Day 10 - Exploring the ancient city of Anuradhapura

I had my breakfast in my hotel (tea & four slices of toast for 250 LKR). The hotel owner showed me my bike which turned out to be a little bit iffy! The brakes barely worked & the bottom bracket moved about half an inch from side to side! Otherwise it was great & the basket on the front was a bonus which came in handy for my guidebook!

I headed off to the ancient city, & it was a real joy just cycling around & soaking up all the wonderful sites, although I would say Polonnaruwa was probably better for actual sight seeing. However the Dogobas were very impressive, but unfortunately Abhayagiri was covered in scaffolding.

At the heart of the ancient city (337 BC to 993 AD) is the Sri Maha Bodhi or sacred Bo Tree. According to popular belief this tree was grown from the cutting brought to Sri Lanka by Prince Sangamitta, the sister of Mahinda, which was taken from the original Bo Tree in Bodhgoya, India, under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. When I visited the tree some of the leaves were falling & people were trying to catch them as they fell (I assume it brings good luck). It was very bizarre looking at all the decorative scaffolding supporting the tree. It is considered one of the world’s Buddhist relics, rivaled only by the Tooth Relic in Kandy.

Sri Maha Bodhi Temple

Sri Maha Bodhi Temple

 Sri Maha Bodhi

Sri Maha Bodhi

The Jetavana Dagoba

The Jetavana Dagoba (built in the 3rd century AD by King Mahasena) is the highest brick-built dagoba in the world. The paved platform on which it stands covers more than 8 acres (3 hectares) of land & has a diameter of over 100m. In its original form the dagoba stood 120m high, and was the third-tallest structure in the world, surpassed only by the two great pyramids Khufu and Khafre at Giza, Egypt. It was also the world's biggest dagoba and is still the tallest and largest structure made entirely of brick anywhere on earth. It took 27 years to build & contains over ninety million bricks.

Ruvanveli Dagoba

Ruvanveli Dagoba was built by King Dutugemunu who ruled the country in the 2nd century BC & is a huge dagoba measuring 103 metres in height with a circumference of 287 metres, (the Dagoba is one of the world's tallest monuments).

Ruvanveli Dagoba

 Elephant Pond and my bike!

Grey Langurs around Jetavana Dagoba

I was glad I took plenty of food & water with me as some of the prices inside the ancient city were ridiculous (e.g 100 LKR for water). Although whilst riding to the Citadel, I stopped at a little shop (next door is a cafe which has a couple of tables and chairs outside) & bought two large bottles of water (60 LKR each) and a coke and a coconut, all for 220 LKR. The lady inside the shop asked if I would like to sit down outside whilst she broke open the coconut for me, unfortunately she didn't have much luck & so here husband came to the rescue! Whilst her husband was breaking open the coconut she proceeded to cook a meal of curry and rice for me & all for free, lovely lady!

It was quite a hot day & at times it was murder walking around some places in bare feet (as you have to at many of the temples). My feet sometimes felt as if they were burning, & after a while I just got into the habit of leaving my socks on!

I spent all day in the ancient city and thoroughly enjoyed cycling around & resting up every now & then. I did however think it was a little odd that I was never once asked for my cultural triangle ticket? Even at the Sri Maha Bodhi, which my guide book mentioned I would also have to pay an extra fee? No complaints though!

After leaving the ancient city I also cycled quite a bit around the town and visited the old bus station to check out the times of the first buses to Kandy for tomorrow morning.

After arriving back at my hotel I had another nice meal which included fish caught from the nearby Nuwara Wewa lake, which was very much fried but tasted lovely!

Evening Meal in Anuradhapura