The Sacred City of Anuradhapura is an important Buddhist site in the central north of Sri
Lanka. It was founded in around 300 BC, and was the capital of many Sri Lankan kingdoms
for well over a thousand years. These days, the ruined city features a whole bunch of
still-active Buddhist shrines, many dagobas (or pagodas), monasteries, palaces, and water-tanks.
The site also features a sacred Bo Tree, which apparently dates back over two thousand years!
Next up is the Ancient City of Polonnaruwa, another of the ancient capitals of Sri Lanka.
The city here was built from around the 11th century AD, and was constructed to be the
new capital of King Vijayabahu the First. The ruins here are absolutely stunning in
their scope and preservation. You can clearly see the Royal Palace, temples, monasteries,
dagobas, water fountains, and much more besides. There's also incredible carvings and artworks
to see all over the site. Located in a series of caves, high on a hill
above the town of Dambulla, this World Heritage site covers five decorated caves. These are
sacred shrines to Lord Buddha, and packed full with over 150 statues and thousands of
paintings. The artwork is mostly about the life and teachings of Buddha, though kings
and other rulers do make appearances as well. Although the caves and monastery here date
back to the first century BC, it's likely that much of the artwork is far more recent
- likely from the past few hundred years - but it's still absolutely stunning.
The Ancient City of Sigiriya is one of the most incredible sights in all of Sri Lanka.
Constructed from around the 5th century AD, it's both a palace fortress, and a city. The
top of the palace sits high on the flat top of an enormous rock above the plains below.
Below, you find lower terraces featuring the amazing Lion Gate staircase, a cave with beautifully
preserved frescoes, and the famous Mirror Wall. And right at the bottom, the palace
is surrounded by an entire city complex, where you can clearly see the remains of buildings,
temples and monasteries, plus water features and gardens too. It's a supremely beautiful
place, and probably our favourite site in all of Sri Lanka.
Although most of central Kandy is included in this world heritage site, the highlight
is easily the Temple of the Golden Tooth Relic. This gleaming white temple on the waterfront
is part of a larger palace complex, and holds a relic sacred to all Buddhists - one of Buddha's
teeth. The Tooth itself has been a symbol of Sri Lankan royalty for centuries, which
explains why the temple is within a palace complex. Although the relic itself is only
displayed at infrequent intervals, this is a fantastic place to come and experience the
atmosphere. There's also a really interesting museum with paintings showing the story of
the Tooth, and its journey from Buddha's funeral pyre to the modern city of Kandy. And as a
nice bonus - the city also has some beautiful colonial buildings to check out too.
This world heritage site covers three separate wilderness areas in the centre of Sri Lanka
- Peak Wilderness, the Horton Plains, and Knuckles Conservation Forest. Packed full
of rugged mountains, rainforests, and tea plantations, and they're also home to an incredible
variety of species too. Although we weren't able to see much on our hike due to really
poor weather, other visitors can expect to see all sorts of monkeys, slender loris, birds
and insects. And some incredible vistas as well!
The Old Town of Galle is a major city on the south-western coastline of Sri Lanka. Although
it was an key seaport for centuries, Galle's history took a dramatic turn with the arrival
of the Portuguese in the early 16th century. However it was the later Dutch and then British
colonists who transformed Galle into the impressive trading post and fortress we can see today.
The fortifications are immense, with huge stone walls and bastions, and inside the fortress
there's a grid layout of streets with heaps of beautiful colonial era buildings.
The last World Heritage site in Sri Lanka is a small biosphere of lowland rainforest
in southern Sri Lanka. It's among the best-preserved forest areas in the whole country, and has
a very high rate of endemic tree species. We had a great day here, hiking trails through
the rainforest up and down hills, looking at beautiful waterfalls and marvelling at
the lizards, snakes, birds and many other animals.