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| Negombo beach |
Ah, I cannot tell how good it feels to be creating posts and sharing travels with you again!
Kicking off our Sri Lanka travels are some snaps from the first couple of days on the beautiful island.
Pretty much most travellers will spend a bit of time in Negombo, because A - it is the main town nearest the international airport (Colombo, the commercial capital, is actually a bit of a drive away) and B - most flights arrive or depart around midnight, so it is the easiest town to stay in after a long journey, with lots of great accommodation options.
Luckily for us, we happened to land around midday, however after a long flight from Sydney with the little guy, we wanted to time to settle in and take it easy before exploring further. We headed out just before sunset to have a look around the beach and town, and while Negombo isn't anything spectacular, we loved the surrounding country side - full of lush gardens, gorgeous old bungalows and coconut trees aplenty.
After a night in Negombo, we headed east to what is called the Cultural Triangle of Sri Lanka. This area is north of Kandy and home to Sri Lanka's ancient past with many significant historical and religious sites. We decided to visit Sigiriya and the Dambulla cave temple, as these were not far from Kandy (our next stop), and came highly recommended.
Sigiriya blew us away, and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Sri Lanka. An ancient rock fortress built in the 5th century, it is perched high on top of Lion Rock and well worth the climb, with stunning views of the surrounding landscape. The gardens and complex at it's base are also worth exploring and not rushing through.
After an afternoon atop Sigiriya and an Ayurvedic massage to help recover (we were on holiday after all!) we headed next morning to Dambulla, to explore the famous cave temples, which contain Buddhist statues and paintings. The site is not overly big, and is quite unassuming on first sight. However, upon entering each cave and adjusting to the light, the intricate paintings and statues are beautiful.
Not a bad start to our trip!
Next: the hill town of Kandy.
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| A traditional fishing boat |
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| Hoppers and spicy sambal - delicious! |
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| Approaching Sigiriya |
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| On the top of Lion Rock |
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| Surrounding gardens |
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| The entrance to Dambulla caves |
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| Dambulla cave temples |
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| Inside the caves |
Isn't Sigiriya marvelous? I remember being slightly nervous on the pathway to the summit, especially on the spiral staircase as it looked rather old. On my second visit to this site, the nervousness had gone, but the view from up there was as breathtaking as I remembered it from my first trip. Gorgeous shots, Gemma!
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