brown beaches and idyllic palm trees swaying in the breeze, crumbling Portuguese mansions and the sweltering heat, and those age-old edificios – the cathedrals and churches that point to the territory’s history … Continue reading
This gallery contains 13 photos.
Fort Cochin doesn’t have a grand hotel in the tradition of the Grand Tour of the East, but it does have a quaint little gem of a boutique heritage hotel by way of Le Colonial. Nominally managed by the Neemrana … Continue reading
This gallery contains 37 photos.
This third visual tour of the city takes in the islands around Fort Cochin, and the city of Ernakulam on the mainland. Setting sail from Fort Cochin, we first make landfall on Vypin island, just across from Fort Cochin. From … Continue reading
This gallery contains 32 photos.
Mattancherry is Cochin’s ancient trade and commercial hub. Since before the Europeans arrived, this has been a place trading vessels would come to for spices. And certainly it has remained the bustling commercial centre of Cochin through the colonial period … Continue reading
This gallery contains 36 photos.
The first visual tour of Cochin takes us through the heart of Fort Cochin. This was the site of the original Portuguese fortified settlement here, which was subsequently expanded by the Dutch, and then taken over by the British. This … Continue reading
This gallery contains 33 photos.
Leaving Colombo, we head north, rounding the tip of the Indian Subcontinent to attain what was once known as the Malabar Coast – the south-western coast of the peninsula, facing the Indian Ocean. For millennia, the Malabar Coast has seen … Continue reading
This gallery contains 25 photos.
Finally… after some thirty cities on my Grand Tour, I’m here, at last, at the grandest of the grande dames East of Suez, the Galle Face Hotel Colombo. Built in 1864 by four English gentlemen, Galle Face Hotel is believed … Continue reading
This gallery contains 33 photos.
South of Fort and Pettah sits the suburb of Cinnamon Gardens. Its name is a reference to what used to stand here in the Dutch period – acres and acres of cinnamon orchards. Its name is also a reference to … Continue reading
This gallery contains 35 photos.
The name “Pettah” is derived from the Sinhalese “pita-kotuwa”, which means “outside the fort”. This exactly describes what Pettah was and is today. In the Dutch era, this area was known as the “oudestad”, or Old Town. Where the Fort … Continue reading
This gallery contains 35 photos.
Fort, or Colombo Fort, is one of the oldest built-up areas in downtown Colombo, having been established by the Portuguese in the early 1500s as a fortified port settlement. Once there were actually walls that surrounded the city. Part of … Continue reading
Dream Of A City 