Introduction
In the ramshackle port of Fort Kochi, thriving merchants trade spices and teas among the crumbling stone walls and shop fronts of the atmospheric old medieval quarter, while Chinese fishing nets float in one of the world's finest natural harbours. Cochin was once a major centre of sea trade with the British, Arabs, Chinese, Portuguese and Dutch and is today the most modern city in Kerala, with the best shopping, markets and bazaars.