Nuwara Eliya is a city in the hill country of the Central Province, Sri Lanka. Its name means “city on the plain (table land)” or “city of light”. Nuwara Eliya is known for its temperate, cool climate — the coolest area in Sri Lanka.
Many of the buildings retain features from the colonial period such as the Queen’s Cottage, General’s House, Grand Hotel, Hill Club, St Andrew’s Hotel and Town Post Office. Even the new hotels built, were furnished in the colonial style. Visitors to the city can wallow in its nostalgia of bygone days by visiting the landmark buildings. Many private homes maintain their old English-style lawns and gardens.
Mr.H managed to finalize a Christian home stay for us. It came with many restrictions that no wine and women are allowed. Since both were not in our itineraries, we happily stayed there.
We also managed to find a South Indian restaurant “ The Ambal’s cafe” where we had dinner followed by the breakfast next morning.
It was drizzling the entire night and hence very chilly, which soothed any soreness or tiredness we might all feel due to all the traveling by car.
We started early in the morning with the sudden thought in mind that we were being lazy and late as two days were already over and only 3 more days were left!
Gregory Lake was built during the British period, the most prominent attraction in Nuwara Eliya where the visitors come here and spend some time around the lake and relax. This was used as a place for water sports and for recreational activities during the British time..
This lake also facilitates boat rides; both- self ridden and with boatman. Kids may like to have a pony ride. We just clicked few photos and moved on..
Seetha kovil– located in the village of Seetha Eliya (also known as Sita Eliya). This place is believed to be the site where Sita was held captive by the demon king Ravana, and where she prayed daily for Rama to come and rescue her in the Hindu epic, Ramayana.
On the rock face across the stream are circular depressions said to be the footprints of Hanuman’s footprints. Offering our prayers we moved on..
There were lots of greenery, waterfalls and tea estates on the way.
You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your handsome prince.. Mr.G’s attempted to find his princess!
Two and half days were over with Nature and Mr. G started agitating for Adventure and beach part. High time!
As we traveled, we passed water rafting points on the way.. Deciding to fulfill Mr. G’s wishes, Mr. H started doing the honors. As I had already seen few swimming pool photos of Mr.G I knew he knew how to swim. All were expert swimmers, except me. Knowing from past experiences of water rafting I knew what it entailed.But I was open to everything.
The water rafting was indeed an adventurous, high-adrenalin pumping experience. Especially when the boat plunged low from a high. I was very thankful for the life jackets as even when some of us fell off, it kept us afloat and all we had to do was move along the direction of the flow of water. It was only after this I came to know that Mr. G really did not know swimming and he had just been posing in front of pools!.
Done with the first part of adventure in the name of scarring Mr. G for life with regard adventure sports, we moved on to the next part of our trip – Udawalawe
