Travel Day 1132 – Ella to Galle, SRI LANKA
According to my plan I was getting up early and catching the bus to Galle, but actually by now I would have liked to stay a bit longer in Ella…
Lighthouse and Mosque in UNESCO Fortress City of Galle, Sri Lanka
Of course I didn’t like Ella at all yesterday, especially because it appeared to me as nothing but an expensive, faceless tourist trap, but when I woke up today and the sun was slowly rising behind the lush green mountains, I thought it would have been quite nice to be up on the hill again and see the valley in the early morning light. But unfortunately I had to save all early morning excursions for my next visit and I already knew that this visit would probably happen rather sooner than later. There was simply too much to see in Sri Lanka and one month was definitely not enough time to see it all…
So instead of having a long winding ride again, in one of the buses hailed on the main road, we simply dropped out of the mountains within the first 30 minutes of our drive. From then on the countryside was all flat and the weather hot and humid again. Eventually we reached the coast and for a couple of hours we drove along the shore line with alternating sceneries of villages or towns and natural beaches with palm trees. We even passed some of the famous stilt-fishermen and another Dutch Fort along the way, leaving me to think that I definitely would have to come back to this part of Sri Lanka as well…
Fortress Walls, Ocean and Dutch Houses in Galle, Sri Lanka
By the time we reached the amazing city fortress of Galle, the weather had turned and it was raining cats and dogs, forcing me to enjoy an extended lunch before I was even able to enter through the new gate into the once heavily fortified city complex. Entering Galle Fort turned then out to be like time travel back into Dutch colonial times and I was equally as surprised as excited to see that many of the historic houses still remained in place. Actually most colonial buildings seemed in really decent shape, giving the entire city a really authentic historical appearance…
Finding cheap accommodation in this popular Dutch town was supposed to be a real headache as many hotels were only catering to older European tourists with deeper pockets, but luckily a tout on the streets proved surprisingly useful in scooping out what seemed to be the only reasonably priced hotel within the historic old town of Galle. Since food was equally as overpriced as all the hotels, a walk back to the bus station seemed inevitable to get some cheap dinner and takeout for the following breakfast. But considering the money saved, the walk seemed like a decent trade-off for the luxury of being able to stay within the heavy stone walls of Galle Fort…
Sunset over the Ocean by UNESCO Galle Fort in Sri Lanka
Since my day was almost over my the time I had settled-in and waited out another heavy rain shower, I was really only left to enjoy the amazing city fortress of Galle while strolling along the perimeter sea walls. The location of Galle really seemed to be the perfect setting for protecting the city from possible invaders and nowadays it provided an even better opportunity for locals or visitors alike to enjoy the low evening sun and a nice sunset over the ocean. I personally enjoyed my walk all the way from the southern tip with the light house and the mosque, along all bastions up to the heaviest fortifications in the north with the British added entrance gate and the clock tower facing the new town of Galle…
Besides the continued heavy downpours every once in a while, with less than a minute of dripping early warning, it was an amazingly beautiful walk along the walls of the fortress city of Galle. By the time the sun had set and I had finished my walk, I was already excited to explore more of this beautiful UNESCO enlisted city during daylight hours tomorrow…
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