Unawatuna and Galle Fort comprised our second stop on our 16 day journey to Sri Lanka. After one quick day in the capital city Colombo it was time to head to the beaches of Unawatuna and the beauty of Galle Fort.

We hired a driver though the company Visit Sri Lanka Tours and I can’t say enough good things about this outfitter. We used this company for five of our city transfers and were able to easily book everything online. The cars were always spotless with fantastic air con (this is vitally important – I cannot state this emphatically enough – Sri Lanka is so dang hot that you need air con in your cars!) and safe drivers. The drivers English was pretty good (except for one driver) and they were always very careful on the roads. If you are going to hire private drivers take a look at Visit Sri Lanka Tours. I would use them again if I visited.

It is about two hours from Colombo to Unawatuna by car. We enjoyed a leisurely drive and were happy to get settled into our hotel the Calamander Unawatuna. Unfortunately, we didn’t LOVE this property. The location right on the beach was great, the beds were comfortable and the breakfast spread each morning was extensive and tasty. However, the hotel was really poorly laid out and the pools were sub par for a resort like this. We actually moved our room once due to security concerns (there is a large gate with security tower guarding ONE section of the hotel but not the other side – the side we were in. Not cool). Due to the bombings and the increased tensions throughout the country we did not want to be in an unsafe situation; moving to the other section gave us better peace of mind. There are a ton of hotels in the Unawatuna area and I researched ALL of them. Sometimes you just have to be there in order to actually get a feel for the quality and location. If I could do it again, I’d book us somewhere else; just my opinion.

The next two and a half days were spent in relative relaxation and major exploring. We knew that we would only have about two days on the coast of Sri Lanka and had specifically chosen the Unawatuna area because the beaches were some of the best in the country AND along the route we needed to take to our next stop in Yala for safari.

Due to the Easter bombings, tourists in our hotel and all along the beach were very thin. Restaurants sat mostly empty and hotels were running at 25% occupancy at best. There were some benefits to a nearly empty setting: no worries about getting a beach lounger or having quiet time on the water, plenty of seating in restaurants, time when the whole coastline was just ours. BUT. It was also a little earie.

Probably one of my favorite things about being in Unawatuna were the fantastically LOUD and intense thunderstorms we enjoyed while we were there. I think there were four separate ones, each one louder and more intense than the next. We were able to stand on our balcony and watch three of them. At one point the thunder boomed so loud directly over the hotel I was convinced the roof tiles would crack. It was AMAZING. The storms never lasted very long and the breezes afterwards were much appreciated. Unawatuna was HOT; those storms were a nice break from the unbelievable humidity.

We visited the Japanese Peace Pagoda kind of on a whim. We knew that it was in the area we were staying and had already planned to hire a driver to take us up to it. One morning we were just walking along the beach, all alone and we noticed that the pagoda was looking awfully close. So we just walked to the entrance at the base of the hill, hiked up (barefoot unfortunately; the whole site is a Buddhist temple and they request that your shoes are off) and then we had the entire place to ourselves. It was really peaceful and quiet and we had that element of discovery we enjoy so much on our adventures.

The peace pagoda was built by Japanese monks of the Mahayana sect in 2005. The goal of these monks was to construct peace temples in areas of conflict (at the time Sri Lanka was still embroiled in a decades long civil war). This is considered a Buddhist stupa and its brilliant white set against the jungle overlooking the water is really beautiful.

We also visited a fascinating Ayurveda spice garden just outside of Unawatuna on the way to Galle Fort. Ayurveda is a system of holistic, natural healing through plants for medicinal effect. There is an ayurvedic treatment for any ailment you can imagine. Does it work? I’m not sure, but I am always willing to try an natural course of action before dumping chemicals into myself. The garden was peaceful and our guide carefully pointed out each plant and its use for medicinal effect. He actually put some stuff on Sam’s arm that they use as hair removal. Honestly, it smelled just like Nair. Sam’s skin felt like it was burning, then the guide took a cloth and wiped the mixture off and sure enough, no arm hair in that spot. Hmmm. Probably would not experiment with that one again. Later we purchased a few things from the store onsite including the best smelling mosquito repellent we have ever used – it was effective too!

When we weren’t beating the heat and humidity with significant pool time, we were exploring Galle Fort. I had been SO excited to visit Galle after researching it. The fort is OLD. It is essentially a walled city fortress built by the Portugese in 1588 and then later fortified by the Dutch in the 17th century. As a structure of great historical importance it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. On December 26, 2004 thousands of people in Galle alone were killed by the Boxing Day Tsunami which occurred a thousand miles away off the coast of Indonesia. The ramparts of the fort withstood the tsunami and it then underwent extensive restoration to refortify.

The beauty of an old essentially European town in the middle of jungle and on the coast of the ocean makes for a really special place. Galle Fort is a big tourist attraction…which meant there were a TON of military and police in the area due to the bombings. There were minimal tourists and a few shops and restaurants were actually closed. We enjoyed walking along the cobblestone streets and exploring boutiques and little restaurants. It was so hot and humid both days we were there so we tired out quickly each time we visited.

We found the best homemade ginger beer of our lives (ginger beer was a theme for our Sri Lanka trip – we especially liked the Lion brand found in most shops and restaurants). Honestly, the best best best. We did a fair amount of shopping and it was here in the Fort that I found some of my most favorite souvenirs from our trip. See this post for all of the treasures.

This is the old Dutch Reformed Church built in 1640 which was unfortunately closed to the public due to the bombings. It is also known as Groote Kerk. It was beautiful but as with all churches on this trip, we kept our distance. Security around this church was heavier than in other parts of the Fort.

This was the beautiful Meeran Jumma Masjid Mosque which was builit in 1904 on a known prayer space over 300 years old. This too was closed to all, even Muslims, due to the bombing. The large banner on the outside was a common scene in front of all mosques we saw during our Sri Lanka trip. It basically states how sorry this mosque is for the bombings that happened and that these acts of terrorism are not reflective of Islam or the Muslim people. Seeing this banner over and over during our trip was a scathing reminder of what had happened only a short time before we arrived and indicated how tense the situation in Sri Lanka was for Muslims. There is a large Muslim population within Galle Fort for whom this mosque is important.

The above photo is me finding ALLLLLLL of the amazing hand painted ceramic knobs in this amazing little shop. I also found the best bags and backpacks here. I kick myself almost daily for not just buying more while I was there because we never saw some of this merchandise again anywhere in Sri Lanka. It was totally hot in this shop and Sam could tell I was in it for the long haul and bless him, he did not rush me too much 🙂

We found this brass and inlaid stone tuk tuk in one of the shops on Peddler Street (some of the best shops are on Peddler Street) and we both fell in love with it. It is my favorite souvenir from Sri Lanka. You can read a little bit more about it in this post.

The above photo is of our hands down FAVORITE tuk tuk experience on the whole Sri Lanka trip. This was one blinged out tuk tuk – it was entirely painted white with white “leather” interior and was perfectly clean. It was the only tuk tuk we ever saw or used that had music playing; the driver introduced us to our current favorite group Boney M. I think the drivers name was Dez and he was one cool cat. As we drove through the streets of the fort, music blaring everyone from shops and hotels came out onto the cobblestone streets to see what the heck was going on! When we pulled into the hotel, the security guards actually came over to look at the tuk tuk it was that cool. If you are ever in Unawatuna/Galle Fort and you see this guy in this tuk tuk FLAG HIM DOWN immediately and get in! You won’t regret it.

In summation, floating in the pool and walking the coastline of Unawatuna beach was extremely relaxing. Being in Galle Fort was both cool and slightly unnerving because of the military presence which was a constant reminder of what had happened. Shopping in Galle was the best we found on the whole trip; not necessarily cheap but there were some really unusual and beautiful items to be found. Plus, the old fort European feel of the place was different from any other place we found in Sri Lanka. Next time I would probably opt to stay IN Galle Fort at a place with a pool and venture out to the beaches for little excursions. That said, I know that there are a ton of beautiful beaches in Sri Lanka and I’m so glad that we got to spend time in Unawatuna enjoying one of the best.

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