Monthly Archives: October 2017

Galle Face Hotel, Colombo

This gallery contains 25 photos.

Finally… after some thirty cities on my Grand Tour, I’m here, at last, at the grandest of the grande dames East of Suez, the Galle Face Hotel Colombo. Built in 1864 by four English gentlemen, Galle Face Hotel is believed … Continue reading

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Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo

This gallery contains 33 photos.

South of Fort and Pettah sits the suburb of Cinnamon Gardens. Its name is a reference to what used to stand here in the Dutch period – acres and acres of cinnamon orchards. Its name is also a reference to … Continue reading

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Pettah – Dutch and Multi-cultural Colombo

This gallery contains 35 photos.

The name “Pettah” is derived from the Sinhalese “pita-kotuwa”, which means “outside the fort”.  This exactly describes what Pettah was and is today. In the Dutch era, this area was known as the “oudestad”, or Old Town.  Where the Fort … Continue reading

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A Wander through Colombo Fort

This gallery contains 35 photos.

Fort, or Colombo Fort, is one of the oldest built-up areas in downtown Colombo, having been established by the Portuguese in the early 1500s as a fortified port settlement. Once there were actually walls that surrounded the city.  Part of … Continue reading

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The Grand Tour III-6: Colombo, Sri Lanka… Southern Fort

This gallery contains 32 photos.

Setting sail from Danish Tranquebar, we wend our ship southward to the jewelled isle of Ceylon (today’s Sri Lanka), situated at the southern tip of the Indian Subcontinent. We are bound for the port city of Colombo, on the southwestern … Continue reading

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