Galle Trip, Sri Lanka

Galle is at least a 2 hour drive south of Wadduwa. Our tour guide offered many side trips, this kept the adults interested and our youngsters got to move about. A tall and elaborately carved staircase to a Buddist Temple. Note the raised circular area at the base, also carved - elephants a plenty. Christine was asked to wrap her sarong around her waist, as neither knees or shoulders can be uncovered (just like when entering a Mosque!)

Elephant carved into the side of the staircase.

Top of the staircase looking back downward, note the carved stone entryway. Van at the bottom was out transportation.

This huge Budda actually sits atop of the temple. To gain entrance, you must walk around the sides.

Christine and Katherine walking down one of the many staircases inside the multi leveled temple. Very colorful reliefs depicting the stages of Budda's life (i.e. enlightenment) cover almost every square inch. Our guide was Buddist and he spent a lot of time explaining the religion to all of us.

This relief was painted after the 26 December 2004 Tsunami, close study shows people climbing the hill to reach safety at the temple.

Always an opportunity to make money: the industrious Sri Lankans have this placid elephant outside the temple. Tourists pay a small amount and children walk under the elephant three times, it is supposed to bring good luck. The boys are touching the skin at the urging of the keepers. Note the sarong-like wrap on the Sri Lankan on the left - this is national dress for men.

Our guide, Mr. LaLa, explains varies components of this memorial to the Tsunami victims that were trapped on the train and perished. The coastline is just beyond the palm trees.

Close up of the memorial - note the railway cars. The train was full to capacity with 15,000 people traveling to celebrate both Buddist Full Moon and Christmas. When the first wave hit, the local population (of about 2,000) climbed into the carriages and on top of the roof. People were jammed tightly inside. When the second wave of 18 feet hit, people inside could not move to swim and the possibility of survival was extremely low.

This beautiful Budda, standing in the middle of a peaceful lake, was a gift to the people of Sri Lanka from a sister city in Japan. While driving along the main road (there is ONLY one road), we saw thousands of buildings never repaired. People are still waiting for release of the money contributed from all over the world. Government moves as slowly in Sri Lanka as it does elsewhere in the world...

Galle (pronunced Gaul) was occupied by the Dutch (among many others).

Christine, Katherine and Joseph outside the Dutch Reformed Church in Old Galle. There are memorial plaques (similar to the ones against the church base) all around the perimiter of this walled property.

Inside of the Dutch Reformed Church - still in use and still lovely. Beneath the entire floor are burial vaults with the information as to who occupies each vault. Besides the names and typical information, inscriptions offer occupations, time length in Galle, number of children and spouses. The vaults on the floor are all Dutch, but the ones around the sides are all English - yes, even the Dutch Reformed Church was occupied by the British!

Our group in front of the Lighthouse at the "Old Fort" - The fortress covered a vast area and encompassed the much of the town.

View off to the right from the walking path (atop the fortified granite walls of the fortress). This shows the old town of narrow streets and white-washed, red tile roofed homes. We were impressed with how clean this city was, NO litter anywhere.

Walking further down the pathway, we passed another colonial era church and approached...

a lovely granite jetty. Just the place to snap a photo of the Atsma family.

We moved to another are of the original Old Fort. As we were walking up a ramp, we passed a "snaker charmer" with his cobra in the basket and a constrictor coiled beside him on the pavement. Sri Lankans are opportunists where tourists are concerned: this gentleman played his flute and got the cobra to "dance". He also...

places the snake on obliging tourists. Both Joseph and William seemed to enjoy the experience.

We came out here at the top of the ramp - another entirely different section of the fortress, with an inner harbor just past the far side. That is a huge raindrop in center of the picture - yes, the rains had come.

Hendrik, who took the vast majority of these pictures, has spun 180 degrees and now the open seas are in the background.

Stopped at this seafood restaurant our guide recommended. We have come back up the coast 14 km to Hikkaduwa, this area was the first of the first beautiful beaches to be discovered by the tourists in the 1960's. It became a haven for "hippies" we are told. The area has expanded to a 4KM strip of hotels, shops, bars, restaurants & guesthouses all lining either side of the 2-lane road. Hikkaduwa is best known for excellent snorkeling & diving - colorful fish & corals, turtles and several documented shipwrecks to explore. We explored lunch!

Scott finally enjoying his soup. We ordered and our waiter disappeared for more than 45 minutes.

Thankfully the open beach was just over Hendrik's shoulder. A woman walked up the beach selling textiles. She came over to our table and was rewarded by sales from both of our ladies. Hey, we had to do something while we waited!

Stopped at a "gem" mine on our way back up the coast. This fellow was really working hard.

You can see another fellow down at the bottom of the mine.

Scott and one of the workers seem to be enjoying themselves.

Katherine and Joseph were checking out the raw gems.

A worker cutting and polished green quartz. He was making a lovely necklace all with these simple tools. We moved on the the sales room where Scott was soon parted from some of his money - the snake charmer was much cheaper.

Sri Lanka is famous for ceremonial masks. These were in a museum further along on the way. We also stopped at an herbal farm, but that story is so long, so complicated and so hilarious that will only tell it in person. We went home and jumped into the pool then relaxed until dinner.

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Galle is at the SW tip of Sri Lanka and is the capital city of the southern province. The city has a population of 100,000 and is contected to the rest of the country by rail and by roads laid out by the British. Traveling was time consuming and the drivers were daredevils. It seemed that we were playing "chicken" an awful lot of the time.

The city was devastated by the massive 26 December (Boxing Day) 2004 tsunami. Thousands were killed in the city and surrounding areas. More than 40,000 were estimated dead in the entire country and 2.5 million people were displaced. The 6 meter waves swept 5 K inland, made more deadly because most of Sri Lanka is flat.

Galle was a prominent seaport long before Western rule. Persians, Arabs, Greek, Malays, Indians and Chinese have been doing business at Galle port for centuries. A 1411 stone tablet commerating the visit of Chinese admiral Zheng He is written in 3 languages - Chinese, Persian and Tamil (remember the Tamil Tigers from northern part of the island?)

The Portugese arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505, followed by the Dutch in 1640. The Dutch East Indian Company is responsible for construction of the fortress. British rule began in 1796 and they used the fort, largely unchanged, as an asministrative center

It is the best example of fortified city built by Europeans in SE Asia. The Galle fort is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest remaining fortress in Asia built by European occupiers. The fortified walls were constructed of solid granite and has three bastions. It was quite impressive.

Hope you've enjoyed the pictures and descriptions,

Christine and Scott

Sri Lanka, December 2011

The courtyard/entrance to the 4-villa compound; this 3-bedroom villa was ours for a week in mid-December.

Our side of the villa with open porches around the pool/sea side. Breakfast must be ready as most of us are at the table and waiting!

Joseph, William & Hendrik Atsma with Christine are already at the table. The atmosphere was casual, Christine ate many meals with just a sarong over her swimsuit.

View from the lounging area of the veranda. Swimming pool with beach just beyond. There had been a cyclone recently which wash away a large amount of our beach. We would walk down the shore line to a bar, find some lounge chairs and have a few Lion beers while we watched the boys play in the surf.

We had just arrived and were all exhausted. Breakfast was being prepared (note cornflakes on the table).

Typical dinner: seafood or chicken curry over rice, salads and lots and lots of fruit. Luckily both Joseph and William are fabulous eaters and we all enjoyed the meals. We had a female cook and a male house host. They were at our disposal from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM and met our every need. It was wonderful.

River Cruise: Scott, Joseph, Christine, Guide, Katherine and William. Hendrik took many of these photos and shared so our blog looks good. He is a better photographer and has a great camera. Kudos to him for his skill and generosity!

Scott with the crocodile

This is a Blue-Tailed Bee Eater, we also sighted Cormorant & Grey-Headed Fish Eagle while on the river.

White & Cattle Egrets were in evidence throughout the island. Like India, cows roam freedly in Sri Lanka and were there were cows (everywhere) there were Cattle Egrets (everywhere, too!)

Hendrik got a great shot of this lizard, there is a startling variety of reptiles on this island.

Crocodile at the edge of the mangrove.

William and Joseph on the bow of the boat, tour was almost over and the guide urged the boys to the bow as we sped toward homebase.

Christine with the crocodile on her shoulder, she is smiling cause she is nervous.

William the Brave, the crocodile is on his head!

Turtle farms, they rescue the turtle eggs, bring them to the farm and take care they hatch before releasing them back into the water. There are three different type of turtles here, all just 1 day old. (loggerhead, greenback & leatherback)

Albino - quite rare and untouchable (trust me, I know, cause got my hand slapped when I tried.)

The area where the turtle eggs are buried and dated/marked for research purposes.

Katherine with a beautiful, large and heavy turtle. The guide who slapped my hand away is in the background.

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Sri Lanka is the teardrop shaped island nation off the southeastern coast of India. Known as Ceylon, it became independent of British colonial rule in 1948 and changed its name in 1972. Due to location, Sri Lanka is a link in the ancient Silk Route. It is also the center of the Buddist religion with Hindu, Christian and Muslims representing much of the balance. The vast majority of the citizens are of Sinhalese origins; the separatist Tamils are based primarily in the north and northeast (we were on the SW coast just south of Colombo). The major issues between the Gov't and Tamils erupted into violence in 1983, with 10's of thousands dying or leaving the country. A ceasefire was brokered by the Norwegians in 2002 with peaceful negotiations still in progress.

We took a night flight (sat on the tarmac an extra hour in Abu Dhabi), so there was a planeful of exhausted and irritated passengers. Landed in Colombo, met our driver and were on our way to Wadduwa in the early hours. The road system has not updated since the British left, so travel is "interesting" and progress is slow... Our house was lovely, open and airy and very safe! We spent the first few days just relaxing by our own pool (no one in residence in any of the other 3 houses our entire stay), walking down the beach, sitting on the veranda and eating the delicious meal prepared by Miss Pushba (our cook).

Our first venture out was a river cruise, lunch and visit to the turtle farm/sanctuary. This was a successful trip with all 6 of us enjoying ourselves. Hope you enjoyed our photos, with more to follow on our trips to Colombo and Galle.

Nicosia, Cyprus

Nicosia, aka Lefkosia, is the capital of Cyprus. It lies toward the center of the island and has been the capital since the 11th Century AD. As we were staying on the southwest of the island, our trip involved a 3+ hour drive back toward Larnaca (airport) and then north into the hilly area that lies between the Troodos Mountains (east) and the Pentadaktylos Range (north along the coast). This building is unfortunately typical of what we encountered when we passed thru the check point from Cyprus to "The Turkish Republic of Cyprus". Very little new construction and many of the extremely old buildings of combination of stone, mud bricks and various types of wood - quite close together. Very, very old world feeling surrounded us the majority of our visit.

Efes, a Turkish brew was a new beer for us. Efes Pilsen gets its unique taste from rice added into the ingredients at brewing stage. The 5.0% ABV beer has been described to have a tangy malt and hops aroma, rich malt and a bitter-sweet finish that becomes dry and hoppy - Christine was pleased!

Early lunch at one of many sidewalk restaurants and cafes. Scott plotted our tour while Christine went inside to look at the wonderful selection. The service was exceptional and the price was amazingly good.

Buyuk (Great) Khan was build of yellow stone in 1576. A khan is an ancient hotel. The two-storied khan, has 68 rooms and 10 shops, was constructed on a square plan. The rooms downstairs were used as shops, storage rooms and stables. Upstairs were bedrooms feature fireplaces. There is a water tank with a fountain placed on columns at the center of the court and a prayer room. It is now used as a cafe, art gallery, and shops full of traditional folk art (lace, weaving, etc). The courtyard is huge and we noted many people having coffee and listening to traditional musicians.

Christine standing at one of the huge entrace doors to the Buyuk Khan. Note the prayer room in the center of the courtyard.

This is the remains of Himarcilar Khan (the khan for merchants using donkeys). The two-story building was also built on a square plan and according to official North Cyprus map, it has only 44 of its original 56 rooms remaining (like one could tell the difference). This khan is on a much smaller and less grand scale than the Buyuk Khan only a block south. It was built in the 18th century and has fallen into a dismal state of neglect. One of the sides looks slightly better; however, the full grown trees and rubish thrown into the site obscure much of its former style.

Buyuk Haman (Turkish Bath) is an authentic ottoman period structure. It is generally accepted that the bath was built partly with the material taken from the ruins of St. George de Poulains (reusing building materials is quite common in the Middle East). Scott is standing on the steps down into the Baths because the road level has been raised. The rooms of the baths remain at a lower level than the road and this building was in pristine condition - but then again it is a money maker! Scott had to posed beside the sign because of his friend Jerry Clark's famous opening line about the turkish baths.

The granite column in Ataturk Square is a tribute to Venetian rule in Cyprus. Originally it had a carved lion (St. Mark) and featured coats of arms of noble Venatian families, most of which are still discernable. The Ottmans removed the lion and toppled the column in 1570. Fortunately they left the column intact and it was re-erected by the British, who replaced the lost lion with a bronze orb. The Square today has small restaurants and cafes, where we noticed men playing backgammon and drinking coffee. The large building behind Christine was build by the British it is...

The British Colonial Law Courts. It was built in 1901 of yellow sandstone and is a city block square with the ever-present center courtyard. Notice the two flags flying: Turkish and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus - flow together all over this half of the capital. At the corner closest to the Venetian Column is a platform that carries the British Royal Coat of Arms, which was built in memory of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. It was covered with plexiglass, how odd!

Built in 1845, the Arabahmet Pashe Mosque is an example of classical Ottoman architecture and named after one of the (many) conquerors of Cyprus Arap Ahmet Pasha. The mosque relects the style of the 16th century. The grounds were immaculate and an oasis of green in the fairly grey atmosphere on the Turkish side of the capital.

These vaults are so unique in style and intricate carving - all floral (no animal images are pemitted in Islam). We were interested in the columns at each end of the crypt, one end taller than the other and with writing in arabic.

A row of crypts again the outside wall of the mosque area. Some of the important ottoman pashas (a pasha governs a province) are buried in the graveyard of the mosque.

Walking thru the Arabamet Quarter we noted many buildings in a state of total disrepair. The first-story windows have been filled in with rocks, doors/windows and shutters lean again the walls and building materials are scattered about throughout the patchwork of the repairs that have been done. Unfortunately this was a typical site.

At the Dervis Pasha Mansion (built in the 19th century) we noticed this wall at back of the courtyard. The wall's construction was so interesting with stone/mortar at the base (yes that is the beginnings of the arched doorway to the right). The second level of materials seems to been mud brick covered with a layer of more mud and followed by another layer of mud and mixed medium bricks. This is the area where the kitchen, bathrooms and lavatories are located away from the main living ara.

Second floor men's majlis (meeting area) is the largest room in the Pasha Mansion; the mansion was repaired in 1988 with financial help from the Republic of turkey. Dervish Pasha was the editor of Zaman, the first Turkish newspaper in Cyprus, which is why his home was restored by the Department of Antiquities. The first floor was used as a store, with servant and service rooms being there and the second floor was living space for the family. Notice that only men are in this meeting room (Christine looks pained just being inside the doorway). Separate living spaces are also typical in Middle Eastern homes.

UN troops are still present in Nicosia - note the wite car with UN tags and UN signage on the door. Very odd!

Walked out of old-world atmosphere of Northern, Turkish-controlled Nicosia into a vibrant street mall atmosphere. Scott spotted the gyro vendor. We agreed that as neither of us may ever visit again, Scott needed to taste one. It was huge and Scott was not able to finish. Christine opted for a Keo on her way out of town.

Now for a bit of history on Nicosia. It is now Europe's only militarily divided city. One of the world's oldest cities, Nicosia was the center of an independent kingdom as early as the 7th century BC. It was under Byzantine rule in the early 4th century AD and passed to Guy of Lusignan (the Latin king of Jerusalem) in 1192. the Lusignan kings held Nicosia until it was captured in 1489 by the Venetians (remember the Venetian column). The city passed to the Ottoman Turks in 1571 and to the British in 1878. It was made capital of British-ruled Cyprus in 1925. Nicosia became the capital of independent Cyprus in 1960.

The city has been divided into Turkish and Greek Cypriot zones since the Turkish invasion in 1974. The Northern side of Cyprus (and Nicosia) is considered to be an occupied region whose claim of independent stateoood is recognized only by Turkey. Approximately 37% of Cypriot territory (including Northern Nicosia) is considered occupied area.

Of further note, all Cypriots call this city "Lefkosia" with only a slightly different spelling from North to South. Now, isn't that odd?

In closing, we would like to add that we decided to spend our time in Nicosia on the Northern Turkish-controlled side. We know that should we have the opportunity to visit Cyprus again, we have the unexplored eastern areas of the country & the cosmopolitan and bustling side of Nicosia for adventure. In some ways we both felt a bit like we did back in 1983 when we experienced a divided East/West Berlin... none of the apprehension, but the difference in living standards and conditions of the city were certainly apparent.

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