Why Galle Fort will steal your heart
Walk through the old gate of Galle Fort and the modern world seems to fall away. Inside the massive stone ramparts lies a living town of narrow cobbled lanes, whitewashed colonial villas with shady verandas, old churches, a mosque, a lighthouse and a clock tower, all surrounded on three sides by the Indian Ocean.
The Portuguese built the first fortifications here in the late 16th century. In 1640 the Dutch captured Galle, and over the following decades they rebuilt and greatly extended the fort into the massive ramparts you see today. The British took over at the end of the 18th century, adding their own touches. The result is what UNESCO calls the best example of a fortified city built by Europeans in South and South-East Asia, and the whole fort is a World Heritage Site.
Today, Galle Fort is one of the most charming places in Sri Lanka. Its streets are lined with boutique hotels, art galleries, jewellery and design shops, and some of the island's best cafés and restaurants. Explore the Dutch Reformed Church, with its old gravestones set into the floor, the Maritime Museum, and the graceful lighthouse standing on the ramparts above a small beach. Old Dutch street names still hint at the town's past.
The ramparts are the fort's great joy. You can walk around almost the entire circuit, with the ocean crashing on the rocks below. As the afternoon cools, local families, courting couples and cricket-playing children gather on the walls, and at Flag Rock, brave local boys leap from the ramparts into the sea for tips from onlookers.
Stay for sunset. As the sky turns orange and pink over the lighthouse and the ocean, the whole fort glows. Then choose a candlelit courtyard for dinner, and stay overnight inside the walls. When the day visitors have gone, and the lanes are quiet under the old street lamps, you'll feel the real magic of Galle.
