Galle

Galle is a harbor city that has been known to mariners and traders since the reign of King Solomon. Sri Lankan folklore tells the story of how King Solomon traveled to India via the port of Galle to obtain peacocks and cinnamon. Since the phonetic origin of the word "cinnamon" can be traced back to Hebrew, even if they are not quite accurate, they may get close.

Galle is mentioned by the Greek geographer Cosmas Indicopluestas of Alexandria as a significant rendezvous for ships and sailors from the Levant as early as the sixth century of the first millennium. In the Sri Lanka Map, Galle has drawn people from the west, including Persians, Arabs, Greeks, and Romans, as well as Indians and Malays from Gujarat and Malacca. In 1505, Lorenzo de Almeida's first Portuguese ship was driven to the enticing harbor of Galle, marking the beginning of modern Galle.

A rocky peninsula that protects the bay is said to have once been a lump of Himalayan soil that the Monkey God Hanuman dropped while bringing healing plants and herbs to treat the wounded in a fight in the Hindu epic Ramayana. If the whims of the winds brought the Portuguese to Sri Lanka, the allure of cinnamon kept them there, a scholar writes in a famous book titled "Ceylon Under the British" in impishly inventive language

They did this up until the Dutch drove them out in 1640. As you explore Galle today, you will see well-preserved buildings that have endured both the test of time and the cost of advancement, telling that tale from every nook and cranny. It is now a world heritage site that is protected. It has rediscovered its former majesty by remaining behind the fort's formidable granite walls and making room for some of Sri Lanka's top-tier luxury hotels.

This historic port city stood at a crucial juncture in human history. Long before Isabella and Ferdinand bet on Columbus, ancient seafarers who traveled with the aid of accommodating monsoon winds from China to the shores of Arabia naturally stopped there. Admiral Zeng Ho of China's footprints can be seen at Galle. The descendants of Arab traders, with their quaint towns and beautiful mosques, will astound you with their endearing appeal and remind you of Ibn Battuta's wanderlust, who arrived on a stopover without a map of Sri Lanka but did leave descriptions of lodging options. The poem "Galle" is a tremendous retort to Kipling, the Imperial Poet.

The Dutch constructed a fortified city, and it still stands today with its original layout of 52 hectares of land surrounded by walls with 14 bastions. It is a clever fusion of Sri Lankan construction customs with European architecture. Coral and granite were utilized in the ramparts' construction. The design of the homes and streets demonstrates a skillful fusion of east and west. Long before Kipling said those lovely but undoubtedly unprophetic words, "never the twain shall meet," the Dutch builders in Galle made the "twain meet."

The two continue to meet each January during the Galle Literary Festival, an annual event in Sri Lanka that gathers the crème de la crème of writers from around the world. Before the internet and the web's development, Galle was already global. In reality, it dates back to the second half of the first millennium.