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Kandy in a sweet nutshell geared to fast food mode
Kandy, then called Senkadagalapura, had been the Medieval
Royal City of Sri Lanka during the period of 1469-1815 AD. In the year 1988,
the sacred city of Kandy was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO
organization. Today, the lovely city, also called Maha Nuwara (Great City) is
officially designated as the "Cultural Capital of Sri Lanka" in spite
of the undying glories of the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa.
Kandy, day-in and day-out with an aroma of medieval history
in the air, is also home to numerous Buddhist temples that proudly showcase
Medieval Kandyan Architecture and Art, including the holiest temple of the
world of Theravada Buddhism, Holy "Dalada Maligawa" Temple of the
Tooth Relic. The temple houses the palladium of Sinhalese Buddhist nation,
"the sacred tooth relic of Buddha".
Kandy, home to the one and only decorative lake of Sri
Lanka, complete with a motorable road and walker's pavement surrounding it and
topped with an island in the middle to the boot, that too in the very heart of
the city, built in 1807 by the torch bearers of ancient reservoir engineers of
Sri Lanka, as Sir William Gregory, the Governor General of Ceylon (1872-1877)
put it "the loveliest town in the loveliest island in the world."
Kandy, located 116km west of Colombo, at an altitude of 500
meters, a city of mountainous terrain, greenery and Mediterranean climate is
also the gateway to the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka that rises to 1800
meters at the valley of Little England Nuwara Eliya, the British colonial
sanitarium of salubrious climate.
Kandy, the once impregnable natural fortress secured by
rings of mountains and River Mahaweli, today is accessible by main road from
Colombo, a triumph of military engineering by Major Thomas Skinner (1804-1877)
and Captain E. F. Dawson of Royal engineers in the year 1821. That was during
the enterprising governorship (1824-1831) of British Colonialist General Sir
Edward Barnes in Ceylon. Barnes narrated with immense relief, that with the
opening of the road to Kandy, a first-class macadamized road, 'one of the great
military barriers on which Kandyans greatly relied was broken.'
Kandy, the cockpit of Sri Lanka in the seventeenth &
eighteenth centuries till the capitulation, can also be ascended by British Colonial
Railway line (originally built in stages to transport Ceylon Coffee and then
Ceylon Tea) Colombo to Kandy (1867), Nawalapitiya (1874), Nanu-Oya close to
Nuwara Eliya (1885), Bandarawela (1894) and Badulla (1924). Today, the city of
many splendors that can be reached by domestic air passage too, in the backdrop
of its central geographical location has become a major road transportation hub
of Sri Lanka Holidays.
Kandy. The name couldn't get any sweeter, unless you are
Honey Rider: that is Ursula Andress of magnificent pair of legs emerging from
Pacific singing
"Underneath the Mango tree" to the bewilderment of
Bond, James Bond. Honey: What are you doing here, looking for shells? Bond: No,
I'm just looking. Looking cannot get any better either: Kandy's location over
the river, Mango trees, the man-made lake right at the centre of the town, the
surrounding hills, the nature reserve, the temple, the ambience, the royal
history, botanical gardens, and cultural attractions around the city;
everything about the town is beautiful. Look to the content of your heart &
play. Golf too in the Mediterranean climate.
Arrival
We travel form Colombo, capital of the island to west, to
the interior of the country to reach Kandy, the gateway to the Central
highlands.
Green hills surrounding the city
Situated amidst rings of precipitous green hills at the
heart of the island, Kandy is the proud & last bastion of an independent
Sinhalese tradition which preserved its freedom through two & half
centuries of assaults by Portuguese & Dutch.
The town
Aristocratic air
Kandy is also home to the country's most important religious
shrine, the Sacred Temple of the Tooth. Still more it is home to the most
exuberant religious festival in Asia, the Kandy Esala Perahera pageant in July.
The city enhanced by its scenic highland setting is looped by River Mahaweli.
The atmosphere & pleasantly temperate climate coupled with distinctive
cultural heritage apparent-in its music, dance & architecture bring about
an aristocratic air to the city.
The Transportation hub in the centre of the island
Kandy is not only the centre of culture but also the
transportation hub to all four directions of the island. To the north is
ancient kingdoms Anuradhapura & Polonnaruwa, to the south is central
highlands - Nuwara Eliya, Horton Plains National Park, to east is Mahiyangana
(modern irrigation site, cultural attraction), Badulla (tea plantations, cultural
attractions), Monargala, Gal Oya National Park (wild elephants) and Batticaloa
& Arugam Bay (beach & surf of international standing)
The beautiful countryside around Kandy is home to a wealth
of varied attractions. Most visitors head straight for the world famous
Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage & the beautiful Peradeniya Royal Botanical
Gardens, while the region's cultural legacy can be traced in the various
beautiful temples, dating from the heyday of the Kandyan kingdom, which dot the
countryside.
Knuckles Range
If you really want to get away from all the king's culture
& king's men, there there is wilderness. The rugged Knuckles Range (within
the Central Massif), just east of Kandy, is the hill country's last great
wilderness area & a wonderful location for trekking, cycling & bird
spotting. The highest peak in the Knuckles Range (KR) is 1904 m. In certain
parts of Knuckles Range, within the Knuckles Conservation Forest, the natural
vegetation occurs as a pygmy forest with trees just over waist high.
Knuckles Range (KR) was recommended for the tentative
listing of World Heritage Sites (WHS) to United Nations Educational, Scientific
& Cultural Organization (UNESCO) by the Ministry of Environment and Natural
Resources of Sri Lanka on 20th March 2006.
Victoria Golf Club, Kandy, Sri Lanka
Year round golf in a cool, sunny climate 1500 ft above sea
level
"Some golf courses have a splendid undulating terrain
over which the holes are routed. Some golf courses have a scenic backdrop of
hills & lakes which excite the senses. However, the Victoria Golf Course is
blessed with both attributes." Donald Steel
Victoria Golf Club is 40m drive from Kandy via Kundasale,
Digana & Teldeniya. The 18-hole championship golf course set in a 517-acre
site by the Victoria reservoir was designed to USPGA specification by golf
architect Donald Steel. Stately trees & avenues of coconut palms lend the
course an air of maturity although it was established only in 1999. Impressive
natural outcrops of rocks are a distinctive feature as well as a hazard of the
course. The club house consists of changing rooms, showers, food service &
golf shop
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