Colombo, the largest city and commercial hub of Sri Lanka is mainly used by visitors as an entry point to this beautiful island which we are lucky to visit in these difficult times for the world and, particularly, for Italy.

We spent two nights at the Ramada hotel whose best feature is its location in the centre of the vibrant city. Close by us the spacious Galle Face Green was laid out in 1859 by the British who had made Ceylon part of their empire in 1815 (they kept it until 1948). It is like a gigantic sand pit with a promenade along the sea front and, once used as a racecourse, is now a popular urban park with vendors selling cooked crabs, prawns and kites. On the little pier we were hailed by an interviewer from Shaa FM, the locally based international online radio station, who asked us (Sandra, mainly) about the current coronavirus epidemic sweeping Europe, especially Italy, and now spreading ever further into the world’s four corners.

Although without major heritage sites Colombo has the most eclectic architectural mix. Lovers of colonial buildings will have a field day here from the Gaffoor gem market edifice to the red and white Jami Ul-Alfar mosque built in Indo-Saracenic style in 1908.

After many years of neglect these relics from a time when Sri Lanka was under foreign domination are being restored and refurbished as hotels or shopping malls. They make a welcome change from the increasing number of high rises which now dominate the Colombo skyline.

Of the many temples in a majority Buddhist country we managed a visit to Asokaramaya with its beautiful murals and stunning statuary dating back to the 1870’s and founded by Elliyas Kalutara, a wealthy merchant, in memory of the monk Aluthgana Sangharatne.

We also visited the former Victoria Park, now renamed Viharamahadevi after an equally powerful Sinhalese queen. The British queen’s statue, now side-lined in the back of the park, has been replaced by one of Buddha.

There are some very interesting contemporary buildings too in Colombo including the Nelum Pomona theatre, Sri Lanka’s main performing arts venue, built in the form of a lotus leaf in 2011 and the similarly lotus inspired tower only opened last year.
There are many other sites of interest in Colombo and lovers of architecture, especially Victorian, will find much to interest them.

However, Sri Lanka is famous for a lot more than imperial architecture and after a full day in Sri Lanka’s commercial and administrative centre, with a population of over ten million, it was time for us to move on.