The Galle Of This Place

Monday, March 09, 2015
Galle, Sri Lanka
We spent all yesterday enjoying a relaxing beach day in Unawatuna. We really didn't do much beyond play in the ocean, read books, and savor not having to ride a bus for an entire day. We did learn two very important things about Sri Lankan beaches, however:

1) The gentle surf has a wicked riptide. We were warned of this, but I'm a very strong swimmer, so I wasn't worried. What we WEREN'T told is that the riptide sneaks up on you- so while you're spending a few hours getting cocky because you think the riptide was exaggerated, it swoops in and kicks the sh*t out of you. We were in waist-deep water, and a wave and riptide so huge caught us both so hard that it threw me underwater in a double somersault. Luckily I know how to not panic in the water, but this riptide yanked both my bikini top off (which I found) and my sunglasses (which I didn't). I'm fairly certain I'm on someone's YouTube video by now.

2) We also learned that if you run out of sunblock in Sri Lanka, and buy a Sri Lankan brand as a replacement (that is all they sell), the words "waterproof" are more decorative than descriptive. Also, if you put on that "waterproof" sunblock, go swimming for an hour, then fall asleep under a yellow umbrella, the Sri Lankan sun can actually cook you through the umbrella. We mock people who can't seem to figure out sublock in tropical climes, and now we're crispy idiots too!

We departed Unawatuna this morning, and took a blessedly short 20-minute bus ride to Galle (pronounced "Gawl"), a Dutch walled fort town. More accurately, I should say we returned here...this is where we spent the better part of 3 hours trying to find an ATM on Saturday. Anyway! This walled fort town was built by the Dutch in the 17th century, and handed over to the British in the 18th century. The walls are still intact, and quite formidable- during the 2004 tsunami, these walls held back some of the worst damage, and most of the historical buildings were saved. And it's a good thing, too- this town is so ridiculously picturesque that it looks like a Disney version of a tropical seaside town.

We spent most of the day doing a walking tour of the fort, and window shopping- there are many gorgeous colonial hotels, unique and colorful boutiques, and heritage museums. The architectural highlights are the Galle Lighthouse, and the walls themselves, which have been made into a lovely oceanside promenade. This is actually the first place in Sri Lanka we've seen that appears to be designed for tourism and beauty, not just for religion or everyday living. It's a nice change- there is even an ice cream shop (the first we've seen) and real live outdoor cafes! We even found a tea boutique that sold all the variations of Sri Lankan tea, and we purchased enough to slide us through UK Customs, and to feed our new tea habit for a while. In short, the Joneses were fully charmed. (However, one thing not in any of those shops: replacement sunglasses.This are an item that apparently no one uses in Sri Lanka.)

At dusk, we gathered on the seaside walls with the rest of the tourists and locals to watch the sunset. As I've said before in other blogs, I'm not a big sunrise/sunset person. But Indian Ocean sunsets are a riot of color, and to watch it oceanside, dangling our feet over the fort walls, was stunning. We capped the evening with dinner at a small outdoor cafe run by a Belgian-trained Sri Lankan chef. The specialty was freshly caught tuna and coconut curries, which were spectacular. We even had beers, though they were served in large coffee mugs- Galle has a very large, very conservative Muslim population, and apparently even seeing booze will cause dogs and cats to sleep together ("Ghostbusters" reference, FYI).

So we had a lovely day today, sunburns and all. Tomorrow we take another bus 3 hours north back to where we started, in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital. We have a very important mission: visit the cafe where Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" was filmed. I can hardly sleep for the excitement.

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