Monday 18th November 2024

We had a leisurely final breakfast at Erica's, and our driver, Rajitha, then arrived to take us back to Kurunegala, but not before a beautiful stop at Galle Fort on the way. We left Erica's shortly after 08:30 and arrived in Galle Fort just before 10:00. It was a particularly special thing to do, as it was a new experience for both of us, because in all my trips to Sri Lanka, I had always intended to go to, but never quite made it as far as, the wonderful historical place that is Galle Fort.

We were quite enchanted by Galle Fort, as it was a fortified little enclave, much of which has survived - to the extent that you can walk right around the walls, which we did, and then through the lovely little streets, which we also did. Unfortunately, the little streets, gorgeous as they are, are now almost exclusively a tourist shopping area, but they are charming nevertheless, and we enjoyed having a little browse around the various shops.

I was also struck by the wildlife we encountered - not least the amazing monitor lizards, which look like little dinosaurs, and were wandering around everywhere. There were beautiful birds, too, and most amusing from my point of view, a cow that had wandered in through the main gate, and was happily grazing by the roadside. All of this we experienced in sweltering heat, which was quite overwhelming at times, but still better than the snow predicted in the UK!

We had been recommended to have lunch at an 'upstairs' restaurant called Tuk-Tuk, which we dutifully did, and we weren't disappointed there either. We tucked into a lovely Caesar salad each, with a gorgeous view out over the Indian Ocean. After that, it was a long drive back to Kurunegala, but this morning's visit to Galle Fort has really been a magnificent finale to what has been a fantastic 10-day break away from the hustle and bustle of life in Kurunegala.

Today's photographs are, of course, a selection from the beautiful morning we experienced in Galle Fort, including ones of the wildlife we encountered there.













Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 19, 2024 at 6:19 AM

    ❤️❤️❤️

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousNovember 23, 2024 at 12:22 AM

    Fascinating sights, and a great photo of the two of you at the end of your holiday!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saturday 5th October 2024

Image
It's my fifth trip to Sri Lanka, but on this occasion I am at last joined by my wife, Valerie, and it will be lovely not to be on my own this time. We flew out of London Heathrow Airport one hour late at 22:30 UK time on Friday, and after a rather excruciating eleven hour flight, we eventually landed at Colombo Airport just after 13:30 Sri Lankan time on Saturday. I slept for a few hours on the journey, but Valerie struggled to get any sleep at all. Sandra Wanduragala met us at Colombo Airport, and we drove into Colombo for a couple of hours - meeting up with her daughter, Selena, at the Good Market, which we really enjoyed and would love to go back to. We then went back to Selena's home, where it was good to be able to freshen up a little bit, and enjoy a nice cup of tea, before our driver, Rohan drove us to Kurunegala, where we will be based for the next two months. Arriving in Kurunegala, we met up with my good friend Tharika and her daughter, Evinka, to have dinner at Sri B...
Read more

Friday 16th February 2024

Image
It was my final day in the Pre-Primary Department of the Royal International School today, which was kind of sad, as they have been so welcoming, and I have had the most amazing time there. Miss Agatha and Miss Tharika run a very tight team that manages 902 children from Toddlers to Nursery to Lower Kindergarten (LKG) to Upper Kindergarten (UKG) extraordinarily well, and which provides an excellent foundation for these pupils' learning journey. I had a wonderful morning where I was observing Number lessons with the UKG Co-ordinator and the English Co-ordinator (seeing the level of English in the Number lessons). In almost all the lessons, the quality of the teaching was exceptionally high, with the attention to detail - and in particular with the resources they had prepared - quite incredible. And apart from all of that, it was great fun, which is, in my opinion what learning should be for children. I had a nerve-wracking afternoon, as I had to deliver a session on time management ...
Read more

Monday 7th October 2024

Image
We got cracking today with our prime reason for being here - to support the work of the Royal International School in Kurunegala. We worked together today to give Valerie a chance to settle in at the school, and we are having a gentle start at the Pre-Primary Department, where we will be spending 3 days seeing what they do so well there, before moving on this Thursday to the Junior Department, which is, of course, where our true area of expertise lies. We received a wonderful welcome from both staff and students as we arrived at the school this morning, including a group of girls performing a beautiful, traditional dance for us. It was lovely doing the few lesson observations with Valerie today, before we work separately from tomorrow onwards. The standard of teaching in the Pre-Primary Department is truly impressive, and we were pretty amazed by what we witnessed today. We are both enjoying it so much already! Sandra (who founded the school) and Ravi (the Managing Director) popped rou...
Read more