The old Dutch fort of Galle

View of the Galle Harbour from the fort walls.
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Our bus ride from Nuwara Eliya involved traveling down the windy windy (both meanings: lots of wind and many hair pin curves) road from the mountains to the coast. It was over-full of course and the conductor kept picking up tall stacks of clay pots filled with curd and leaning them against the seat in front of us- an impending mess waiting for the right bounce or turn to soak us in sour yoghurt. Erin had apparently developed a viral fever, as diagnosed a day later by a doctor, which was giving her a fever, splitting headache, and making her feel nauseous. About 8 hours later we made it to the walls of the old Dutch fort in Galle. Erin napped in the guest house, while I went exploring over the ramparts.

Galle fort walls.
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According to some of the locals I spoke to, the fort had gone into decline during the years of the civil war, starting from when I used to go there with my family. That did not match my impression though, as I saw archeological digs and restoration of old walls, as well as quite a few boutiquey shops (even a branch of Barbara Sansoni's Barefoot) and hotels. Well, maybe my memories as a 12 year old boy were not in tune with shopping in boutiques and visiting unique hotels!

The next day we took Erin to the doctor and he gave the verdict of a Viral Fever, and prescribed antibiotics and codeine. She was in terrible pain, and could not even enjoy gin and tonics on the verandah watching the sunset over the fort walls with me.

One of many ancient massive trees inside the fort.
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We ate a couple meals in the fancy restaurant of the modern Galle Fort Hotel, which was great and we had some cats keep us company in exchange for a few bites of our food. For some reason we always find cats inhabiting old forts, while dogs will take over a city.

Erin was mostly recovered when we made our departure from the fort, and went 2 kilometers West and stopped for lunch in the Bawa designed Lighthouse Hotel. That is a fancy place! There is a spectacular sculpture in the staircase of the Portuguese invasion of Galle, before the Dutch got there. Our lunch was great and the sea view and ambience superb. So many of our meals and experiences in Sri Lanka were greatly satisfying and made our visit very memorable and encourage us to come again.

Old street in the Galle fort.
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When we left the hotel though, which is quite swanky, we picked up our grungy back packs and asked about the public buses going up the coast. The hotel staff were more than a little bemused by this contradiction. We did catch a good fast AC bus though and made it to Bentota in under 2 hours.