De Dambulla nous sommes partis à peu de distance pour Sigiriya, tout petit village surtout connu pour son gros et étrange rocher de 200m de haut sortant de terre. Sur ce site hors du commun a élu domicile au 5eme siècle le roi Kassapa. Ce roi a fait creuser des jardins de toute beauté en utilisant des techniques hydrauliques très avancées pour l'époque, et sur les 1,6 hectares au sommet du rocher a fait construire son palais. La dernière montée au sommet se faisait entre les pattes et la gueule d'un lion - on pourrait s'imaginer dans un décor de film d'Indiana Jones ! Aujourd'hui seules les pattes sont encore là - la montée est raide, on attrape une bonne suée dans la chaleur humide et oppressante, mais le jeu en vaut la chandelle car la vue du sommet est fabuleuse.
From Dambulla we left for the nearby village of Sigiriya famous for its huge and strange 200m high rock. In the 5th century King Kassapa decided to build his home on this extraordinary site. Beautiful water gardens were landscaped on the grounds below the rock using very advanced hydraulic techniques, and on the 1,6 hectares at the summit his palace was built where he must have felt literally on top of the world ! The last part of the ascension took place through the paws and the mouth of a stone lion - you can quite easily imagine yourself in the scene of an Indiana Jones film ! Today only the lion paws remain - the climb is steep, sweat drips off you in the humid and suffocating heat, but the amazing view at the top is worth it all.
From Dambulla we left for the nearby village of Sigiriya famous for its huge and strange 200m high rock. In the 5th century King Kassapa decided to build his home on this extraordinary site. Beautiful water gardens were landscaped on the grounds below the rock using very advanced hydraulic techniques, and on the 1,6 hectares at the summit his palace was built where he must have felt literally on top of the world ! The last part of the ascension took place through the paws and the mouth of a stone lion - you can quite easily imagine yourself in the scene of an Indiana Jones film ! Today only the lion paws remain - the climb is steep, sweat drips off you in the humid and suffocating heat, but the amazing view at the top is worth it all.
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