On our way to the beach, and because we hadn't seen enough, we decided to make one final stop in Sri Lanka's second sacred city, Polonnaruwa. As you might imagine, this too is one of Sri Lanka's eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, bringing our trip's UNESCO count to something like five.
UNESCO's website very factually tells me that Polonnaruwa was seen as the capital from 993, after the destruction of the original capital, Anuradhapura. It contains Brahmanic monuments, ruins of a garden city and a number of stunning domes, amongst other things.
At this point, I think Rosa and I had reached temple saturation point. Coupled with roasting temperatures, we baked amongst the ruins of this beautiful city.
But the skies were blue, the gargoyles were guarding the city and the rocks beneath our feet begged appreciation:
These religious relics dot the various temples across the country. You're not meant to step on these stones with shoes and in scorching temperatures, it's impossible not to burn the soles of your feet:
But Buddha is always watching:
Traditional stupa, a Buddhist relic for meditation:
These stupas dotted the city (and many of the other religious sites we'd visited over our time in the country). The monkeys, however, seemed to pay no mind:
From one view of the city to the next, it was impossible to get a hold on how vast the area was:
Headless statues abounded:
The famous reclining Buddha:
The similarly famous standing Buddha nearby:
And with our final Buddha, we bid farewell to ancient cities and made our final drive towards beachier environs. Not that it wasn't stunning.
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