Sigiriya Rock & Polonnaruwa - Sri Lanka

Our time in Sri Lanka offered us a veritable feast of new experiences, some which delighted our eye, and others that excited our senses.

Dark Blue Glassy Tiger - Ideopsis vulgaris macrina

Sigiriya Rock is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which rises spectacularly 200m above the surrounding countryside. The rock is thought to have been occupied for millennia, but much of what can be seen today is attributed to the time of King Kasyapa who built an impregnable palace on its summit between AD477 and 485. It tends to be known as Lion Rock due to the fact that the King also built a gateway halfway up in the form of an enormous lion. Today only the paws remain but even they stand as high as a tall man giving some indication of the original scale of the lion. The remains were first discovered by British archaeologists in the early 20th century, and excavations have continued ever since. It is possible to climb to the top of Sigiriya, many do, but it is difficult. My other half climbed to the top having previously done so exactly 40 years ago. Only 6 of our party managed the climb - I realised that it would be far too steep and hot for me to tackle.

photo courtesy Stella, a member of our party
Here he is on the top where once the grand palace would have stood - how did they get all of the building materials to the top? This was one of many questions we pondered amongst ourselves. 
Later that same day we headed off to Polonnaruwa, an ancient Sinhala civilisation which became the capital of Sri Lanka during the 11th and 12th centuries.

Built by King Parakramabahu l are the ruins of his Palace. It was seven stories high, and had a thousand rooms. 

The remains of the Council Chamber and Audience Hall. The roof is long gone, but the base still remains, and is decorated with friezes depicting dwarfs, lions, and elephants. 

The Royal Baths
This ancient city covers a large area, and fortunately we had transport to convey us around. Some were seen exploring the area on hired bikes.

The Hatadage is an ancient shrine, which once housed a relic of the Buddha's tooth.

The central dagoba of the Vatadage - to enter these sacred places it is necessary to remove your shoes before stepping on to the moonstone at the foot of the steps.

A moonstone step is a totally unique feature found only in Sri Lankan Buddhist buildings - the outer edge is designed with a ring of flames and the other rings are usually filled with 4 types of animals - elephants, horse, lions and a bull chasing one another. These are considered to represent birth, decay, disease and death, and in the centre sits a lotus representing nirvana. 
There are only six ancient moonstone steps remaining in Sri Lanka, but I read an interesting article here revealing that a seventh one was discovered in Devon, UK, which was sold for over £550,000 five years ago.

Dusk was descending rapidly as we passed by the milky white dagoba of the Kiri Vihara to reach our final destination in this ancient landscape.

A group of four beautiful Buddha statues carved from one single huge piece of granite at Gal Vihara.

It was a time of Poson Poya in Sri Lanka when Buddhists celebrate the arrival of Buddhism in 236 BC. Whole families were visiting this sacred site bearing gifts of fruit and flowers.

To give an idea of the scale of these statues, this reclining Buddha measures over 46 feet long (14.12m)
We did not visit the fourth Buddha which was set behind glass in a cavern at a central point in the rock. It would have necessitated removing our shoes, and having removed them several times already during the day, our feet were crying out for some well earned respite.