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Beach and Islands in Cochin
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A saunter along the beach, particularly at sunset with the Chinese fishing nets and sailing ships in the background, is a splendid experience. Many Europeans constructed their own style bungalows along the shoreline. The coastal stretch has a lot of small stalls, which renders mouth-watering traditional cuisines using freshly caught fish. |
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The Chinese fishing nets (Cheenavala) are unique to Cochin. It is believed that traders from the court of the Chinese ruler Kublai Khan, who visited Cochin introduced these nets here. Quite surprisingly, these nets are found only in Kochi, outside China! Many fishermen in town earn their livelihood by fishing using these massive nets. A whole stretch of the coast along Fort Kochi and Vypeen are seen with these nets, which are now duplicated and used in other waterways as well.
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Cherai Beach is a scintillating beach in the Cherai village of Ernakulam district of Kerala, and is a located on the northern end of Vypeen islands. The beach is lined by gorgeous coconut groves and paddy fields. Vypeen can be reached by land or by boat.
Cherai Beach is just 30 km from Kochi by road and 30 km from Cochin International Airport. The nearby towns are North Paravur(6 km)and Kodungallur (10 km) and nearest railway station is Aluva (20 km).
The 15 km of long golden beach is very clean, shallow, and attracts swimming and sunbathing. This is one of the few places where we can see the lagoon (poyil) and ocean separated only by a few hundreds of meters. One of the main events in this beach is the tourism fest during December.
Best season to visit is all throughout the year barring the rainy season(June - October).
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Marine Drive is a picturesque esplanade in Kochi. It is built facing the backwaters, and is a popular hangout for the local masses. Ironic to its name, marine drive, no vehicles are allowed on the walkway. Marine Drive is also an economically thriving part of the city of Kochi. With several shopping malls it is as an important centre of shopping activity in Kochi. The view of the setting sun over the sea mouth, and the gentle breeze from the Vembanad Lake has made Marine Drive an important tourist attraction in Cochin. Hundreds of people (both natives, and tourists) swamp the walkway during the dusk, which is a beautiful and an astonishing experience. The bustling backwaters, dotted with fishing boats, speedboats, ships, tankers and passenger boats, can be observed from this walkway that lines the coast.
The walkway starts from the High Court Junction and continues until the Rajendra Maidan. There are also several boat jetties along the walkway.
The walkway has two contemporarily constructed bridges, the Rainbow bridge and the Chinese Fishing Net Bridge.
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The island is an artificial man-made island created in 1933 from the sand dug out while deepening the backwaters for the Cochin port. It has been named after Lord Willingdon, the former Madras governor, who was instrumental in implementing this island project. The main engineer spearheading this project, however, was Sir Robert Bristow. The island serves as the home of The Cochin Port Trust and the Southern naval command apart from a few corporate companies.
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