Although a fairly small island, we continued to be amazed by the variety of things to see and do in Sri Lanka. The so called Cultural Triangle in central Sri Lanka offered up two great ancient sights – the Sigiriya Rock Fortress and the Ancient City of Polonnaruwa. We visited both in April 2017.
We got a very early morning (5am) transfer from Kandy (which we won’t miss) to Polonnaruwa stopping on route to climb the Sigiriya Rock Fortress (aka Lion Rock). The transfer took about three hours getting us to Sigiriya just after 8am. It is absolutely essential to get there early – later in the day it is scorching hot and so full of people you can’t move!
The UNESCO world heritage fortress sits on top of a 200m high rock and was first built about 1500 years ago! The views at the entrance to the sight provide a great perspective about how challenging this must have been to construct and how effective it would have been as a defensive structure. The gardens leading to the rock also give a feeling for how grand the city would have been!
We didn’t find the walk up to be particularly challenging (others did) but even first thing in the morning we worked up a pretty good sweat. Most of the way up is fairly safe with well protected steps but I’m sure if this were in Australia or UK there would be a lot more railings and protection. About half way up there is a small cave with some really well preserved wall paintings dating back to when the fortress was created but we weren’t able to take any pics.
There have been some fairly well publicised problems with dangerous wasps at a breakpoint near the top but we followed the warning signs and had no issues.
The fortress at the top was very impressive and has been well maintained. We chilled out up top and had our packed breakfast while soaking in the views before heading back down.
We spent about two hours in total at Sigiriya but by the time we were on our way back down it was absolutely packed on the stairs going up. We were very glad we sacrificed some sleep to beat the crowds. Walking exceptionally slowly up a rock in scorching heat trying to avoid the dripping sweat from the guy in front would not be my idea of fun!
We met our driver who was waiting with our luggage and drove on another hour or so to Polonnaruwa.
Polonnaruwa is home to the Royal Ancient City of the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa – the former capital that has been around for about 1,000 years. While it’s no Angkor Wat the ancient city is perfect for exploring on bike (it is way too big to cover meaningfully on foot) and has a wide range of old ruins with about 10 or 12 very well preserved buildings that you should see. Our guesthouse gave us a crude map so we hired their bikes and spent a half day exploring. For us this was enough time but to see everything you would need a full day (with a break in the middle to avoid maximum heat). Unlike our experience in Cambodia we often had the place to yourself or with a handful of other tourists.
A few of the highlights were…
The reclining Buddha at Gal Vihara. This 14m statue is one of the more popular sights. There was a large group of people worshipping when we were there.The bike ride itself was mostly easy apart from the short stretch on the busy highway from the guesthouse to the ticket collection point (which isn’t at the entrance but is in the town!).
One particular sight – the lotus pond – was a long way away from the other sights (and tourists) along a dirt road. We were about to start the long ride back when some security guards pointed for us to push on further up a very steep dirt road to see the “image house”. We debated for a bit then decided yolo and rode on. A very sweaty ride up but we had the place to ourselves and felt it was well worth it.
Lankathilaka Image House which would have been filled with paintings in the walls.
We stayed at a simple guesthouse (which was somewhere between an actual guesthouse and a small hotel) – Seyara Holiday Resort. For $15 a night we had a large, clean and simple room and access to the pool. OK it wasn’t a 5 star resort but for the price it was great. The afternoons in Polonnaruwa are very hot so a dip in the pool to cool down (ish, the water was pretty warm) was needed. The guesthouse did a buffet dinner each night for a few bucks. Again it was simple but they had a great range and it was good value.
I have no idea about Polonnaruwa town itself as we never saw it. The attractions here are all ancient and we didn’t see any need to explore its modern version. We did stumble on a fantastic farm restaurant on the outskirts of town near our guesthouse. The super friendly ladies at Gemi Gedara have a buffet of delicious vegetables and curries prepared straight from the attached farm. We went for lunch both days – a real hit.
Overall a great two day stop over. Up next, off to the east coast beaches in Trincomalee.
