Walking in Colombo

When you first get out of the Bandaranaike International Airport and onto the Colombo-Negombo road, you feel like you’re in Kerala, with the coconut trees and the greenery all around. For most people travelling to Srilanka, Colombo is just a night’s halt before they move on to other parts of this lovely country. But we figure we’d give it a couple of days and see what it has for us. And, no regrets at all, because the two days were well worth it.

Srilanka has been a Portuguese colony, a Dutch one, an English one, and then finally ravaged by terror for thirty years, before it has finally become a free country in its truest sense. One Srilankan we met told us how earlier the government didn’t have the time, the energy or the resources to look into things like development of roads and expressways, building a good traffic sense, etc. But now, when you visit Colombo you will see some of the finest roads, and a car will stop and wait for you to cross the road. People who previously went to the Middle East and other countries as house maids and domestic help, no longer need to, since the country has so many opportunities to offer its people.

The roads in Colombo invite you to walk - Near the Independence Square

We decided to do a Colombo City Walk with Mark Forbes and his wife Ruvi who conduct personalized walking tours of the city. This was one of the best decisions while in Colombo, because what we saw during our walk, we may never have, otherwise. The walk started off in the Dutch Hospital Area, continues onto to Pettah and then back to where we started. The Dutch Hospital was built in the 1600’s solely to cater to the Dutchmen who needed to be treated. There was one surgeon who took care of the entire lot, and the capacity initially was about 80. Even after expansion to a capacity of 300, there was still this one guy treating everyone! Today, the Dutch Hospital has become the Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct, with hip restaurants like the Hilton’s Work in Progress, the Ministry of Crabs and shopping outlets like Barefoot and Spa Ceylon. The architecture has been retained 100% as it was in the 1600’s and it is one of the quaintest parts of the city.

In the Dutch Hospital Shopping Precinct 

 Walking around the Colombo Fort area is truly a unique experience, because you will see buildings as old as 200 or 300 years old, whose architecture and layout have been preserved remarkably well. One of the major landmarks is the Cargill’s supermarket that still has its original signboards such as the one you see the picture below.  We stopped at the iconic Grand Oriental Hotel’s Harbor Room for tea and butter cake, which were especially more delicious with the view of the harbor and after having walked around a bit. The Grand Oriental was one of the jewels in Colombo’s crown, and it is the oldest hotel in the city, having been built in 1837. So picture a man in a uniform and a pith hat stepping out of the port and heading straight to the Grand Oriental for a cup of tea!

After a great snack, we walked to Old Colombo’s Pettah Market, one of the most chaotic places ever. However, we were there on a Sunday, so we missed out on all the haggling and the nudging. Walking through Pettah’s streets, we reached the Dutch period Museum, which still preserves centuries-old furniture from the Dutch colony times. This is a lovely museum and if you love listening to interesting bits of history, this is a must-do.

The Grand Oriental in its heyday, wooing the traveler with "Best Modern System of Drainage and hot and cold water! 

View from the Harbor Room at the Grand Oriental Hotel

The Wolvendaal Church in Colombo was built at the highest point in the city, so that any Dutchmen coming into the port would be able to catch sight of this church before anything else. Later on however, with a Buddhist temple, and several other buildings coming up, this is no longer the first thing you’d see if you did come in by sea! 

Tombstone of  Dutchman who died in Colombo - the Skull and Crossbones indicate he died of Malaria, or some other disease which could spread, so it was a warning not to open the tombstone. 

The church has tombstones of all the prominent Dutchmen who died when in Ceylon, and the engravings display some fine craftsmanship.

Sigh...with a bad cold, coffee was the only way to go ! Cheers! 

After our walk, we headed to the Bavarian near the Galle Face Green for drinks before saying goodbye to Mark and Ruvi.