Galle is probably
the most touristed city in Sri Lanka. It is certainly more touristed
than the capital of the country, which isn't very common, at least
not in my experience.
I wasn't able to
find an original founding date for Galle, but Wikipedia mentions
trade from Sri Lanka going back as far as 1400 BC, and it seems
likely that some of the shipping happened in or near Galle.
Galle is sortof
divided into two sections, they're totally different from each other.
Galle Fort is what used to be the fortress protecting the area, built
by the Portuguese. The Dutch later added to the fort, as did the
British who were the last colonialists.
Galle Fort is the
aesthetically appealing part of Galle to visit. The interior of Galle
Fort seemed mostly made up of cafes and restaurants, shops, hotels
and other accomodation, etc... Everything catering to tourists. I saw
a couple schools and such, but it didn't feel like a living city, if
that makes sense. The other half of the city is the living part. The
part with supermarkets and homes and government offices and the bus
station and everything else one needs in regular daily life.
I kinda visited
Galle twice. The first time was on an afternoon, while I was still
sleeping in Unawatuna.
It was an easy 20 minute bus ride, so hey, why
not? My bus dropped me off at the main bus station, which is across
from the main entry gate to the fort.
Walking from the
bus station to the entry gate was an exercise in avoiding eye
contact, ignoring everything and everyone around me, and occasionally
saying no rather forcefully. I was saying no to tuk tuks, tour
guides, touts offering places to stay, etc...
My notes in my
travel journal tell me the walls were built by the Dutch starting in
1663, and let me tell you, they're thick. The walls are still
standing, and you can walk along the tops the entire way around.
One of the first
things I saw was a tree that had been taken over by another, so
there were lots of 'vines' hanging down. A photo opportunity, but
nothing of real interest.
One of the sights
listed in the guidebook is the former Dutch hospital, but you can't
tell it was ever a hospital. It has been redeveloped as a mall, with
shops and restaurants. I found a tea shop in there, but it was
otherwise not very interesting.
The bastions of the
original walls still stand, and each has a different name, I don't
remember any of the names. There is a lighthouse near one of the
bastions, but the lighthouse wasn't open to visitors.
Despite not
being open, the lighthouse shows up on quite a few postcards of the
city.
Postcards, yahoo!!
I finally found them in Galle. Considering how much natural beauty
there is, and how much culture there is, I was extremely disappointed
in how few postcards I found in the country. I ended up buying them
from several stores in Galle.
I watched the
sunset from one of the bastions, it was quite pretty. It was easy to
get back to the bus station, and only slightly more difficult to
figure out what bus I needed to take to get back to Unawatuna.
The next day around
lunch I officially checked out of my accomodation in Unawatuna, and
hopped on the next bus to Galle. It was easier to get off the bus
this time as I knew exactly where I needed to go.
I'd booked a studio
flat in the fort area, it was definitely a splurge. That being said,
it was nice, with a fan, air con, a mosquito net, and a modern
bathroom. I generally don't spend a lot of money on accomodation, and
in the overall scheme of things this still wasn't expensive, but it
was more than what I'd been paying during the rest of the trip.
$30USD goes a long way in accomodation in Sri Lanka.
After cooling down
for a bit, I went out walking. Since I'd already seen some of Galle I
didn't feel like there was a whole lot more to see. It's cute, but
pretty small. I walked along some of the wall area, particularly by a
tower near the main gate.
As I was walking
along one section of the wall a local pointed out a couple sea
turtles in the water below. AWESOME. As the water was pretty choppy,
they weren't as obvious as I would've expected, and it wasn't easy to
keep track of where they were. Soon enough they swam away.
After the sea
turtles I walked out of the main gate and through part of the
'living' city of Galle.
I looked for a
local place to eat dinner, but didn't see anything. I assume I just
didn't look in the right places, because there are almost always
local restaurants near bus stations. Oh well.
The next morning I
packed up and returned the key to the flat to the store below, then
walked back to the bus station. Goodbye Galle.
I'm not sure I'll
return to Galle, as I don't feel like I missed anything, even though
my time there was short.
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