When I first started telling people about my holiday to Sri Lanka, nearly everyone had a negative opinion of stopping off in Colombo. However, after the arrival and a quick tour of the city with our driver, I had already made up my own mind. This city was, yes busy and slightly scary for an Asia first timer, but interesting and full of new experiences and culture.
And then we met our guide Mark and his wife Ruvi. Both were born and raised in Sri Lanka. After just five minutes with them, you could tell they were bursting to share their passion and the history of this city. Their city.
We hopped into their open air jeep with Ruvi pointing out historical sites, and different areas, whilst Mark navigated the crazy traffic. After fifteen minutes, we got out and started a walking tour of Colombo, first the ancient fort area, which has been captured and changed hands so many times, the array of architecture being rebuilt by the Sri Lankan army makes it look like the place time forgot.
Stopping off in the oldest hotel in Sri Lanka, The Grand Oriental, for our first taste of real Sri Lankan tea and cake we set off again to explore the market area of Pettah. The market was a hubbub of activity, the maze of streets filled with locals piling goods in lorries to take around to the rest of the island with street sellers of all varieties, there must be nothing you could not find here.
Every now and again Mark would take us down alleys and point out the remnants of old buildings that a casual passer-by would never spot. We also stopped off to the 17th Century old ‘Dutch House’. Completely surrounded by new buildings in the market, Mark has gained special access to take you into this oasis of calm, when you shut the doors behind you, you cannot hear the constant beeps of horns from the traffic outside.
Mark and Ruvi are extremely passionate about Colombo and they spend every spare minute researching and developing sites for our clients to get a real feel of what Colombo was like and what it has become. Spending his own money, Mark has managed to renovate an area that is home to all of the old machinery left by the British that helped build a lot of the roads and buildings around Colombo.
At the end of our walk through Colombo with Mark, we all gathered in the Old Dutch Hospital, which has been converted into a centre of bars and restaurants, for a well-deserved beer.
If I could give you one piece of advice for travelling to Sri Lanka, it would be to not skip Colombo, take some time to get to understand the culture and history of the country in its’ capital city. Take a walking tour, and let Sri Lanka come to life.
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