Travel Day 1135 – Galle to Bangkok, THAILAND
It was already my last day in Sri Lanka but I still liked to see and learn a little bit more about the amazing UNESCO Fortress City of Galle…
National Museum of Galle in Dutch Colonial Building, Sri Lanka
Initially I had wanted to venture a little bit around Galle and maybe see some stilt-fishermen along the coast or travel a day early to Negombo which was supposedly a nice place to visit as well, with another small Dutch Fort and a convenient location near the airport. But after the heavy downpours kept me inside for a good portion of every single day in Galle and after realizing how much there was to discover within the enclosure of the old fortress walls, it really seemed the best solution to rather stay as long as possible in the former Dutch city of Galle…
One of the things that I had not seen so far were the museums of Galle and since there were a couple of them, I thought they might be worth a short visit. The first museum I stopped by was the National Museum which was housed in a colonnaded Dutch building, but unfortunately at this point in time it appeared to be under renovation. So I proceeded to the next museum, the Archaeological Maritime Museum which came with a fairly high price tag…
Historical Mansion in UNESCO City of Galle in Sri Lanka
While it was definitely nice to learn about the maritime history of Galle and watch a documentary about the recovery dives to some of the many sunken European ships around in the apparently quite rocky harbor of Galle, the museum itself seemed not really worth the money. Being rather a collection of lost and broken items from the bottom of the ocean than any sort of educational or historical occurrences, everything there actually was to see, could be done so within a fairly short time…
On the other hand, a real surprise was then the third museum that I went to, situated in a private, historical mansion. The whole museum was basically rather a collection of colonial items from the time of the Dutch or the British and carefully assembled by a private person. The fact that everything was displayed in a Dutch colonial house only added to the charm of the museum. Not only was the entrance free of charge and the extent of the collection really impressive, but also the fact that old maps and drawings of Galle were on display, showing how Galle used to look like at different times in history, completely made my whole day…
Galle Archaeological Maritime Museum in Sri Lanka
After experiencing this really authentic and by far the most interesting museum of Galle, I already had to pack up and leave on what was to become my very first train ride in Sri Lanka. Knowing already the train system in India, there were no real surprises besides the fact that the railway station was actually built as a dead-end and the train had to maneuver around to the other end to pick up the carriages again. But at least the ride itself along the coast was nice until we started to hit the shanty towns on the outskirts of Colombo…
Having travelled throughout the country for a couple of weeks now, it seemed there had nowhere been as much poverty prevalent as here around the capital city. Being left only with the resolution of seeing more of this area on my next Sri Lanka visit, the last thing I could do was to enjoy a final Kottu Roti meal and catch a local bus to the airport. A short flight, a ride on the skytrain and a boat ride later found me back in Bangkok where I had started out for my Sri Lanka trip. Wow, it really had been some interesting weeks with the little cousin of mighty India…
Went through Sri Lanka blogs, you almost relieved my Sri Lanka visit, what about Nuwreliya? a nice hill station, did you visit? it has a nice golf course and looks like a town of England. My only regret about your photos is , you don’t seem to be interested in photographing profile photos like a beautiful local lady, old lady or a man with wrinkles showing the age with grace, a kandyan drummer with flowing robes showing emotions etc; similarly burmese people in sarongs, Hill tribes of Thailand;
notwithstanding the super photos you have clicked of places, historical sights, etc.
Thank you very much R Srinivas for your open words. Unfortunately it is never possible to see everything and one always has to make certain choices. As an architect my focus is rather targeted on structures and historical architecture, which probably also explains why I really enjoyed spending many days in the amazingly preserved fortress city of Galle and even visited all the history museums there…
Only now I could understand your photos,thank you , all of them are very picturesque! Where are you stationed now?
Bye! have great time where ever you are.
Thank you very much Srinivas, it is very great to hear that are enjoying the photos…