Sigiriya Rock

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Sigiriya rock fortress was built in about 473 AD and is a major crowd puller. There are various relics of its past that you can see on your way up the seemingly never-ending steps. The climb is long, hot, and a bit scary in places as the staircase near the summit gets very narrow, the drop is sheer and you're squeezing past other people on their way up or down. However the effort is well worth it. The views once you eventually reach the top are fantastic. On the way up, there are all sorts of interesting nooks and crannies to explore and the walk through the water gardens to get to the rock is lovely.

About 20km from Sigiriya is Dambulla cave temple. We stopped off there first and had a sneak preview of our impending climb - Sigiriya can easily be seen from Dambulla.
Dambulla Temple's history dates back to around the 1st Century BC. Again it's a bit of a climb to get to the caves, nothing like Sigiriya though, so it was just a bit of a warm up for the big one. There are 5 separate caves containing well over 100 Bhudda images and monuments. With all the monkeys scampering about and the surrounding scenery, it felt a bit like being Lara Croft in Tombraider.