Dambulla Temple and Sigiriya Fortress are two of the most visited places in Sri Lanka both by locals and tourists. Dambulla Cave Temple (Golden temple) and Sigiriya rock (Lion’s rock) are UNESCO world heritage sites too. So a tourist or a visitor should not miss these two wonderful places in their visit to Sri Lanka. So we will bring you some of the important facts and a guideline to visit these places especially for you who are willing and not been to these two places before.
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Dambulla Temple and Sigiriya Fortress –
Dambulla Cave temple
As both these places are very close to each other, you can visit both places in a day if you plan your trip properly. Now we will start our journey to Dambulla cave temple and Sigiriya rock fortress. Are you ready my friends? Let’s start the journey. First, we will start our journey from Colombo. Our first destination will be the Dambulla cave temple. It will take around 04 hours to reach there if we start our journey early in the morning from a private/hired vehicle.
After reaching there, you will feel a sense of calmness around you. The environment there creates that feeling in people and one should feel it by him/her self to recognize it. Dambulla cave temple is the biggest and the best-preserved cave temple in Sri Lanka. This is still functioning as a Buddhist monastery. First, you need to climb a few steps to reach the temple. Some say that this enhances the scenic beauty and the value of this place as it provides beautiful scenery on the way up.
After reaching the entrance through the stairs, you need to remove your shoes before entering this holy shrine. Then after entering the temple, it feels like you are in a separate world. The statues and cave paintings there will just relax your mind and show you scenes related to Buddha’s life journey. The large cave of the temple is made of several other small caves and has many statues of Buddha meditating with Sinhala kings and other Hindu Gods like Vishnu and Ganesha. You will be amazed by the size of the Buddha statues of this temple. Some statues are around 50 feet long. One cannot just describe it from words. So try to experience it and feel what we try to say.
Dambulla Temple and Sigiriya Fortress –
Sigiriya Rock Fortress History and Beauty
After worshiping the Dambulla cave temple, our next destination will be Sigiriya rock fortress. It will take about 50 minutes to reach there from the Dambulla temple. Even though you have seen many pictures of these through the internet or by papers, the actual scenery will just mesmerize you. This is also a world heritage site. King Kashyapa converted this rock into a fortress. According to historical sources, he chose this as a fortress and as his capital in the 05th century and built his palace at the top of the rock. The natural water drainage and other construction techniques used here are still considered as a wonder and many including foreign specialists are still trying to figure out it. This demonstrates the proud technological skills our ancestors had during such an early era.
This place is among the topmost tourist attracted places in the country and you need to climb up using the stirs.
As the place is full of people almost every day, you will be in a queue on the way up. But this will not frustrate you one bit. The scenic beauty on the way up will simply forget you about the long queue. Sigiriya forest, Sigiriya tank on another side, the beautiful surrounding will take you to a completely different work on your way to the top. Before reaching the summit, first, you will find a place with cave paintings. Some of them are large and parts of some of the paintings are also gone due to time. Still, specific meanings are not yet there for those, and people narrate many stories about it.
Sigiriya Fortress – Top view
Then after some time, you will reach the lion’s paw and the main gate to the top of the rock. Then after reaching the top of the rock, you will be just amazed. Even though the structure of the palace has gone missing due to time, the foundation is still there. It is truly a wonder. How can one build a palace like this at the top of a rock? No words my friends. Just visit and witness it by yourself.
So hope that we have brought you some of the important facts and a guideline to visit Dambulla cave temple and Sigiriya rock fortress. You can complete this journey in a day if you want to do so and stay there for 02-03 days if you wish to. Therefore just try to visit these places and feel what we say. Then you will realize by yourself. Do not forget to preserve these wonderful places for our future while enjoying it.
