The wedding took place in Kandy, located in the very centre of this drop shaped island. It was lovely, romantic, and very special. But by far my favourite part of that trip was my time alone, travelling through this amazing country which -shame on me- was not on my travel list before.
Polonnaruwa, ancient ruins of old cities
My first destination was the ruins of Polonnaruwa, located north east from Kandy. It is the ancient capital of the second biggest kingdom in Sri Lanka, which is about 1000 years old.
I took a bus which despite of the not that long distance from Kandy, took about 5 hours to get there. The reason: Streets are usually in bad condition, and also some renovation work was delaying the whole traffic at the main streets.
I learned that Sri Lanka’s train system, compared to the bus, works quite good, but mainly at the centre and south of this country, so if you’re going to the north, the bus is always the best alternative. Prices are really cheap, for transport, accommodation and food. Of course you can find fancy restaurants and hotels everywhere, but also decent places with very friendly English speaking people, for very attractive prices. One example: A night at the hostel in a shared room, and all of the meals, breakfast, very generous lunch and a light dinner, cost me barely 20 Euros. But very differently, entrance fees for foreigners in natural parks, ruins and sites of interest are quite expensive.
As I said, I arrived to the ruins after 5 hours of traffic jam. But it was really worth it: the ruins were huge, the whole city is well preserved and really interesting. The whole area was abandoned and all the buildings (houses, schools, temples) remain in good condition.
The entrance to the park for a foreigner costs 25 Dollars, not that cheap, as I said. Also, once I paid, I realized that actually no one asks you for the ticket when you start walking inside, and that a lot of people in my group did not pay anything.
The guides, who can be hired at the very entrance of the park, told to my group that for the whole visit, one should carry about 6 litres of water. Yes, I thought the same, “pffff, that is way too much”, but believe me, it was not. After about 4 hours walking, going up and down and seeing all the ruins and temples, I drank all of the water and I did not visit the toilet even once. The area where Polonnaruwa is located, is really hot during summer months of July, August and September. Temperature was around 37 degrees, with 100% humidity. Water was literally evaporating from my body.
Ella, tea plantations and amazing landscape
After the heat in Polonnaruwa, I decided I needed a break of such summer. So I went to Ella, located at the centre of Sri Lanka, southern from Kandy, but quite high up in the mountains. Because of that, temperatures are way lower during summer, reaching barely 25 degrees in deep summer.
Ella is known worldwide because of the Ceylon tea, former name of Sri Lanka: English colonizers introduced tea plantations in this area, and even now, the whole process of growing, collecting and processing tea is done by hand. During the train ride to get there, one can observe many people, mainly women and young girls, taking tea leaves to be fermented, dried and processed.
The landscape is amazing, and the weather is perfect for hiking. Waterfalls and green areas of tea plantations merge in a framework of hills and mountains, and if one starts early in the morning, one can also see the very romantic image of mist coming down to the plantations, really a dream!
In that area, the company Macwoods is one of the most popular tea factories. They offer English speaking tours through the whole production process, a big store where you can buy souvenirs, and an elegant, English style tea saloon, where one can drink different varieties of locally produced tea.
Before leaving, I sat at a table outside, I drank tea and I contemplated the wonderful, wild and green panorama that Sri Lanka was offering.
Galle: beach, colonial past and blue sky
My third stop in Sri Lanka was the beach of Galle, in the extreme south of the island. It is one of the bigger cities close and south of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s capital.
Galle was built in the 16th century for the Portuguese conquerors – yes, Sri Lanka was not only conquered by English, but also first by Portuguese, and after the British took control of the island, the city started losing importance against Colombo, the current capital.
But the Portuguese did a wonderful job regarding architecture: they built a beautiful town, a fortress by the sea, and beautiful churches and houses that are still inhabited. Some people told me that from the whole trip in Sri Lanka, they liked Galle the least, because it is the most “European”, non-traditional Sri Lanka city. But it is also true that the mixture of European architecture and Sri Lankan landscape and its beaches is something really unique.
But they were right: Galle has the most “occidental like” shops, where one should not haggle prices, something that one should do very often in Sri Lanka. There are also coffee shops, nice restaurants and souvenir stores with handcrafted, nice souvenirs. I spent just one day at Galle walking on the street and lying on the wonderful beach, and I really liked it.
After Galle, I had to go back. I brought home some souvenirs – a Buda statue I bought in Polonnaruwa, after haggling the price as a local, three packs of tea from Macwoods, and of course, half a kilogram of cinnamon, which I bought at the market in Ella, probably the best I have tried in my entire life. I hope it won’t last too long, so I have to go back to Sri Lanka to buy more.
Links of interest
