Visit Sri Lanka (The Small Miracle) 2011
National Geographic's Worlds Best Islands - Sri Lanka the second best
You want to travel in Sri Lanka and enjoy maximum while your stay in this tiny Island, you name it and we deliver to you. Beaches? – the coastal stretch south of Colombo has beach after beach as beautiful as anywhere in the world. Culture? - Try the Kandyan dances, a procession of elephants or the demon mask dances, for size. Ruins? – if you like ruins you’ll find your fill in the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. Scenery? – head for the hill country where the heat of the plains and the coast soon fade away. Wildlife? – Sri Lanka has its own subspecies of elephant which you can see wild in the national parks. All this comes with friendly people, good food, pleasant places to stay and reasonably low costs in a handy, compact package.
Ceylon or Sri Lanka?
Changing the country’s name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka in the 1970s caused considerable confusion, but in fact it has always been known to the Sinhalese (he majority people of Sri Lanka) as Lanka, or to the Tamils as Ilankai. Indeed the 2000 year old Hindu epic, the Ramayana, tells of Rama’s beautiful wife being carried away by the evil king of Lanka. Later, the Romans knew it as Taprobane and Muslim traders talked of the island of Serendib, from which was derived the word serendipity – the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident. The Portuguese called it Ceilã. In turn, the Dutch altered this name to Ceylan and the British to Ceylon. In 1972 the original Lanka was restored with the addition of Sri, which means ‘auspicious’ or ‘resplendent’ in the Sinhalese language.
Ceylon or Sri Lanka?
Changing the country’s name from Ceylon to Sri Lanka in the 1970s caused considerable confusion, but in fact it has always been known to the Sinhalese (he majority people of Sri Lanka) as Lanka, or to the Tamils as Ilankai. Indeed the 2000 year old Hindu epic, the Ramayana, tells of Rama’s beautiful wife being carried away by the evil king of Lanka. Later, the Romans knew it as Taprobane and Muslim traders talked of the island of Serendib, from which was derived the word serendipity – the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident. The Portuguese called it Ceilã. In turn, the Dutch altered this name to Ceylan and the British to Ceylon. In 1972 the original Lanka was restored with the addition of Sri, which means ‘auspicious’ or ‘resplendent’ in the Sinhalese language.
A spectacular view of Sigiriya Rock Fortress from Hotel Sigiriya
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