Thursday 29th January
Tini’s ears still were hurting and mine also a bit. So we decided to call the diving school and take a day off just to be safe and not to ruin our ears at the start of our 3 weeks here in Sri Lanka.
With time on our hands we decided to visit Galle.
We hung out at the beach in till about 3 in the afternoon and then packed our things and equipment for the trip to Galle. During the day we realized that it doesn’t make much sense continue diving if they do it with such a fast pace. In the PADI diving book, it looks like 3 dives in the swimming pool and 2 in open water is the proper way for beginners. Here are all dives in open water, and after the first one in shallow water (1-2m), they took us on the boat to dive in 12m depth. It seems like that is too fast for our ears since it is the first time we do this kind of stuff. Our gut feeling also told us to stop cause we didn’t really feel confident doing everything in deep water and not too safe with our learned skills so far.
So we thought we just stop completely since we read that we can do that and continue in another PADI diving school in the next 12 months with the remaining practical sessions of the course.
Our hopes were high that we are also just charged with the lessons and dives we did and not the full price. After we made our decision we felt kind of relieved and took a bus ride to Galle.
Travel from Mirissa to Galle
There are a lot of busses going from Mirissa, cause the Matara Road is kind of the main costal road from Colombo to the South. It seems like every 15 minutes (during the day) one is going to Galle. The price it just about 60 rupees (0,40€), for the 45 minutes ride.
The bus driver has the most powerful vehicle on these streets, so he is also driving rigid and vigorously. It quite an experience and you should definitely try it at least once when you are in Sri Lanka.
Galle Fort
In Galle we got off at the dutch market close to the fort / old town and walked the rest of the way to see a bit more of the city and not just the Fort. Everything seems to be buzzing around the market and was interesting to see.
After about 10 minutes by foot we reached the entrance of the Fort. Here it’s really calm again and not too much traffic going on.
Galle Fort is located in the Bay of Galle on the southwest coast of Sri Lanka, close to the well know Backpacker Hotspot Hikkaduwa. It was built first built in 1588 by the Portuguese and then extensively fortified by the Dutch during the 17th century from 1649 onwards. The Archaeological Department of Sri Lanka did a splendid job to keep this historical, archaeological and architectural heritage monument in a very good shape even after more than 423 years.
The first thing we realized was that from the high walls it is easy to watch the cricket game at the nearby stadium for free. I guess a lot of people are doing that. In the middle you find numerous colonial buildings and fancy teahouses with impressive british and dutch imperial design. Art & Design is kind of the big thing in the fort and you can discover the Sri Lankan art scene in the small ateliers and shops. As usual also gems and antique goods are sold here.
We trusted the lonely planet recommendation and ate at Mama’s Restaurant. 
The rice & curry was excellent and the ambiente too. The price was also fair and next to it was a mosque and we could experience an islamic prayer and singing while eating. A very impressive thing about the fort is also that there are catholic churches, islamic mosques and hindu temples, and everybody is getting along fine there 🙂
To go back home to Mirissa we asked a Tuk Tuk driver in the fort if he can take us to the bus station, as it looks a bit dangerous to wander around in the dark next to this crazy traffic. He told us that it would be more safe to take a Tuk Tuk directly since the busses are not going so frequently at this time (about 8 p.m), and we might have to wait an hour. Since it looked like a big thunderstorm was coming and he made a good price (about 1700 rupees = 12 €) we didn’t really hesitate and took the Tuk Tuk ride.
It turned out as a very good decision, cause the Tuk Tuk drivers english was very good and we could talk about politics, tourism and about his life here in Sri Lanka. It doesn’t happen too often that you get someone who is really fluent in english, so we enjoyed the conversation on this 1h ride back home very much.
We got the links in case you wanna stay in Galle or even Galle Fort.