We rose at 6am in order to meet Caesar at 6:30 for our trip to Sigiriya Rock. The hotel had prepared some fruit for us to take with us so we picked this up before making our way to the rock.
It’s only a short journey from our hotel to the rock entrance and we arrived before 7. Caesar dropped us off and gave us the entrance tickets. We headed straight towards the rock through the water gardens with the rock towering over us. I felt slightly wary about our ability to climb this huge chunk of granite, but I was determined to proceed.
If you want to learn more about the story of Sigiriya Rock then look at the Wikipedia Page and it will tell you all you need to know.
Climbing to the top
Following on from the water gardens the route rises and then you come across two giant boulders leaning on one another with a tight entrance. This alone would have been a point easy to defend. The route then rises up and up. We encountered those who had risen even earlier than us to be at the top for sunrise on their way down.
On some sections the steps are quite small for size 10 shoes like me. As we climbed we suddenly found Caesar breathing heavily beside us. He had moved the car and then walked quickly to catch us up.
We arrived at the halfway stage where you can rest, enjoy the view and look at the Lion’s Feet carved into the rock. Sigiriya means Lion Rock, all that’s left of the lion are the feet. Apparently the head fell off in the 16th C. Caesar decided to wait at this halfway point while we continued to the top.
As we approached the top an unofficial guide made our acquaintance and took us on a tour of the top of Sigiriya and took our photo.
We paid our guide ate a banana each and were then surrounded by a pack of wild dogs hoping for something to eat. We opened a biscuit packet and handed it out, or threw it out. We then made our escape.
We made our way safely down to ground zero for a piece of fruit and the drove to breakfast.
Breakfast at Ekho
We had no idea where to stop for breakfast but fortunately Caesar had and we pulled into this small hotel where a breakfast buffet waited for us, and their other guests. We had a few cups of coffee and sampled a mixture of English and Sri Lankan food. The staff and management treated us very civilly.
The silk shop
Within a few minutes we arrived at the local silk shop. We had a short explanation about how silk is produced and then show around the shop. Maggi eventually decided she would like a linen shirt made and a silk top that can also be used as a scarf.
We haggled a little about the price and they promised to have Maggi’s new shirt ready for the morning when we pass by on our way to Colombo.
The sapphire shop
After one lot of purchases we arrived at this emporium. We had a very good tour of the premises which included a 10 minute film on how they mine sapphire, followed by a long chat showing the different types of sapphires and their colours. I had no idea there are so many variations on a theme and how much they vary in cost.
We also looked at how they cut and polish the gems as well as the jewellers that mount the stones in silver or platinum. All of was very interesting.
Maggi wanted to change her right earring stud and we chose a gold one with a ruby. She also bought a bracelet made with silver and elephant hair. I thought we had finished at that point, however Maggi went off and had her old signet ring removed from her finger, and enlarged as well as chosen another ring.
Once we had finished Caesar drove us back to the hotel for shower sleep and mess around.