South India: Kerala: Rossitta Wood Castle

Rossitta Wood Castle
1/334 Bishop Joseph Kureethara Road
Fort Kochi, Cochin 682-001, Kerala, South India
http://www.rossittawoodcastle.com/

I found this place from http://www.indiamike.com/, one of the better India travel forums out there. Rossitta appealed to me because it looked soo cute, in a Lord-of-the-Rings-shire kind of way.

In truth, it looked a bit darker and older compared to their web page. It is an old building, with lots of wood, and it is easy to imagine that it was a private house from back then. It has a nice-sized ballroom on the second floor that doubled as an art gallery for spooky yoga-inspired paintings.

The courtyard, which is the hotel's best feature, is really just picture-perfect, with these fat wood columns, lots of flowers, and bright colors everywhere.

We picked one of the rooms overlooking the courtyard. As DJKung and I have decided that we were prepared to pamper ourselves (none of that rough backpacking business!), we of course had satellite tv, ac AND our own bathroom.

The room at the top left was ours, so we could hang out at the balcony. Because of the area, however, there were a lot of mosquitoes at night.

Fresh squeezed pineapple juice and a hot pot of coffee is the best way to start the day! (I think the local paper's headline was about the meltdown going on in Pakistan.)

Keralan breakfast. Roti filled with curried potatoes, onions and coconut meal. Scrumptious.

Rossitta was a great location for sightseeing around Fort Cochin. The area is chock-full of old buildings and churches (and of course the fort) dating back to Portuguese times. The island is also home to these beautiful gigantic trees with wide, wide canopies.

The Chinese fishing nets at Cochin are also a popular tourist attraction. These go way back to 1400. The contraption is pretty huge, and basically works with weights on one end that the fisherman use for raising and lowering the nets.

Chinese fishing nets in background. The catch was rather poor when we visited. There are also several fishmongers lining the seafront, and several of them can cook your selections (fish, squid, prawns, shellfish) too!