Alappuzha-Overview

Alappuzha is known as the Venice of the east. its criss-crossing canals, which were once busy waterways, evoked comparison with Venice. Once a booming trading centre from where coir products were exported to different parts of the world. Business and commerce may have long left Alappuzha, but tourism is reviving this old trading town. Merchants and settlers have left behind an architectural heritage that combined with its quiet streets, a long stretch of beach and winding canals, give this place a quaint, alluring quality.

Situated at the south-western tip of Vembanad Lake, Alappuzha had its heyday as a commercial hub when Dewan Raja Keshavadas, in 1775-76, It to be a major port of the erstwhile Travancore state .but it was Veluthambi Dalava who took up development of Alapuzha town in a planned manner. The decline of the port at Purakkad also known as Ambalapuzha or Chempakasseri, necessitated the rehabilitation of traders for which the Dewan selected Alapuzha .Having found a 13 meter long mud bank in the sea around Alapuzha, which afforded good anchorage and made the waters calm, as in a lagoon; he got the jungles cleared up and built the Canals that connected back waters to the port. The Rajas Travancore took personal interest in the Dewan’s proposal and the port city was constructed adopting modern town planning concept. True to design, it grew to be a prosperous trading and fisheries centre.

This is a place between the Arabian sea and Vembanad lake, on a silver of land barely 4km wide, Alapuzha had the duel advantage of cheap in land water transport on its eastern end and calm seas suitable for a all weather port on the west .A working port was in place by 1786.The Dewan built the first Canal here, leading from the lake right up to the beach which can to be known as the commercial Canal. A hundred meter long pier with trolley car rails was added by the British later .Alapuzha began  attracting traders from many parts of the country, notably from Gujarat and Bombay, who traded Copra ,timber pepper and coir products. Fallout of the trading activity was that rich Jain and Gujarathi business man bought prime land in what is called the sea view ward, and built homes ware houses and temples. In 1859 the first coir factory was established, producing mats from coir yarns on a loom developed by a English sea captain, James Dariegh. Alapuzha soon became the power centre of coir trade and was, at one time the world’s chief supplier of coir yarn and coir matting along the sides of the canals; we can still sea several buildings that once housed large factories and warehouses.

Booming trade and industry attracted Christian missionaries who built the first Anglican Church here in 1820. The first post office in the erstwhile Travancore state also came up here in 1851. Alappuzha was the home of the trade union movement; militanat trade unionism discouraged entrepreneurs. Ideally located as a base for backwater cruising, Alappuzha attracts tourists the year round for that singular experience. Private boat operators have mushroomed near the boat jetty and offer competitive rates for daylong cruises. Long lines of house boats lie moored all along the banks of this part of the lake, called Punnamada, close to where the riverPampa flow in. with more than 200 houseboats operating from Alappuzha and about 20-25 companies engaged in the house boat business, it has become the hub of house boats.

The piece-de- resistance of cruising in the backwaters is a trip to the Kuttanad region- a vast area of reclaimed land covered in brilliant green paddy fields. Alappuzha is also a centre of the annual Nehru Trophy boat race. Narrow snake like wooden boats called chundan Vallom, nearly 125 feet long and barely five feet wide, stream across the Pampa River at Punnamada, the site famous regatta, propelled by more than 100 rowers and spurred by cheer leaders.

Alappuzha other charm is its beach. The broad white sands have seen new additions recently, like the brand new beach road, a landscaped park on he beach front, a couple of artistic statues and tall mast lights in between. But the old structures also remain. A red and white painted lighthouse built in 1862, by Marthanda varma, stands tall.

Like elsewhere in Kerala, Alappuzha has its share of temples and churches. The Mullakkal Bhagavathi temple, among the oldest in this region, the Thirumala Devaswam shrine near the jetty , the 1816 built CSI church  and reconstructed Pazhayangadi church are examples. The sizable Konkani community here maintained a distinctive social milieu, most of their hoses being congregated around the Pallikkunnu bhagavathi temple. The Kutchi Memons, who migrated from the Kutchi district of Gujarat, are another important trading community, now dwindling in Alappuzha. Their Juma masjid near the beach is one of the earliest shrines in this region. Its original charm as a place with a unique topography and eco system is now pulling in the crowds.

Alapuzha is the “Umbrella Capital” of Kerala and umbrella shops here are flooded with a colorful range and variety of umbrellas like the five fold umbrella, the Ultra light Umbrella- weighing just 28 gram, the umbrella cum walking stick and other fancy ones for the tourists. Poppy and Johns are the best and most popular brands.

 

Things to do                              

·            Village walk

·            Backwater cruise

·            Discover Aleppey