Fort Kochi (also Fort Cochin) is the first city I visited in the state of Kerala. It’s really only known for the Chinese fishing nets that local fishermen use to catch a wide array of fish from the Indian Ocean, which they then sell whole to locals and tourists. After purchasing the fish, you can walk it a short distance and have it cooked at a nearby restaurant. Because these large, manually-operated nets are the #1 attraction in Lonely Planet, they have been turned into a bit of a tourist trap. If you walk near them, several fishermen will approach you and show you how the net works and allow you to operate it for a few minutes, and then turn around and ask you for a tip. Unfortunately, although Fort Kochi is a peninsula and therefore surrounded on three sides by water, there are no swimmable beaches in the city because they are all littered with either fishing nets or trash.