Polonnaruwa was the Sinhalese capital of Sri Lanka for
over two centuries between the 11th and 12th Century AD,
after which it was abandoned. The various Sinhalese kings
over this period erected huge buildings, shrines, parks,
lotus ponds and royal baths. A good place to start exploring
the site is the museum. A scale model of the city gives
a good overview of the layout so it's easier to choose
the bits you want to see. Pictured here is the Vatadage
a circular relic shrine.
The most spectacular sight for me was the Gal Vihara where
there are 3 absolutely enormous Bhudda images carved out
of natural rock. They have to be seen to be believed.
So why haven't I got a picture of these amazing monuments
you might ask... erm... I couldn't get far back enough
to fit them in the frame?? ...Actually I just knew that
whatever it looked like while I was taking it, the photo
was going to come out crap, so I decided to avoid disappointment
and bought a post card instead. If you'd like to see pictures
taken by someone with better photography skills than me
check out this site: http://www.galen-frysinger.org/polonnaruwa.htm(link opens in new browser window).
