Interestingly, Kotayyam has an astonishingly Syrian populace. Largely Christianized due to the sway of the Portuguese, know that the Syrians are very much reserved for in Kottayam.
They have a deep-seated provenance in Saint Thomas who visited the region sometime in AD 53 and single-handedly initiated seven churches on the Malabar Coast.
Unsurprisingly then – and explorers rejoice! -- Kotayyam brings to mind churches and colonial houses built in the colonial style, hence the tag Rome of the East. And then we are bowled over because, apart from that, Kotayyam is known all over India as the first fully literate municipal town of India.
A comprehensive map of Kotayyam would tell us that we should be spending time at Kotayyam’s Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary, nestled on the banks of the placid Vembanad Lake -- here tourists may set adrift on a backwater cruise or else go fishing. |
