Galle and Mirissa

We spent one full day in Galle, a historical port city with a huge fort area and really beautiful Dutch colonial buildings. After our epic bus-athon, we were pretty happy to be in the south, ready for some beach fun for a while! Our time in Galle was mostly spent walking around the fort walls, which had beautiful views of the crystal clear ocean and formations on the other side. Like many other parks and semi-secluded places here, there were lots of lovey dovey Sri Lankan couples behind trees and ruins - very cute!

Liz on Mirissa beach

Alot of restoration and renovation work is being done on the buildings (i.e. amazing mansions!) in the fort area and apparently alot of foreigners are buying them to rent out. There was also a prominant Muslim community in the fort and some beautiful Islamic architecture. A day was enough to see what we wanted to see, and it was onto Mirissa, a small fishing village turned peaceful backpacker hangout (the new Thailand?!).

The fort wall in Galle

The beach here is long and curving, with a good amount of sand and even waves - a weird concept after the still seas of SE Asia! There's an abundance of palm trees, cheap yummy seafood, and no noisy nightclubs or development apart from the guesthouses scattered along the beachfront. We're going to spend a lazy week or so here before flying to Chennai in Southern India - it may be our last peace and quiet for a long time!!