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Trincomalee
on the East Coast of the island of Sri Lanka boasts the finest deep water natural harbour
in Asia
Attracting great sea
farers like Marco Polo Trinco has been a trading port for over 2500 years. After
the Portuguese invaded, Trincomalee was next held by the
Dutch and the French alternately, till the capture of
Ceylon by the
British in 1795.During WWII Trinco was the base of the British fleet
and the HQ of the Allied Southeast Asia commander.
The Sri Lanka Airforce Helitour Service operates twice weekly flights to Trinco from Ratmalana Airport in the Southern suburbs of
Colombo. Flights depart at 08.00 Mondays and Fridays
and return from Trinco at 14.00. Costing $200 return,
this saves a long road journey from the West Coast to
the East. The third route is by the
overnight Sri Lanka Railways train from Colombo Fort.
Trinco and the East Coast boast some of the best beaches
in the island of Sri Lanka at Nilaveli
beach (with the natural bird sanctuary of Pigeon island
offshore) where you can wade knee deep into the sea for
hundreds of metres and at Uppuveli north of the city.
The Nilaveli Beach Hotel,
damaged in the
Tsunami of 2004, has been reconstructed. The Keells owned
Club Oceanic which we last visited in 2003 is currently
being renovated.
Near
the town of Trinco is Fort Frederick and higher
up the volcanic Swami Rock is the Koneswaram
temple. Inscriptions found in Trinco area speak of Indian Chola
kings making contributions to the upkeep of the this
major religious shrine indicating an origin over 2500
years ago.
After 1505 A.D,
the temple was destroyed by Portuguese colonialists
(along with countless Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim places
of worship around the island. The Portuguese fortified
the heights with the materials derived from its
destruction.
The huge building block ruins of the destroyed temples, throw over the cliff by the Portuguese, can be
see just under the water surface. The site is often
visited by scuba divers
Fascinating
to see is
Lovers Leap , a sheer drop down to the sea from the face
of Swami Rock at the temple.
The hill face up Swamee rock is rugged. As Trinco is full of seismic and
volcanic activity as seen in Kanniya Hot Springs area,
this rugged face of rock is a reminder of the movement
of Earth's crust in this area.
There are many other ancient ruins in the Trincomalee area including a 1000
year old Buddhist Vihara.

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