blog di Patrizio Radaelli: Viaggio in Sri Lanka21-25 Settembre

21 Settembre: Negombo

Cartina di Negombo

Negombo Beach:
Negombo Beach provides information on the exotic beaches in this place. Walking on these beaches early morning and in the evening gives an exclusive amusement to the senses. You can view a sunrise or a stunning sunset by the beaches.
Fish market:
Negombo is famous for its fishing. If wondering what to do in Negombo, the town’s fish market is quite possibly the island’s best. Large catches of fish – tuna, seer, marlin, shark, barracuda and swordfish – nestle beside lagoon prawns, crabs and lobster, for which Negombo is prized. Held every day of the week except Sunday.
Dutch Canal in Negombo:
The canal was at one time an important link in the transportation route which supplied the Dutch colonial administration. Today it’s an attraction for tourists and one of the more interesting ways to see the town and the surrounding area. 2 hours on a boat looking out for birds and other wildlife. Interesting if you have a skilled guide
Muthurajawela Marsh near Negombo:
Close to the Negombo lagoon there is an unusual wetland environment that contains the country’s largest marsh. It’s popular with eco-tourists as its surroundings provides a comprehensive view of the wildlife and plant life indigenous to Sri Lanka’s coastal wetlands including providing a home to some 75 kinds of bird species, as well as crocodiles, monkeys and even some very rarely seen otters.
Angurukaramulla Temple:
There is nice big temple call Angurukaramulla in Negombo. There is a giant Buddha statue which is six meters tall and some of very ancient paintings and murals. There is also a 300+ year old ruin of a historic library here, covered in moss. You walk through the dragon’s mouth to enter the temple – the dragon is supposed to wade off evil spirits.
St. Mary’s Church in Negombo:
One of the town’s most important structures is St. Mary’s Church. This holy building is lavish and grand in nature, standing tall amidst other structure in the town. The church consists of three main levels which are immediately apparent when approaching the structure from the front.

Negombo - Tempio Buddista di Angurukaramulla

Negombo - St. Mary's Church

Negombo is heavily influenced by the Christian faith. In fact Negombo has been given the name ‘Little Rome’ due to the highly ornate Portuguese-era Roman Catholic churches such as St. Mary’s Church, which is one of the most important structures in Negombo. St. Mary’s Church is the biggest cathedral in Negombo and has a painted ceiling as well as alabaster statues of various saints. The church’s construction was started in 1874 and was completed after almost 50 years in 1922. It is also one of the larger cathedrals in Sri Lanka.
Over 90% of the population of Negombo is Roman Catholic and as a result the church is quite an important building in the city. The architecture is majestic and the church has some nice paintings. It is known as Mahaweediya Palliya in the Sinhala language and is quite easy to find.The church consists of three main levels which are immediately apparent when approaching the structure from the front.

22 Settembre: Negombo - Wilpattu - Anuradhapura

Wilpattu National Park

What makes Wilpattu special
For those seeking an alternative to the familiar and more prominent national parks in Sri Lanka, Wilpattu is the perfect spot. The park still remains fairly off-the-beaten-track for tourists, keeping numbers of jeeps entering the park low. This allows for almost entirely private viewings of wildlife that you would not get in other national parks around Sri Lanka. The scenery in Wilpattu is equally impressive. Dense jungle surrounds the roads, allowing for beautiful contrasts between the red dust paths and the vibrant green foliage; and the scattering of lakes across the park reflect the pastel hues of the sky at dawn and the blood red and orange of dusk.
Wilpattu’s proximity to the Cultural Triangle also makes it better for those touring the Northern, Eastern, and Central regions of the island, with Yala being better for those touring the South.

Wilpattu National Park (Willu-pattu; Land of Lakes) is a park located on the island of Sri Lanka. The unique feature of this park is the existence of "Willus" (Natural lakes) - Natural, sand-rimmed water basins or depressions that fill with rainwater. Located in the Northwest coast lowland dry zone of Sri Lanka. The park is located 30 km west Anuradhapura and located 26 km north of Puttalam (approximately 180 km north of Colombo). The park is 131, 693 hectares and ranges from 0 to 152 meters above sea level. Nearly sixty lakes (Willu) and tanks are found spread throughout Wilpattu. Wilpattu is the largest and one of the oldest National Parks in Sri Lanka. Wilpattu is among the top national parks world-renowned for its leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) population. The leopard population in Wilpattu is not known.
History
The Mahavansa records that in 543 BC Prince Vijaya landed at Tambapanni now known as Kudrimalai Point (Horse Point), married Kuweni and founded the Sinhala nation. In 1905 the area was designated a sanctuary and in 1938 it was upgraded to the National Park status.
Climate
The Annual Rainfall is about 1000mm and the annual temperature is about 27.2 degrees. Inter-monsoonal rains in March and the northeast monsoon (December – February) are the main sources of rainfall.
Flora
There are many types of vegetation to be found in Wilpattu, including littoral vegetation, such as salt grass and low scrub monsoon forest with tall emergents, such as palu (Manilkara hexandra), and satin (Chloroxylon swietenia), milla (Vitex altissima), weera (Drypetes sepiaria), ebony (Diospyros ebenum) and wewarna (Alseodaphne semecapriflolia).
Fauna
31 species of mammals have been identified within Wilpattu national park. Mammals that are identified as threatened species living within the Wilpattu National Park are the elephant (Elephas maximus), sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), leopard (Panthera pardus kotiya) and water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis). Sambhur, spotted deer, mongoose, mouse and shrew are more of Wilpattu's residents.
Birds
The painted stork, the open bill, little cormorant, Sri Lanka junglefowl (Gallus lafayetii) along with many species of owls, terns, gulls, eagles, kites buzzards are to be found at Wilpattu National Park. Wetland bird species that can be senn in Wilpattu are the garganey (Anas querquedula), pintail (Anas acuta), whistling teal (Dendrocygna javanica), spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), white ibis (Threskiornis malanocephalus), large white egret (Egretta alba modesta), cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) and purple heron (Ardea purpurea).
Reptiles
The most common reptiles found in the park are the monitor lizard (Varanus bengalensis), mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris), common cobra (Naja naja), rat snake (Ptyas mucosus), Indian python (Python molurus), pond turtle (Melanonchelys trijuga) and the soft shelled turtle (Lissemys punctata) which are resident in the large permanent Villus.

Leopardo a Wilpattu (che non vedremo mai !!!)

23 Settembre: Anuradhapura - Dambulla

Abhayagiriya Monastery

Samadhi Buddha

Samadhi - a state of inner communion with the object of contemplation - is one of the ultimate stages of Buddhist spiritual practice. To this day, whether local Sri Lankans or visiting dignitaries, supplicants place flowers at the base of the divinely beautiful 5th century Samadhi Buddha statue, situated amongst the extensive remains of the ancient religious city of Anuradhapura.
This Pilima Vahanse is said to belong to the Abeygiriya period of the 3rd or 4th century of Sri Lanka’s history. It is not known in whose period of rule it was sculptured but is thought to be one of four similar statues facing the North, South, East and West- this faces North.
The statue was found in 1888, with the nose damaged, at the very site it is now in. Raven Hart in his "Ceylon - History in Stone" says that the repaired nose is oversharp and overlarge. Perhaps the repair was carried out by an ordinary mason who had no idea of proportions or aesthetics. This is not unusual, as there are many such instances of poor quality repairs in this country of damaged statues, stone carvings and particularly restoration of ancient temple paintings.
The Statue is 7’3" in height, hewn from a single granite rock and said to have had two jewels for the eyes which are said to have gone missing in around 1914.The veracity of this is in question as the eyes are closed with no place for jewels. The canopy over the statue was constructed in 1959/60.
Ananda Coomaraswamy wrote that the statue is "certainly the created work of art in Ceylon and is not surpassed in India"
Jawaharlal Nehru admired it when he first saw the statue in 1931. A year later when he was in the Dehra Dun gaol a friend in Ceylon sent him a picture which he had with him in his cell and " it became a precious companion" he said.
Benjamin Rawland in his book "Art and Architecture of India" describes the statue as "The perfect embodiment of the idea of Samadhi is conveyed through the very simplicity of conception; the perfect material equilibrium of the figure connotes the perfect mental state of the Sakyamuni through the massive stability of the triangular base formed by the inter locked legs mounted by the erect column body which supports the perfectly impassive mask like face."
The Samadhi statue is symbolic of the tranquillity of mind, with no attraction or repulsion from the world out side to disturb.

Moonstone