Day Sixteen: Forts, fish and fun
We walked the sea wall built by the Dutch in the 1600s. Its huge thick rock walls survived the tsunami in 2004 when many other structures didn't. Prior to the Dutch building the seawall, the Portuguese had built a wall on the land side of the Peninsula as they anticipated attacks coming from the land. Bad decision, as the Dutch arrived from the sea!
There were lots of other walkers, many of whom Sanath knew. The wall has some steps up to the high ramparts where many cannons used for defence are still in place. The buildings within the Fort are heritage-listed, which means many of them are still clearly Dutch designed.
We were fascinated to see lots of wedding parties being photographed on the Fort wall or in the parks surrounded by old Fort buildings.
The brides were dressed in superbly decorated ivory-coloured dresses: lots of jewels and sequins and ornate headdresses.
Mostly the grooms were in western-style tuxedos except for one who was dressed in a traditional Kandy-style wedding outfit. Apparently the men have to wear padding around their middle for this style in order to look portly, well-fed and imposing!
Not a look that would catch on elsewhere I think!
We'd had tuna sashimi the other night and it was beautiful: they sell first grade tuna and various other grades - perfect for fish curry. Most of the fish Jan and I couldn't identify, but the colours and markings were vivid. We were fascinated and, whilst taking photos, one of the fisherman yelled 'Go!Go!'as we were blocking access to his stall: fair enough really!
Near the entrance to the fort a line-up of school buses appeared at 7.30am dropping off schoolchildren of all ages as there are two large schools within the Fort precinct. Their pristine white uniforms with red ties, and red bows on the end of long black plaits were quite a sight. The same uniforms are worn everywhere across Sri Lanka but with different coloured ties to signify your school.
Jan and I threw ourselves in the pool when we returned to Why House and enjoyed another lovely breakfast at our usual table.
The rest of the day was officially a day of leisure, so no formal activities. We amused ourselves with reading, writing, chatting and swims. We decided that biscuits and cheese was the order of the day for lunch as we had yet to eat the cheese that Kerryn and I had bought optimistically in Jaffna: we bought rather a lot as we hadn't seen cheese for a while. And the snacks sack was still looking rather full. Two instances of overbuying and both concerning me?! What can I say?
We sat happily on the verandah that came with the spacious rooms. Very comfortable!
In mid-afternoon we piled into some tuk tuks and headed for Pedlar St at the Fort. Last time we were here we spent a lovely day wandering around these shops, but they didn't seem as interesting and were full of mass-produced souvenirs. We did however go to Barefoot (again!) so a few more purchases for grandchildren etc were made.
Another visit to the Kashana Gem store was apparently necessary, with most of us saying we weren't interested. And yet quite a few purchases were made, especially in the earrings department!
After the hectic shopping we adjourned to the rooftop Bar of The Charleston Hotel overlooking the Fort wall towards sunset. An Aperol Spritz for me and some interesting cocktails for the others. Followed by some delicious sweet crumbed calamari, crisp prawn salad and chips with truffle mayonnaise. A perfect meal accompanied by a lovely sunset and mild breeze.
The end of a lovely day!
Your rested and refreshed correspondent
Dianne
Comments
Post a Comment