Sri Lanka: ciudades antiguas

Llegue a Sigiriya por la tarde, para llegar allí en bus hay que hacer cambio en Dambulla, otra de las ciudades antiguas. El pueblo no es mas que una calle con establecimientos de Roti y curry para turistas, pero todo muy muy tranquilo. Al dia siguiente, madrugue un poco para evitar el calor (nunca lo suficiente) y me dirigi a subir a la Roca del León, y visitar las ruinas de la antigua Sigiriya, centro del reino de Kassapa. Al llegar hay grandes jardines y jardines acuaticos, cuevas en enormes rocas y la gran Roca del leon, con sus enormes garras a sus pies. Hay escleras para subir y en un tramo se observan aun muy bien los frescos en la roca. Son un todal de 1202 escalones y arriba se supone que estaba el palacio, pero otros dicen que fue mas bien un monasterio, de las ruinas no queda apenas nada. Las vistas son impresionantes. Todo se visita en unas 2 horas.

Cuando acabe fui a coger de nuevo un bus que me llevaría a Dambulla y de ahí otro a Anuradhapura, antigua capital del reino cingales.

Decidi visitar la ciudad al dia siguiente en bici. La entrada solo vale para un dia y aparentemente son 20km que ver, pero como sabia que no lo veria todo, tire para alante. Madrugue para pillar menos calor, y aun asi puedo decir que fue infernal. Me habian dado un mapa y menos mal que uso maps.me porque  sino aquello es imposible. No estan muy cerca unas de otras las ruinas, y alguna parte no esta muy señalizada. La entrada es cara y hay un par de sitios que hay que pagar aparte. La zona mejor conservada es la ciudadela, al norte de la cuidad antigua. Hay unos cuantos controles donde te piden la entrada, y tambien algun guia por ahi que te dice que puedes visitarlo sin pagar la entrada que ellos te llevan, pero preferi hacerlo bien. Con todo, aconsejo que se haga en tuktuk, porque seis horas en bici a 34 grados es matador, y luego ya, si eres tan buena en bici como yo, salir de la ciudad nueva para ir a las ruinas entre el trafico cingales, eso ya es de nota: llegue mas estresada que otro poco!

Ruwanweli

Abayagiri

A las 13.30, a punto de morir, decidi volver a mi habitacion, y me quedo por visitar el Árbol, Sri Maha Bodhi, pero ya no podia mas. llegue roja como un tomate y despues de una ducha me quede dormida mas de dos horas. 

El sitio en el que me quede estaba guay, con balcon y genial de precio, eso si, tambien hacia un calor de morir, porque por la noche tenia que cerrar las puertas del balcon porque unos gatitos le cogieron cariño a mi habitacion.

En resumen, tengo que decir, que en mi caso que ya habia estado en Angkor y en Bagan, estas ruinas no impresionan tanto, estan mas separadas y en bici, es mas incomodo de visitar, con lo que igual merece la pensa solo visitar los templos con entrada separada que es muy barata y son dos de los mas importantes.

I got to Sigiriya in the afternoon after changing buses in Dambulla. Sigiriya is a quiet street with rotti and rice and curry restaurants for the tourists. I stayed a bit far away in the only hostel. 

I woke up early the next morning to avoid the heat, and went straight to climb the Lion's rock, and visit the ancient city of Sigiriya, Kassapa's kingdom. There at the feet of the rock you can see gardens, water gardens, many caves hiden in enormous boulders, and then the Lion's rock. When you start to climb the steps there are son very well preserved paintings and th mirror wall where visitors of the kingdom use to leave their writen impressions of the city. There are a total of 1202 steps that lead you to the top where the King had his palace, or according too there, where there use to be a monastery. There is no much left today, but some incredible views of the area.

It took me 2 hours to visit, from there I took a bus back to Dambulla and another one to Anuradhapura, my next ancient city.

Super map

I decided to visit the ancient city by bike. Apparently it is more than 20km and the ticket is only for one day, but I was going to do what I could. I got up early and left around 7.30 to avoid the heat, but that wasn't enough. I was lucky that I was given a map at the Guesthouse cause it is kind of difficult to move around ( signs are not that clear and I was so glad that I had Maps.me). The ticket is quite expensive and also there are separate tickets for a couple of the places, they are not close to one another. The best conserved part is up north, the citadel. I am not a master with the bike so the way to the ancient city from the New one and back was quite stressfull, also, 6 hours at 34 degrees with no shelter really gets into you, so I would really consider hiring a tuk tuk for the day, specially if you are 2 or 3. At 13.30 i was so tired and hot that decided to call it a day and went back to the Guesthouse. 

I got here and after a shower, as red as I could be, i fell asleep for more than 2 hours. 

The place where I was staying was for once so cheap and one of the nicest. I got a balcony but had some kittens around so had yo close the doors at nice and the room was so hot.

I had been to Angkor and Bagan and I have to say that comparing to those this is not that cool, and are quote dispersed, I would advise to consider just visiting the temples/ sites with the separate ticket that is only 200 ruppies and that are 2 of the most important ones in the ancient city ( including the sri Maha Bodhi that I didn't visit cause I was exahusted).

Tips:

Sigiriya Hostel: 10 dollars, shared room, I was invited to the breakfast. 
Entrance ticket: 30 dollars!!!

Anuradhapura: Swiss garden cotagge: 10 minutes far from the bus station. 14$ the Night with in a double room with balcony and ensuite. They have food, not local prices but ok, I had a nice rice and curry for diner and tried their juices. 
Entrance ticket: 25 dollars!!!

From there i took the bus to Trincomalee that ß at 11.50 am and i am not sure of the price but should have been something along 160 ruppies (2.5hours). The bus from Dambulla to Anuradaphura was also around 100 ruppies and around 1.5 hours.