Churches
One would expect that the predominantly aquatic environments of Venice and Kerala would give rise to strong fishing industries. In the case of Venice, the port of Chioggia, 25 kilometers to the south at the entrance to the lagoon provides a supply of fresh fish to the wholesale market at Tronchetto and to the retail fish market near the Rialto Bridge (and thence to the multitudinous number of restaurants in the city). But this supply has to be supplemented by frozen fish shipped from other parts of the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
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| The Fishing Port of Chioggia |
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| The Rialto Retail Fish Market |
In contrast, fishing in Kerala is a major industry producing some 700,000 tons of fish per year, employing about 1.1 million. However, this is split between the more industrialized fisheries of the ocean on the Kerala coast and the very primitive fishing in the Kerala Backwaters.
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| Fishing with a rod in the Kerala Backwaters |
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| Fishing by net.
Contrary to the sophisticated distribution in Venice, the distribution in the Kerala Backwaters is definitely local, with supplies preserved by using ice chipped from large blocks.
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| Chipping an ice block at the the fishmongers. |
However there is a bit of an industry using local natural energy resources to produce dried fish.
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| Fish drying.... |
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| ..... on the road side! |
Churches
Both Venice and the Kerala Backwaters have a significant number of canal-side churches - although somewhat differing in style.
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In addition there are plenty of statues and shrines...
The confusing flavors of christianity in Kerala may be the subject of a future blog. In Venice, the decline in church attendance has created some very interesting museums - also a subject to be pursued.
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