Main Menu |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Batticoloa is surrounded by a large lagoon, home of the famous ‘singing fish’. Certainly in the months of April and September on moonlit nights, you can hear a musical vibration emanating from the waters. Batti is a quiet little place, with a small but well-preserved Dutch fort.
Colombo is a fascinating city, not only for its comfortable blend of East and West, but also for its cosy mixture of past and present. It is the commercial capital of the country.
Like Sigiriya, Dambulla is a vast isolated rock mass, which houses a rock temple (formerly caves). Some of its frescoes are over 2,000 years old – and there is a colossal figure of the recumbent Buddha carved out of the rock, some 14 metres long.
In this costal town, the Dutch presence is still visible. Galle was an ancient port (said to be the legendary Tarshish of the Bible), and our first international commerce and trade centre. Today, Galle is the bustling provincial capital and administrative centre of the south. It is famous for its lovely Unawatuna Bay, where the sea is reef protected and therefore safe for swimming. The old Dutch ‘Star’ fort (a World Heritages Site) covering 36 hectares, the well-preserved Groote Kerk (Dutch Church), Dutch Government House, the New Oriental Hotel (built in 1684) old bell tower and a tide-based Sewage-System, also introduced by the Dutch. In Gale they still make the Dutch ‘pillo-lace’ and do fine ebony-carving and gem-polishing.© 2008 Sri Lanka High Commission
35 Empire Circuit, Forrest, ACT 2603
Tel: 02 6239 7041/2 Fax: 02 6239 6166
Email: admin@slhcaust.org
35 Empire Circuit, Forrest, ACT 2603
Tel: 02 6239 7041/2 Fax: 02 6239 6166
Email: admin@slhcaust.org