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Fort Kochi is the home to some of the oldest
European architecture in India and has been a significant
settlement ever since Kochi Harbour was discovered. Unlike the
bustling Ernakulum, the twin cities of Fort Kochi and
Mattancherry have preserved an extraordinary wealth of early
colonial architecture spanning the Portuguese, Dutch and the
British eras- a crop unparalleled in India. A day spent
wandering the streets of Fort Kochi will be well spent. Some of
the significant landmarks include Vasco da Gama's supposed house
and several traders' residences.
The district where tourism has made its most discernible impact
is Fort Kochi, the grid of venerable old streets where the
Portuguese erected their first walled citadel, Fort Immanuel.
Only a few fragments of the former battlements remain; however
dozens of other evocative Lusitanian, Dutch and British
monuments survive ranging from stately tea broker's bungalows to
Bishop's palaces and the gabled facade of the oldest church in
Asia.
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