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Who are we?

This travel blog is created by me, Lars Aldman, a Swedish journalist and traveller, always in the company of my wonderful wife V. who is also a journalist and a fantastic photographer.

I worked for many years for the Swedish National Radio and Television, as a reporter/producer/studio host and a bunch of other roles.but now I’m retired and do whatever I like.

We love to visit foreign countries and cultures and meet people all over the globe. So far we have been to Asia, Africa, South America and the Caribbean and of course Europe. And we’d like to share with You, dear reader, what we have experienced and seen. We hope You want to join us and possibly find ideas for Your own adventures.

PS. To see more of my photos from journeys far and near, head over to aldmangallery.com

To contact us via mail: info@resormedv.se

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Who are we?

This travel blog is created by me, Lars Aldman, a Swedish journalist and traveller, always in the company of my wonderful wife V. who is also a journalist and a fantastic photographer.

I worked for many years for the Swedish National Radio and Television, as a reporter/producer/studio host and a bunch of other roles.but now I’m retired and do whatever I like.

We love to visit foreign countries and cultures and meet people all over the globe. So far we have been to Asia, Africa, South America and the Caribbean and of course Europe. And we’d like to share with You, dear reader, what we have experienced and seen. We hope You want to join us and possibly find ideas for Your own adventures.

PS. To see more of my photos from journeys far and near, head over to aldmangallery.com

To contact us via mail: info@resormedv.se

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Travels with V

Sri Lanka

Travels with V

Sri Lanka

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The palace on top of the world

Sigiriya

It’s a relatively short bus ride from Polonnaruwa to a world heritage site and probably the most famous tourist goal in Sri Lanka – Sigiriya and the palace on the hilltop.

A remarkable construction and a strange and dramatic history. Legend speaks of a king’s son who kills his father to replace him on the throne. The rightful heir, the murderer’s brother flees to India where he gathers an army to retake the kingdom. But the usurper then builds an impregnable fortress on the top of the Sigiriya mountain.

The ruins of that unparalleled construction are still up there, and we climb winding stairs and gangways to get all the way up. Just below the last 40 meters the path leads us between two gigantic lion paws made of mud bricks. Once there was a lion’s head here too and the visitor entered through the its mouth. On the ground below the cliff there were great gardens with pools and creeks.

Up on the flat top of the Sigiriya cliff there’s a labyrinth of brick walls, stairs and walkways, giving witness of a once grand palace. There’s even a big swimmingpool up here!

But probably the most spectacular sight in this palace is found on a cliff wall about halfway up to the top. It’s the so called “mirror wall” where a number of colourful paintings are found, painted directly on the rock. They depict women with bare breasts (image on topof this page). No one knows who they are, but the guess in that they are royal concubines. There is also a theory that says that the whole palace was some sort of “night club” or “pleasure house”, and the painted women were posters for the glory to be found at the top.

Sigiriya was the capital city of a kingdom in north Sri Lanka, but that lasted less than 50 years. The palace was abandoned until ca 500 ad when monks made it into a monastery. But in ca 1300 it was abandoned again and forgotten. Then in the early 1900s a British explorer found it. He must have been a good climber, because the only way up back then was on shallow steps chiseled out in the vertical cliff.

Today Sigiriya is a forest village with scattered buildings beneath the big rock. We’re staying in a exceptionally friendly guesthouse called Sinhagiri Villa. They have an in-house restaurant and while dining the first evening we hear explosions nearby. Our host explains that it’s nothing to worry about. It’s the dry season and the elephants in the area have a hard time finding fresh grass. So they enter the village at night and ransack the villager’s vegetable gardens. The Elephants are protected, so the villagers use firecrackers to scare them off.

ELEPHANT WARNING
THE TAXI STOP IN SIGIRIYA
GREY LANGUR
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