Today was very hot, and stayed hot all day with no rain. Once in a while a cloud covered the sun and provided some relief. We caught a tuk-tuk for the 40 minute ride from the hotel to Sigiriya Rock. This is large rock out-cropping that juts out from the green landscape, and there are ruins in the grounds around it and on the rock itself. The ruins are from when it was a seat of government around 500 CE, and then was used as a temple for several hundred years after that. It was lost to jungle after that for a long time, and then discovered in the 1800's. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and probably the most famous destination in Sri Lanka for tourists. The entrance fee was scandalous, about 40 dollars Canadian, and we dithered for a while before sucking it up and getting tickets.
We went through the gate and walked through the ruins of the gardens that once surrounded the rock.
To climb the rock you start up some stone steps, and then up an enclosed, circular metal staircase going straight up. You get to a small cave that has paintings dating back to about 600 CE. After the cave you go down another staircase for a bit, and then walk through a passage that traverses the face of the rock. This passage is between the rock face and a smooth wall that was built, called the mirror wall, that is covered in graffiti from hundreds of years ago.
This takes you around the side of the rock, and some more stone steps takes you to a landing, called the lions paw after the remains of what once a large lion statue. From here the last metal staircase takes you to the summit.
As some points along the route there were signs saying 'Wasp Attack Area', which made me quite nervous since the wasps are huge and I am allergic to them. I was anxious to get going. By this time, after the climbing in the heat, both Celene and I are soaked with sweat.
We get to the summit, which has ruins like the remains of a water cistern, and has amazing views of the countryside and the grounds below.
There were several groups of school children, who were happy to come up to us and say 'Hello, how are you', and when we asked someone to take a picture of us we invited them to join us:
We made our way back down to the parking lot, running the gauntlet of vendors, and found our driver. It was still very hot so we just spent the rest of the day at the hotel, hanging out at the pool.
We went through the gate and walked through the ruins of the gardens that once surrounded the rock.
To climb the rock you start up some stone steps, and then up an enclosed, circular metal staircase going straight up. You get to a small cave that has paintings dating back to about 600 CE. After the cave you go down another staircase for a bit, and then walk through a passage that traverses the face of the rock. This passage is between the rock face and a smooth wall that was built, called the mirror wall, that is covered in graffiti from hundreds of years ago.
This takes you around the side of the rock, and some more stone steps takes you to a landing, called the lions paw after the remains of what once a large lion statue. From here the last metal staircase takes you to the summit.
As some points along the route there were signs saying 'Wasp Attack Area', which made me quite nervous since the wasps are huge and I am allergic to them. I was anxious to get going. By this time, after the climbing in the heat, both Celene and I are soaked with sweat.
We get to the summit, which has ruins like the remains of a water cistern, and has amazing views of the countryside and the grounds below.
There were several groups of school children, who were happy to come up to us and say 'Hello, how are you', and when we asked someone to take a picture of us we invited them to join us:
We made our way back down to the parking lot, running the gauntlet of vendors, and found our driver. It was still very hot so we just spent the rest of the day at the hotel, hanging out at the pool.
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