“Ceylon was Oriental in the last measure of completeness - utterly Oriental and also utterly tropical; and indeed to one's unreasoning spiritual sense the two things belong together." - Mark Twain, 'Following the Equator', 1897
Sigirya is an ancient volcanic plug, over 600 feet high and 2 billion years old, towering over the central plains of Sri Lanka. In the 6th Century AD, a Sri Lankan king decided to build his castle on top. This king had killed his father and was preparing for an invasion from his brother (who had fled to India), so he moved the capital from Anuradhapura to here. It didn’t work out well. After constructing his castle on top of Sigirya, the brother brought his invading force. The king went out to meet his brother, riding an elephant with his army behind him. Unfortunately for the king, the elephant got scared and bolted. His army scattered, and the king ended up committing suicide in front of his brother. The brother, now king, abandoned Sigirya and went back to Anuradhapura.
So it’s history is short, but Sigirya is a must stop on the tourist route and the climb up is a great experience. It’s 600 feet up to the top and strong metal staircases and walkways have been constructed along the entire route. About half way up is a cave, about 150 feet long. On the walls are beautiful paintings of women, just from the waist up. No one is sure what they represent, but they are some of the most beautiful paintings in Sri Lanka.
The climb up...
1500 year old wall paintings...
A little further up you come upon a flat area where there are two huge lion paws, which border an entrance for the final flight of stairs. It is thought that at one time the entire lion was here and you probably entered the final climb through his mouth. The view from the top is magnificent, although the day we went up it was a little foggy. But the entire area is flat, so you can see for many miles in the distance. The remains of the palace are up here, including a huge basin that’s filled with water. How they got the building materials up here is really something to ponder.
The great Lion Paws...
"And always it is the same; the slender palm trees leaning over the white sand, the warm sun sparkling on the waves as they break on the inshore reef, the outrigger fishing boats drawn up high on the beach. This alone is real; the rest is but a dream from which I shall presently awake." - Arthur C. Clarke, 'The Treasure of the Great Reef', 1964
Next up was another ancient city, Polonnaruwa. This place was built between the 11th and 13th Centuries AD and replaced Anuradhapura as the capital (we will visit Anuradhapura next). It is huge, almost 40 square kilometers. So you need a car to do it in a reasonable time and we had Sanjay. There were many wonderful dagobas and some Hindu temples, but the highlight was three Buddha statues, one seated, one standing and one sleeping, all carved out of the living rock and they were BIG!
This man will weigh you for 10 rupees...
Mid afternoon coconut water break...
A great lunch...
Our final ancient city was the granddaddy of them all, Anuradhapura. Starting around the 4th Century BC and lasting until the 11th Century AD, when Polonnaruwa eclipsed it, Anuradhapura was huge, over 40 square kilometers.
Mihintale is a small temple complex 13 kilometers from the main city. The best thing here was climbing up a big rock to get a view of the temple. You used the ancient steps carved in the rock and it was pretty hard and we were fealty MG pretty good about ourselves until we turned around and saw an old lady, probably in her 70s or 80s coming right up behind us. She was helped up by her grandson, but it was still quite a feat. Once we got down, a huge class of about 100 students went up there. I’m not sure how they all fit on the rock that was the viewing platform.
A local archaeologist (second from right) and her assistants...
Anuradhapura is most famous for its gigantic dagobas, or stupas. One of them, Jetavana, which is totally made of bricks, was said to be the third largest structure in the world at the time it was built. I’m pretty sure the ancient pyramids of Dashur are bigger, but Jetavana is big! Another famous site here is the Bodi tree. It is said that the original Bodi tree here came from a cutting from Bodi Gaya, the Bodi tree where the Buddha became enlightened under.
We spent two days here, the first in Sanjay’s car and the second on a bicycle from our hotel.
Everyone loves ice cream!
Young monks going to temple...
For our final lunch, right before we were to head out on our 35 hour trip home, we ate in a very local restaurant and had some rice and curry. We were definitely the only foreigners there. The food was great, quite spicy. The owners, as do many Sri Lankans, asked us where we were from, how long we were visiting, and if we liked their country. We could emphatically say we loved Sri Lanka; its beautiful countryside, the cuisine, the ancient cities, and most of all, its friendly and welcoming people.
Oh yes, it was spicy!
Thank you, Sri Lanka, for a remarkable two weeks. You far surpassed our expectations.
