Yesterday I went to high tea at Galle Face Hotel in Colombo. Some say this venerable Sri Lankan hotel, opened in 1864, is the oldest this side of the Suez, standing as it does at the edge of the Galle Face Green, overlooking the Indian Ocean. The Verandah was already filling up, mostly with Sri…
Few travellers linger in the southern Sri Lankan coastal town of Matara, one hundred miles from Colombo. Those who find the time to do so will be surprised to find many beautiful relics of another age. In the time of Sri Lankan kings, Matara was a centre for trading in elephants and spices. Portuguese invaders…
The crescent shaped beach at Mirissa with fine, golden sand is just off the main road from Galle to Matara in the deep south of Sri Lanka. I first visited it in 2012 and spent a day there again this February. The sea is as appealing as ever and there is a handful of cheap…
The sun came out early. The gloom and rain of the previous few days were gone and red kites were circling over head, stark against a bright blue sky. It was hard not be elated. Brunch was the first business of the day. Rice was cooked with coconut milk, as they do in Sri Lanka on all…
Today, I wrote to Sri Lanka Tourism about taxi fares in Sri Lanka: “About 40 UK visitors attended my daughter’s wedding in Sri Lanka last week. Almost all of them made adverse comments about how much the taxi drivers demand from foreign visitors even for short journeys.They all wanted me to book transfers to the…
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