Galle Fort

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Welcome to a European City in Sri Lanka !!!

Galle was the second city we visited in Sri Lanka, after a few days in the capital Colombo. We didn`t particularly like Colombo, and were afraid that all cities of Sri Lanka would be as noisy and dirt, but luckily not! The small city Galle is really lovely and peaceful, full of colour and texture. We totally fell in love with Galle! The city consists of a new part and an old part. We didn`t spend much time in the new part, so this blogpost will be all about the old city.

The old part of Galle, Galle Fort, is as its name implies surrounded by a big city wall. The city was built by the Dutch, beginning in 1663, and even today it is an amazing collection of structures dating back through the centuries.

 Even though Galle Fort is old and pretty on the facade, it is still a working community, with administrative offices, courts, cafes, companies, shops, restaurants, hotels and so on. The city houses artists, writes, photographers, designers and poets, and a third of the about 400 houses are owned by foreigners.

 The city is like no other city in Sri Lanka, and wandering around through the narrow streets makes you even forget that you are in Sri Lanka. It actually feels like walking the streets of a medieval city in Europe! Really strange in a way.

 The Europeans have been here a long time, the first ones were the Portuguese as early as 1505 when one of their fleets bound for the Maldives was blown off course and ended up in the harbour of Galle. It was apparently they who gave the city its name, after hearing a cock (galo in Portuguese) crowing. If that is true or not, no one knows. Another theory is that the name Gale derives from the Sinhala word gala (meaning rock), which is probably more likely thinking about it 

It was also the Portuguese who first build the Fort, in small scale, for protection against the kingdom of Sri Lanka. However it was the Dutch that really made Galle into the size it is today, and made it the main port for Sri Lanka for more than 200  years, welcoming a lot of ships traveling from between Europe and Asia. Today Colombo is the main port.

nside the Galle Fort there is also churches, mosques and temples – a picture on how many religions living peacefully side by side in Sri Lanka.

 Instead of focusing on ticking off every museum in Galle Fort, we wandered around along the narrow streets on our on discovery walk. On our way we found both dancing snakes and graffiti art.

 A really nice walk in Galle is on the actual wall that surrounds the Galle Fort. We were in Galle on two day-trips, one on a weekday and one on a Sunday. Apparently the locals also like going for strolls on the wall on Sunday afternoon. The wall was packed with srilankan families, many of them bringing food and having a picnic in the afternoon sun. So nice!

There are a lot of nice and small hotels and guesthouses in Galle Fort, but they are expensive, and there is really no need to stay in the old city over night. The nightlife is not much, and the restaurants usually closes around ten o`clock in the evening.

 As the sun went down, it gave us a breathtaking sunset.

After a long day in beautiful Galle Fort, it was nice with a real srilankan dinner – rice and curry! We had chicken in curry, rice, papadums, beetroot with cinnamon, sweet potatoes, green beans, dhal and sambals. It was really good! We ate at Mama`s, where they have a rooftop restaurant with spectacular view over the city! Will really recommend this restaurant, delicious food!

We really enjoyed our two day-trips to Galle Fort! Such a beautiful and peaceful city with a great vibe! Lots of cosy cafes, small shops and restaurants. A day trip to Galle Fort should be on every visitor to Sri Lankas list. Hope to come back one day…..

Would you like to visit Galle Fort some day? Please mail your comment in the my mail box below, ( basuratravels@gmail.com ) I can help you it. Thank you! If you like this blog post, or find it useful, please share it on social media!

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