Galle Fort
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Thu 13 Jan 2011 02:54
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Thursday 13th January
After a couple of days of jobs and Bannet
eager to entertain we arranged to go to Galle Fort. Built by the Dutch,
beginning in 1963, the 36 hectare Fort occupies most of the promontory that
forms the older part of Galle and is an amazing collection of structures
and culture dating back through the centuries. A key part of the Fort's allure,
is that it isn't just a pretty place. Rather, it remains a working community:
there are administrative offices, courts, export companies, lots of regular
folks populating the streets and a definite buzz of energy in the
air.
 En route to the Fort we had our
first glimpse at Sri Lanka. It was late afternoon and the fishermen were
standing around chatting, waiting for the evening to come so that they could
head out to sea to catch some more fish
 The Fort area is home to around
400 houses, churches, mosques, temples and many old commercial and government
buildings. We entered the Fort through the Old Gate. The British coat of arms
tops the entrance on the outer side. Inside, the letters VOC, standing for
Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company), are inscribed in
the stone with the date 1669, flanked by two lions and toped by a cock.
  
 Inside the roads and houses are
very pretty and quaint
Following the Fort wall, the
eastern section ends at Poiny Utrecht Bastion, which is topped by an 18 metre
high lighthouse, which was built in 1938. Flag Rock at the end of the next
stretch of wall, was once a Portuguese bastion. During the Dutch period
approaching ships were signaled from the bastion, warning them of dangerous
rocks - hence its name.
 Flag Rock............Poiny
Utrecht Bastion
 Paul and Bannet..........The
lighthouse
 A huge tree.............A clock
tower above the main gate
 Making lace and cutting
gems inside the National Museum
 Fruit and veg stall in the
street
 Crazy Sri Lankan boys jumped
from Flag Rock into the shallow sea below
 He put on a little show and
then ran up the wall like a monkey back to the top
 Crazy boy..........A lady
selling bracelets to save money for her daughters
 Back out on the streets we came
across a learner tuk-tuk - quite amusing!
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