Colours of Galle, Srilanka
I'm going to break the order yet again here just like many other things in my life. From my recent trip to Srilanka, I want to write first about the city I visited last. When I upload the pictures onto my computer, Galle pictures drew all my attention, as if the beautiful dutch fort town was still hovering around my head.
We reached Galle (pronounced as 'Gaul' or 'Gawl') after 9PM in the night, we were welcomed by rain and an emptying place, most places in Srilanka are closing up by 8PM. This city was no different. As we had planned initially for night journey to Galle from Nuwara Eliya or Ella, we still didn't have any accommodation for the night! We ended up entering the deserted looking Galle fort in the rain in tuk-tuks and crashing at an unplanned hotel called 'Dutch Villa' for the night. The age old wooden house had huge glass windows through which the street light came in, the quite old lady who took care of the place gave the whole house an eerie feeling, haunted mansion... Anyway all the 5 of us wanted to get through the night quick and get to our booked hotel '37, Rampart View'. We were curious of what we would have for a view!
In the morning even before we stepped out we could hear the music of the street, somewhere between tribal and religious tune, couldn't figure why or what the music was, but when we got to the street to find Rampart View, we were welcomed with colourful, beautiful houses and the brown fort wall with lush green lining. And there I already knew it, in the next two days I would have shot a picture of almost every house there. What do you know, I actually think I have!
Our rooms at Rampart view was just what we wanted and so was the view. Thanks to Madhavi! The view consisted of the fort wall and the ocean on the otherside along with the bastions in sight. With the cool ocean breeze always hitting our rooms we couldn't have asked for more. Then came my favourite part. Exploring the fort town. It reminded us a lot of Fort Kochi, Kerala but only with a many more sweet simple Dutch houses and also a lighthouse (And much cleaner). The Dutch influence is visible in the architecture and also signs of the british rule.
But what I liked the most was naming of the streets. Lighthouse street, Pedlar street, Church street and Rampart street, simple and self descriptive. If you didn't understand then for a few streets they even had the description mentioned underneath the sign! After strolling around for a while, you get the feeling that you know your way around. Then you bookmark all the places you want to try for the all the meals of the day and of course Ceylon tea. My meal of the day through out the stay in Galle was breakfast at "Weltevreden". A heritage dutch house with rooms to stay around a beautiful, colourful, small courtyard. Mr.Piyasen, the onwer of the hotel and the house welcomed us heartily into his dinning room and served us yummy soft warm toats,omlette, sweet and delicious papaya and pineapples!
After a leisure day at Galle, come the second day, one among us, Rakesh was ending his trip. After bidding bye to him (and in a day we would be joining him in India), we were on the bus to Madolla tea factory around 8kms away, to buy some good ceylon tea and also have a look at the tea factory.
From the tea factory we made our way to Mirissa. The way to Mirissa in the bus is along the coastline. The blue/green sea water is like 30 steps away the whole way. Just like most parts of Srilanka, the beaches everywhere are clean, no sign or plastic or dirt, all along the very approachable sea shore. This quality of Lanka was appreciated by all of us as we weren't aware of it neither did we expect that. After visiting the secluded calm beach of Mirrisa and heading back to Galle, we ended our stay in Galle with a calm and sadly the last evening. Next day we had to bid goodbye to my second most favourite place in Srilanka! Goodbye to Galle.
We reached Galle (pronounced as 'Gaul' or 'Gawl') after 9PM in the night, we were welcomed by rain and an emptying place, most places in Srilanka are closing up by 8PM. This city was no different. As we had planned initially for night journey to Galle from Nuwara Eliya or Ella, we still didn't have any accommodation for the night! We ended up entering the deserted looking Galle fort in the rain in tuk-tuks and crashing at an unplanned hotel called 'Dutch Villa' for the night. The age old wooden house had huge glass windows through which the street light came in, the quite old lady who took care of the place gave the whole house an eerie feeling, haunted mansion... Anyway all the 5 of us wanted to get through the night quick and get to our booked hotel '37, Rampart View'. We were curious of what we would have for a view!
In the morning even before we stepped out we could hear the music of the street, somewhere between tribal and religious tune, couldn't figure why or what the music was, but when we got to the street to find Rampart View, we were welcomed with colourful, beautiful houses and the brown fort wall with lush green lining. And there I already knew it, in the next two days I would have shot a picture of almost every house there. What do you know, I actually think I have!
Our rooms at Rampart view was just what we wanted and so was the view. Thanks to Madhavi! The view consisted of the fort wall and the ocean on the otherside along with the bastions in sight. With the cool ocean breeze always hitting our rooms we couldn't have asked for more. Then came my favourite part. Exploring the fort town. It reminded us a lot of Fort Kochi, Kerala but only with a many more sweet simple Dutch houses and also a lighthouse (And much cleaner). The Dutch influence is visible in the architecture and also signs of the british rule.
But what I liked the most was naming of the streets. Lighthouse street, Pedlar street, Church street and Rampart street, simple and self descriptive. If you didn't understand then for a few streets they even had the description mentioned underneath the sign! After strolling around for a while, you get the feeling that you know your way around. Then you bookmark all the places you want to try for the all the meals of the day and of course Ceylon tea. My meal of the day through out the stay in Galle was breakfast at "Weltevreden". A heritage dutch house with rooms to stay around a beautiful, colourful, small courtyard. Mr.Piyasen, the onwer of the hotel and the house welcomed us heartily into his dinning room and served us yummy soft warm toats,omlette, sweet and delicious papaya and pineapples!
After a leisure day at Galle, come the second day, one among us, Rakesh was ending his trip. After bidding bye to him (and in a day we would be joining him in India), we were on the bus to Madolla tea factory around 8kms away, to buy some good ceylon tea and also have a look at the tea factory.
From the tea factory we made our way to Mirissa. The way to Mirissa in the bus is along the coastline. The blue/green sea water is like 30 steps away the whole way. Just like most parts of Srilanka, the beaches everywhere are clean, no sign or plastic or dirt, all along the very approachable sea shore. This quality of Lanka was appreciated by all of us as we weren't aware of it neither did we expect that. After visiting the secluded calm beach of Mirrisa and heading back to Galle, we ended our stay in Galle with a calm and sadly the last evening. Next day we had to bid goodbye to my second most favourite place in Srilanka! Goodbye to Galle.