Sigiriya - Sri Lanka's Machu Picchu

 

Feb.14

            Our hotel provided us with another huge breakfast before Bernard caught up with us and we headed up to Sigiriya.  This place is considered the #1 attraction in Sri Lanka.  It was the capital of the country for a short time and sits up on a flat-top mesa with 360 degree views of the surrounding area.

            We arrived before noon to beat the crowds and skipped the onsite museum so that we could get going.  From the parking lot, you walk through huge areas of ruined foundations with the occasional pool or larger structure.  This walkway gave us an idea of how the city once spread out far beyond the mountain-topped centre.

            On the way up we saw signs telling us to be quiet due to killer hornets in the area, but fortunately we didn’t see any.  We were told that it used to be a real crunch to get to the top of Sigiriya but now the stairways are well-maintained with the up and down streams of people usually being separated. 

After about 15 minutes of walking up stone and then metal steps we paused at the first landing.  There was shade here but also monkeys so we had to keep our snacks close to us.  The main feature here was a huge pair of lion’s claws bracketing the stairs heading up the rest of the way.  The views were impressive but didn’t compare to what was coming.

The next set of stairs were steeper but over quicker.  There were a few narrow places where we had to wait for slower tourists but these were minimal.   In the stone beside the steel steps we saw footholds carved into the rock which were apparently part of an older ascent route.  These steps didn’t look too supportive and it was a long fall down should one slip.  We were definitely appreciative of the newer safety measures.

Lion paw steps.

            At the top of Sigiriya the ground was divided into a series of flat plateaus covered in ruined foundations or pools.  We could see a crew working on fixing some of these with a mortar that looked like it was made of the local soil, perhaps to follow original construction methods.  Again, the presence of the place probably isn’t captured in the pictures.  Being high above your surroundings in a ruined capital was a unique experience.

We poked around the site and looked at the views from all sides as well as what the tourists and workers were up to.  After about a leisurely 45 minutes or so we were ready to head down and move on.  Unsurprisingly, going down required less exertion.

            On the way down we went by a mirror wall, which was stone polished to a shine.  We also had the option to head up to a cave with Buddhist paintings, which was a trip that Meg and Devi declined but John and I were up for.  There were only about half a dozen figures visible as they were working on the cliffside pathway and so a large part of site was closed off.  The paintings were vivid and must have been restored as almost nothing of their background existed.  Most of the figures were bare-breasted women which varied from the Buddhist images we had seen in other places.  The real value of visiting the cave was the trip up and down on spiral stairs with a clear plastic exterior which allowed you to look up, down and outward from their cliffside location.

On the walk down we went through a few ruined areas, just less open and more bouldery this time.  Before hitting the parking lot there was the expected gauntlet of tourist shops but none of the vendors were particularly aggressive.

On the way back we stopped at a local farm shop and had a juice break, choosing from their extensive selection.  I tried the bakeapple and tamarind juices which were both thick and excellent.

The rest of the day was pretty lax.  We spent more time in the pool and went to the same place for dinner which was as good as we remembered.