For a good portion of the period from the 11th into the 13th century Polonnaruwa had been the capital of Sri Lanka, as well as a major commercial and religious center – – today all, what remains, is essentially a collection of ruin sites – – and today was our chance to explore.

Step by step we made our way through all major sites – covering the full range … from the royal palace, audience halls, houses for religious relics, temples, stupas to monuments and statues.

Highlight certainly was our last major stop – at Gal Vihara, a Buddhist rock temple including a group of four Buddha statues and going back to the 12th century. Once more intricately carved statues and a fairly special atmosphere.

We were well into the afternoon, by the time we had passed through the various ruin sites; we really did deserve lunch now – and Priya had picked the right option for lunch – a rural buffet lunch … with loads of great choices (the last photo below shows some of the options) – winner (as usual) … the brinyal 😉