Driving in-land via City of Gems - Our precious memories in Sri Lanka

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The places we visited on this leg of journey :

Maha Saman Devala

This is a shrine dedicated to the god Saman. The god Saman is (a Buddhist deity) considered to be the guardian of Ratnapura. When the Portuguese captured Ratnapura, the ancient shrine that stood at this location was destroyed and a Portuguese church was constructed on top of it. When the Kandyan kingdom recaptured Ratnapura, the Portuguese church was destroyed and the shrine was rebuilt. Currently this shrine is a very important place of worship for Buddhists.

Bopath Ella

is situated at Kuruvita. The fall is like a boo leaf that gives it name.

Ruins of Sitawaka Kingdom

This infamous place is one of the most disappointing sites of Sri Lankan ancient history to visit today. I say this because of negligent and arrogant officials who do not give a damn to protect our valuable story. When we arrived at the site, we could not sight the ruins. So I had to go to the nearest government archaeology office to enquire about it. A peon in that office guided us through the jungle along the muddy footpath and showed us a massive pit. He told us that the ruins of the palace etc, lie underneath this and there are not enough financial supports to begin excavation. We walked a bit further through the jungle to see only visible ruins of a platform of the queen's court. This was one of the most powerful kingdom of the island those days, stood against three Portuguese invasions.




We ended our disappointing trip here and decide to go and pick my sister up who is waiting for me in Kandy.

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Photos

Billboard
A billboard of The President of Sri Lanka, Honourable Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse with some members of Special Task Force.