On our last day of touring our focus went back to religion. Syrian Christians have long claimed that St Thomas arrived in Kerala in 52 AD and there was already a Christian community here when Vasco Da Gama landed. Today there are two separate orthodox churches as a result of a division centuries ago. The generosity of a local king allowed a plot to be found for a second church to be built not far from the first, one with links to Damascus the other locally independent., which conveniently allowed us to visit both in the morning.
Original frescoes in Small St Mary's Church - Cheria Palli
This is Big St Mary's Church - Valli Palli
And just in case you had forgotten there are Hindus in India, we went to Mahadev Temple.
Another day another memorable lunch, today's being hosted by a prominent family at their house, which is also being offered the visitors as a home-stay accommodation.
These are the staff who prepared our lunch. A spread of curries and pickles, vegetarian and non-vegetarian.
Towards the end of the day, we were surprised by news that our presence had made it to a local news in the Indian Express. Despite there being 6 Australians, we were relegated to the etc. category!
http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/638939/The-New-Indian-Express-Kochi/14112015?show=touch#page/18/1
