{"id":22696,"date":"2017-10-25T08:34:44","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T21:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures?p=22696&preview=true&preview_id=22696"},"modified":"2024-08-15T13:33:46","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T03:33:46","slug":"sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Sri Lanka’s most fascinating historical sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018Lanka\u2019, as my Sri Lankan friends at home in Australia often call it, was somewhere I\u2019d been desperate to visit for a while. When I finally got to fulfil that dream last year, it was as diverse, vibrant and wonderful as I had always imagined. <\/strong><\/p>\n

While admittedly it was the food that originally piqued my interest in Sri Lanka<\/a> as a travel destination (and let me tell you, kotthu roti<\/em>, string hoppers<\/em> and endless rice and curry totally lived up to my expectations), there is so much more to this sub-continental wonderland than what goes into your belly.<\/p>\n

The amazing beaches and landscapes, the incredible wildlife, and friendly people are some of the first things that jump to mind. But as a bit of a self-confessed history buff, one thing I wasn\u2019t expecting to get out of my Sri Lankan holiday<\/a> was a good ol\u2019 dose of knowledge about an ancient and fascinating culture. But I did, time and time again.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: HOW TO EAT LIKE A LOCAL IN SRI LANKA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Worshippers<\/a>

Image by Ryan Bolton<\/p><\/div>\n

The Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, a picturesque, bustling colonial city nestled among the hilly Sri Lankan tea fields, was a cultural highlight. After arriving during peak hour and getting dropped off near the Temple of the Tooth, we manoeuvred our way through the throngs of locals selling trinkets to get inside the gates of the golden-roofed temple. The temple houses Sri Lanka\u2019s most important Buddhist relic \u2013 a tooth of the Buddha. Even during prayer, no one is actually allowed to see the tooth; it\u2019s kept inside six golden boxes, designed like Babushka dolls, for protection.<\/p>\n

If you head further north of Kandy, you\u2019ll hit some of the most famous historical sites in Sri Lanka: Sigiriya, one of the world\u2019s most impressive ruined rock fortresses; Dambulla, a holy cave covered in magnificent artwork; and Anuradhapura, which is the ruins of an entire ancient city. Don\u2019t forget to wear long pants or a skirt, and cover your shoulders if you plan on visiting some of these Buddhist sites.<\/p>\n

\"Sri<\/a>

Image via Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

Despite a torrential downpour of monsoonal rain, we braved the climb to the top of Sigiriya. The stairs are steep and narrow in parts, but when you make it to the top, you\u2019re treated not only to the ruins of the ancient royal fortress of Kassapa\u2019s kingdom, but unbelievable views of the surrounding landscape. Don\u2019t forget to check out the incredible rock sculptures of a lion\u2019s paws, which account for Sigiriya\u2019s other name: \u2018Lion Rock\u2019. If you\u2019re up for a second (less strenuous) climb nearby, Dambulla\u2019s cave temple is full of ancient Buddhist artwork and beautiful scenery. Take plenty of water on both these excursions, as the sticky humid weather can make the walks challenging.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: 5 EXPERIENCES\u00a0THAT PROVE SRI LANKA IS AN ADVENTURER\u2019S PARADISE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Travel further north again and you\u2019ll reach Anuradhapura. Anuradhapura was a place that I was desperate to visit, and also to learn the correct pronunciation of. The way the locals say it bounces off the tongue quickly, and, after many missteps, I felt like I had it down pat (it\u2019s Anu-rad-ha-pura<\/em> for those playing at home!). You could spend hours exploring the ruins of this ancient city, but one of the best ways to see the highlights is to hop on a bike, with a local leader<\/a> explaining the significance of the different sights.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

Image via Shutterstock<\/p><\/div>\n

My favourite site was probably Sri Maha Bodhi<\/em>, a sacred fig tree in Anuradhapura. It\u2019s a beautiful tree, but the story behind it was what really got to me. Sri Lankans say that Princess Sangamitta, the daughter of the Indian Emperor and the sister of Mahinda (who brought Buddhism to Sri Lanka), brought the tree cutting from India, which is why it\u2019s so symbolic for Buddhists. It\u2019s the world\u2019s oldest tree to be planted in this way and has been continuously cultivated for the last 2000 years. Many people come to pray and make offerings, especially on poya<\/em> (full moon), but even if you aren\u2019t a Buddhist, it\u2019s a stunning place to sit for a moment of quiet appreciation.<\/p>\n

See all these amazing historical sites and more on our <\/em>Circle Sri Lanka<\/em><\/a> small group tour.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Feature image by Ryan Bolton.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was the food that originally piqued my interest in Sri Lanka, but there is so much more to this sub-continental wonderland than what you eat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15978,"featured_media":22953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[455,1313],"tags":[1742,52],"class_list":["post-22696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature","category-guides","tag-history","tag-sri-lanka","ipf_region-sri-lanka"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSri Lanka's Most Fascinating Historical Sites | Intrepid Travel Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It was the food that originally piqued my interest in Sri Lanka, but there is so much more to this sub-continental wonderland than what you eat.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sri Lanka's most fascinating historical sites\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2018Lanka\u2019, as my Sri Lankan friends at home in Australia often call it, was somewhere I\u2019d been desperate to visit for a while. When I finally got to fulfil that dream last year, it was as diverse, vibrant and wonderful as I had always imagined.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Good Times by Intrepid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intrepidtravel\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-10-24T21:34:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-15T03:33:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/sri-lanka_dambulla_sigiriya-lion-rock-fortress_2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amy Foyster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Intrepid_Travel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Intrepid_Travel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amy Foyster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/\",\"name\":\"Sri Lanka's Most Fascinating Historical Sites | Intrepid Travel Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/sri-lanka_dambulla_sigiriya-lion-rock-fortress_2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-10-24T21:34:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-15T03:33:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/7423a48f030666c2d1f9638b08951be4\"},\"description\":\"It was the food that originally piqued my interest in Sri Lanka, but there is so much more to this sub-continental wonderland than what you eat.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/sri-lanka_dambulla_sigiriya-lion-rock-fortress_2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/sri-lanka_dambulla_sigiriya-lion-rock-fortress_2.jpg\",\"width\":800,\"height\":450,\"caption\":\"Sigiriya Fortress, Sri Lanka\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sri Lanka’s most fascinating historical sites\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/\",\"name\":\"The Good Times by Intrepid\",\"description\":\"adventure news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/7423a48f030666c2d1f9638b08951be4\",\"name\":\"Amy Foyster\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a32a447df9dbc889fbf248d994b254c30e3b92decfd28eccbd57a4323a95cfce?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a32a447df9dbc889fbf248d994b254c30e3b92decfd28eccbd57a4323a95cfce?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Amy Foyster\"},\"description\":\"My main goal in life is to find ways that I can eat, travel and then write about it and pass it off as gainful employment. In fact, I normally plan my holidays entirely around where and what I am going to eat. Writing this has made me hungry\u2026\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/author\/amy-foyster\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sri Lanka's Most Fascinating Historical Sites | Intrepid Travel Blog","description":"It was the food that originally piqued my interest in Sri Lanka, but there is so much more to this sub-continental wonderland than what you eat.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sri Lanka's most fascinating historical sites","og_description":"\u2018Lanka\u2019, as my Sri Lankan friends at home in Australia often call it, was somewhere I\u2019d been desperate to visit for a while. When I finally got to fulfil that dream last year, it was as diverse, vibrant and wonderful as I had always imagined.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/","og_site_name":"The Good Times by Intrepid","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/intrepidtravel\/","article_published_time":"2017-10-24T21:34:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-08-15T03:33:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":450,"url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/sri-lanka_dambulla_sigiriya-lion-rock-fortress_2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amy Foyster","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Intrepid_Travel","twitter_site":"@Intrepid_Travel","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amy Foyster","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/","name":"Sri Lanka's Most Fascinating Historical Sites | Intrepid Travel Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/sri-lanka_dambulla_sigiriya-lion-rock-fortress_2.jpg","datePublished":"2017-10-24T21:34:44+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-15T03:33:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/7423a48f030666c2d1f9638b08951be4"},"description":"It was the food that originally piqued my interest in Sri Lanka, but there is so much more to this sub-continental wonderland than what you eat.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/sri-lanka_dambulla_sigiriya-lion-rock-fortress_2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/sri-lanka_dambulla_sigiriya-lion-rock-fortress_2.jpg","width":800,"height":450,"caption":"Sigiriya Fortress, Sri Lanka"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/sri-lankas-most-fascinating-historical-sites\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sri Lanka’s most fascinating historical sites"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/","name":"The Good Times by Intrepid","description":"adventure news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/7423a48f030666c2d1f9638b08951be4","name":"Amy Foyster","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a32a447df9dbc889fbf248d994b254c30e3b92decfd28eccbd57a4323a95cfce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a32a447df9dbc889fbf248d994b254c30e3b92decfd28eccbd57a4323a95cfce?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Amy Foyster"},"description":"My main goal in life is to find ways that I can eat, travel and then write about it and pass it off as gainful employment. In fact, I normally plan my holidays entirely around where and what I am going to eat. Writing this has made me hungry\u2026","url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/author\/amy-foyster\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/sri-lanka_dambulla_sigiriya-lion-rock-fortress_2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4OQMK-5U4","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15978"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22696"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72959,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22696\/revisions\/72959"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intrepidtravel.com\/adventures\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}