Journey Two / Chapter 16

Sri Lanka - The North

October 2016

The northern part of the Sri Lankan travel experience is all about history, with number of several thousand years old temple complexes you couldn’t find anywhere else in the world.

After arriving to Sri Lanka for our 2-weeks-long roundtrip that includes historical temples, natural reservations, scenic train rides and rest on southern beaches, we head straight for our first destination - the city of Anuradhapura that served as the capital of the Sinhalese Kingdom until from ancient times to ca. 1100 A.D. Hosting a huge ancient complex of palaces, temples and stupas combined with natural park including holy forests and lakes, this is certainly one the greatest historical buddhist sites to behold.

With a short detour through another historical city of Polonnaruwa, we arrive to Sigiriya, the site of famous Preaching Rock. While this rare mesa hosts ancient temple on its peak, it is even better enjoyed from the top of of its sister rock Pidurangala. And right next to Sigiriya is town of Dambulla, hosting famous Golden Temple, a system of ancient cave temples, holiest ones in the whole Sri-Lanka.

Then we head out south to the very heart of the country, the cultural capital Kandy. Famous for its The Temple of the Tooth (supposedly hosting tooth of Buddha himself). The walk around the central The Bogambara lake is a pleasant experience and ideal way to end the day is with Kandian Dance, a specialised dance form involving dancing, theatre, juggling and even fire-walking.