Travel with us to Sri Lanka Part 4 - Cities in Ruins, exploring Lion's Rock and Anuradhapura

When we arrived in Dambulla, we had no idea that the place we intended to stay (the cheapest we could find) was a couple kilometers outside of town. At first off the bus, it's hectic, lots of drivers and touts trying to drum up business, but a few minutes on foot and you leave the chaos behind for the fairly quiet walk out of town.

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

When we got there, we were the only guests, we even had the whole restaurant to ourselves that night!!.. and if there's one thing the Sri Lankans do VERY well, it's prepare a feast!!! Every evening you get a selection of 3 to 5 curries (sometimes more if they're really spoiling you). We ate to our heart's content and we kicked back to relax for the evening.

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

The next day we caught up on a little rest and went to explore the Golden Buddha and the cave temples of Dambulla. As luck would have it, they were only a few minutes' walk down the road. It's a short hike up to the top with nice views of the surrounding areas, and lots more art tributing the Buddha. We wandered slowly enjoying having nowhere to be and excited for our adventure the next day.

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

Dambulla is the gateway to Sigiriya, or Lion’s Rock. It’s one of the most beautiful ruins sites in Sri Lanka and we were so excited to go and explore it.

When you arrive at the ruins site, it is hemmed in on each side by a huge moat. If you're lucky you might see a crocodile hanging out here, but mostly it's just gorgeous shades of green and brown, and you can feel your anticipation building, already it's beautiful here. Once you enter the ruins complex, there are thousands of monkeys living in the area now mostly reclaimed by the forest.

As you make your way up the long walk way, you can see the huge rock looming before you. There are patterns and beautiful markings of orange and brown and lighter cream colors all over the rock, it seems to change with the light as the sun shifts positions in the sky.

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

In order to really appreciate the beauty and wonder of Sigiriya though, you have to climb your way to the top of the rock. As you start the climb, you can see what remains of the carvings of a lion’s face and paws into the rock. Now there are staircases built to make the climb to the top safer and more enjoyable.

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

At parts it's a steep climb, but it's so worth it when you reach the top. You're up there, looking out over the ruins from above and you're so high that you can see for miles around. The landscape there is achingly beautiful in the clear sunshine of the late afternoon. You can spend as much time as you like up there wandering through the meager remains of what is thought to have once been a very strategic fortress to hold.

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

Eventually we made the climb down and journeyed back to town for our final night.

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

In the morning we were off to Anuradhapura to explore this massive ancient ruins complex for a few days by bicycle. We booked ourselves into a little hotel on the outskirts of town that included bike rentals.

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

For the next few days we stepped back in time and explored around the different networks of religious sites and ruined villages that have been long reclaimed by the forest. The force of nature is so strong, you can see that tree roots and sometimes whole trees have split foundations and grown right up through. It’s incredibly beautiful and sometimes it’s hard to fathom that there could be so many shades of green in a forest.

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

My favorite parts were always around the ‘tanks,’ or large, man-made reservoirs for water. The ancient cities always incorporated at least one large one to sustain the town. Now though some of them have grown into lake-sized bodies of water with all kinds of wild life supported there. Others are smaller and slightly stagnant and have beautiful lily pads and lotus growing up through the murky waters. Either way, when the light turns soft in the late afternoon, there are few sights in the world so beautiful.

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

(Photo Credit Jamie Smy)

We enjoyed the ruins so much, that we'd have gone to explore more of them. Sri Lanka has about 10 UNESCO World Heritage sites countrywide, and many of them are ruins sites. This is great because the areas are protected and well-preserved. It does, however, make them more expensive to visit, so we had to limit our cultural experiences of that nature.

Up until this point we had been putting a lot of thought into whether or not we wanted to go to the north of Sri Lanka. We decided that it's important to see all of the country and to make an effort to spend our tourist dollars where they're needed.

Keep an eye out, in Part 5 Jamie and I explore the Sri Lankan North.