Galle, Sri Lanka
I’ve never seen any town like it.
After I left Mirissa, I decided to work my way back up the coast towards Colombo, stopping at a few cities along the way. The first town I stopped in, for three days, was Galle. There is new city Galle, which is the modern day, ‘typical’ Sri Lankan city, and there is also Galle Fort, where I stayed. Galle Fort, or “Old Town of Galle and its Fortifications” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, described as:
Founded in the 16th century by the Portuguese, Galle reached the height of its development in the 18th century, before the arrival of the British. It is the best example of a fortified city built by Europeans in South and South-East Asia, showing the interaction between European architectural styles and South Asian traditions.
Galle from above:
Galle Fort
Very old roots from Portuguese and Dutch Colonialism, and it still looks very much the same way today, thanks to on-going preservation. Absolutely adorable town, not to mention the amazing views of the Indian Ocean wrapping around 3/4 of the Fort, beaches, tropical weather with ocean breeze, island flora and fauna… Oh my! By far my favorite Sri Lanka😍 I read that Galle is similar in uniqueness to Cartagena because of the fortifications and the Colonial architecture still present. I may visit Cartagena at the end of my trip.
Anyway, here’s what I saw…
lighthouse
hotel rooftop – Flagrock Bastion
restaurant
train station
pano from roof
street
Dutch Reformed Church
shopping arcade
building in Galle
beach on end of fort
hello kitty
early morning blue
steet in Galle
view from hotel roof
all saints church
inside all saints church
main gate
pano from hotel roof
cool tree
clock tower by main gate
statue guards
hi, kingfisher:)
street brick
view from rooftop restaurant
The white building on the right in the photo above is the Fort Meeran Jumma Masjid (mosque). Another reason I liked Galle and Sri Lanka was because of all the different types of people and religions – Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians. As I was waiting for my food to come, the speakers on the mosque blasted the afternoon call to prayer (ya, it was LOUD):
As you can see, there is a wall, or ramparts, wrapping around the whole of the fort. My hotel was on the southern point, located next to Flagrock Bastion, which was initially used as a signaling station to warn approaching ships of the rocks in the bay (now, a few local daredevil people jump off of it into the sea below😳). Rampart View Hotel is separated from the ramparts by a street, and it had an amazing view from the roof, and THE BEST BREAKFAST I’VE HAD ON MY TRIP!
this is my hotel – ramparts on the left, just in front of the ocean waves
sri lankan breakfast at hotel – flagrock bastion in background
The owners were super nice, and the ladies who brought breakfast were so happy that I liked the food. They had two options for the meal – you could chooose Western breakfast or Sri Lankan. The other people staying at the hotel all ordered the Western. On the second day, when I told the owners I wanted the Sri Lankan breakfast again, they looked so happy – it was like they knew that I knew how delicious it was, and they were just happy for me😊😊
day 2 free breakfast = best breakfast I’ve had on my trip!
In the picture above – on the top right, the noodles are called string hoppers, the thin pancake-looking things are hoppers, coconut curry, with a poached egg inside (soooooooooooooo good), the bottom right bowl is coconut sambol (this is one of the tastiest things I’ve ever eaten), and the rest: watermelon juice, fruit and coffee.
and this is the view while eating breakfast…
I’ve gotten used to having a mosquito net to use over my bed when I’m asleep at night:
essential.
My favorite building on Galle Fort was the Dutch Reformed Church. It’s still used every Sunday for one Protestant church service (how cool would that be to be a Protestant and visit Galle and be able to go to a service here!?). There are a lot of dead people in and outside the church😳.
Dutch Reformed Church
inside Dutch Church
wall hangings
dead person under floor
cemetery beside church
yellow plumeria
Just outside Galle Fort main gate:
field day for girls at cricket stadium
And my leg wound FINALLY healed! It looks like it will leave quite the scar, but I’m just so grateful it’s better😃 (thank you again Madan and Dr. Rajendra☺️).
29 days later, healed!
This photo is here so that I’m not ending on a disgusting picture of a leg:
lighthouse
Next up: More beautiful SL and INDIA
Lanka!
Ceylon! Beaches! Trains! Roti! Whales!
Since I couldn’t go to Tibet for the week, I decided to go to Sri Lanka instead because it’s close, I saved money on changing the plane tickets, and I’ve always heard about how nice it is.
I flew into Colombo, but I had two connections – one in Kolkata (Calcutta), and the next one in Chennai. I had a nine hour layover in Chennai, so I got a hotel room close to the airport, and I was bitten my mosquitoes all night😩 Not the first or last time that has happened on my trip. My only solace was that I was soooo tired that I would quickly go back to sleep after each time I was bitten!
When I got to Colombo the next morning, I took a local bus to the train station, about an hour away from the airport, and then I took a train to Mirissa. The trains are super cheap… they’re also super old, super crowded, and super hot! Mirissa is a beach town on the southern end of the island. The trip was 6 hours, and when I got on, it was completely packed (even though I had a ‘second class ticket’), so I stood up in the aisle for the first hour or two.
full.
standing room only
But, some of the trains are actually full – literally, can not possibly have any more people in them, and there are guys hanging out the doors. I’m glad I didn’t experience that. I actually enjoyed the train rides, packed, sweaty, and everything… hard to explain why, but maybe because it was the connected feeling I had with the other people on the train, or maybe it was feeling less like a tourist. Anyway, I liked it😃
Also, the view out the windows for part of the trip from Colombo was ridiculous…
how can you complain when this is the view?
out train window
don’t fall out
by the tracks
The first town I went to was Mirissa – it’s just a small, chill place, and the marina has a lot of whale watching companies.
mirissa beach, by my hotel
view from my $20/night room’s balcony
The ocean rocks and waves kind of remind me of California coastline. And the sand on every beach that I went to was soft and white😍
mirissa beach
mirissa beach pano
beach pano
mirissa:)
I went whale watching with a company called Raja and the Whales because they have a high success rate of seeing whales, and they give you half of your money back if you don’t see a whale:) There are BLUE WHALES and sperm whales in this area, and I really wanted to see a blue whale.
The trip ended up being around 7 hours, and the waves in the Indian Ocean are pretty severe, so a lot of people were getting really sick! Ew:( I felt nauseous on and off, but it wasn’t too bad.
fishermen in indian ocean
my pic of dolphins:0
dolphins
taken by someone on the boat with a good camera:)
The dolphins were wild – front flips, totally out of the water, double twists – they must’ve been in a really good mood when we spotted them😄 They were hard to get pictures of, but we saw probably four different groups, the biggest group had maybe 20-30 dolphins. Really cool. AND, after hours and hours of driving out to sea, we saw a whale!
sperm whale!
my pic of WHALE
byebye
It was a sperm whale, not a blue whale, but still – really huge and cool to see. We saw it for maybe two minutes. It was using it’s spout to shoot out water, and then it dived down and away. The sperm whales stay under water for up to 45 minutes at a time, so we didn’t see it again after it went it under. I was just happy I got to see a whale – had never seen one before☺️ Also, on the way back, we saw a sea turtle swimming on the top of the water😆
mirissa – on the way back to the marina
That was the two days I had in Mirissa, and after that I moved north up the coast to an amazing town called Galle. Another packed, sweaty train ride😅 And then, I hit one more beach town – Aluthgama – before I left out of Colombo.
Next up: Amazing Galle Fort!
wordsmakesentences 
What you’re saying