India: Mysuru and Fort Kochi

Our second week in India: so far, so good. We started in Mysuru, where we met the last batch of Daniel ex Kollmorgen colleagues. Hrushi and Divy took us out to the Olive garden restaurant, one of their favorite place. Magali found the tandori chicken and prawns so good, she decided that starting from now she will only order starters from the tandoor in restaurants. The next day we diverted another bunch of Kollmorgen ex-colleagues from their work by having coffee all together at their campus. The Kollmorgen reunion ended up with a lovely dinner at Jagdish’s new place. Once again, many many thanks to Hrushi, Divy, Prasad, Deepa, Jagdish, Jagdish’s family and all the others! You made our stay in Mysuru really enjoyable!

We left Mysuru on a rainy day, the two of us on our own. Now we will have to deal without direct help from our friends (although they still support us on Whatsapp). Our next destination was Fort Kochi, a small rather touristic city on the coast. Walking (or cycling) in the narrow streets, on the many bridges and along the shores kept us busy the whole time. Our B&B was absolutely lovely and helped us a lot (more details below).

we did specifically enjoy

• Mysore: Going around the city using autorickshaws, Uber and Ola (or by foot too). There is way less trafic than in Bangalore or Hyderabad!
• Mysore: the visit of the Palace using the audio guide. Explanations are very well done, not too detailed and not too general. And the palace is a real gem in the city.
• Mysore: The bird sancturay (no birdcages there). We saw ibis, pelicans, kingfishers, egrets, cormorants… and crocodiles.

accommodations

This week, we were really lucky. The two places we stayed were perfect. We definitly recommend them to anyone travelling to Mysuru or to Fort Kochi.

• Mysore: Rooftop retreat: A genuine homestay where you are provided with a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, a rooftop terrace, delicious food and a lot of help from Divia, the owner.
• Fort Kochi: Sowparnika Hermitage: Fenton, the owner, helped us a lot before we even arrived there. We exchanged a lot of emails with him, moved our booking several times and he was really helpful. And then, once at the place (beautiful by the way), he made us feel like guests, not like customers. At the end, Magali said that she would have loved to stay there one more week (this is like receiving a michelin three stars on her scale!)

restaurants

• The Olive Garden in Mysore. Especially the Tandori starters!
• The Fusion Bay in Fort Kochi, the masala fish cooked in a banana leaf was very tasty.

Best Kept Secret Tip

Dax, one of the friend of the B&B Sowparnika Hermitage helped us organising our trip to Munnar (to be seen in the next episode). Then he took us on a bicycle ride (he provided the bicycles) in the narrow streets of Fort Kochi. During one full morning, he took us from one community to another and explained us how they live peacefully together. It was one of the best guided tour we did so far! (Dax, among other things, did organize two seasons of Pekin Express when they were crossing Kerala) You can contact the Sowparnika Hermitage B&B to get in touch with him.