The Galle Fort - Heritage, History and Glory
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- History and culture , Heritage sites , Architecture , Outdoor activities , Coastal attractions
If you were to arrive in Galle Town from any direction, there are three things you will see right then and there that you cannot miss even if you wanted to; the Galle Bus Stand, the International Cricket stadium and just beyond that, standing tall and stretching wide in all its glory is the Galle Dutch Fort. It is a place where almost everyone is attracted to. The locals go there to relax and unwind, tourists go there to explore and experience, the local youth go there to fly kites or play cricket at the Ramparts Green near the army camp grounds, or hangout at the beach near the lighthouse, and almost everyone goes there to feel the ocean winds from atop the bastions and watch the sun do down into the horizon in a golden fiery haze. It is a place of beauty, joy, grandeur and multicultural, multi-ethnic importance.
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Thalpe Coral Tanks – Man made nature
It’s an almost universally recognized fact that the beaches in Sri Lanka are beautiful and very famous among tourists, both local and foreign alike. Furthermore, the beaches in Galle such as Dewata Surf Beach , Dalawella Beach and Unawatuna Beach are still famous hubs of tourist activity. However, a coastal place that is relatively well known but still doesn’t get much tourist attraction is the Thalpe Beach.
The Thalpe Beach is a calm and quiet place compared to most beaches that are occupied by tourists in the region and it is a place where one can go to escape the crowds and just relax to the sound of the waves of the ocean. To add to the serene atmosphere of the place, there is a wonderful little attraction in the distance called the Thalpe Coral Tanks (also known as the Coral Rock Pools of Thalpe).
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Rumassala – Mythical, Mysterious and Mesmerizing
If you are familiar with the religious and the mythological aspects of South Asia, especially India, you might be familiar with the epic of the ‘Ramayanaya’. In this epic there’s a point in the narrative where Hanuma grows bigger than a mountain and tears out a piece of the Himalayas where a whole bunch of rare medicinal plants are said to flourish, and walks into Sri Lanka. “Why did Hanuma tear out a piece of a mountain?” you might ask. Well, it’s because he forgot the exact plant that has the power to cure princess Seetha, so as any reasonable person would do, he picked up a side of a mountain and flew away with it. After acquiring the herb, it is said that Hanuma threw the piece of the mountain away and it landed right here in this southern region of the island which later became Galle and this is where this mythical story bleeds into reality in a surreal way; the piece of the Himalayan mountain range that Hanuma left, is said to be the Rumassala. What’s interesting about the whole story is how, bizarrely enough, a few certain types of medicinal herbs supposedly found only in the Himalayan region of India can also be found in Rumassala. Who knows, maybe there is some truth to the legendarium of the mythical history shared by Sri Lanka and India.
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