Take a stroll.. amidst Ancient Ruins

Yep, after a lapse of 5 months.. finally.. I'm getting back to the long forgotten topic of Medirigiriya Watadage.

Medirigiriya has one of the finest Watadage in Lanka renowned as an archeological site dating back to 7th century AD which is also rich in artistic value. Watadage or circular relic house is an ancient structure built around a Stupa, topped with a roof.

But there's much more to the place than its archeological essence. These stone ruins are dotted throughout acres of land brimming with greenery. (that article says the place used to own 600 acres, but now it's down to 250 acres) Green trees and grass together with gray rocks and ruins sprawling beneath the mysteriously beautiful blue skies.

Despite being fanned throughout with natural chilly breezes, and constantly calmed by the tranquil scenery, the temperature was terribly scorching! It was like getting slowly boiled inside a giant cauldron. -__- The temp. might have been around 30 - 32C but we felt it like a sizzling 40C cause of humidity levels. But the area's magnificent beauty made us forget this boiling cauldron, at least from time to time.

The first folks to greet us were a whole colony of parrots! They were singing and chattering happily. *noise level = a local fish market in birdie version* Sadly when I caught them on cam, the green of their plumage and the green of the foliage were all the same. *my poor cam couldn't tell them apart!*

As we climbed the stone stairway and walked towards the watadage, we saw lots of lichenized ruins. There was a fine rocky outcrop with a stairway (carved off the rock) leading to ruins of a stupa and beyond that was a lily pad infested pond. In between all these ruins were a sandy area. Be it the sand, or the rocky surface or the neatly flattened stone stairways and terraces.. almost everything was still.. sizzling hot...! But it was worth the effort.. to explore.. such a beautiful spot.. rich in nature.. and rich in ruins.

So today I'll be sharing the captivating scenery around Medirigiriya Watadage... and some of the other ruins that I came across.

*If you'd recall one of my previous posts.. Medirigiriya is the very place where we saw the giant Banyan tree and the mysterious cave where a devotee was meditating, and the secret super slim tunnel with the slipperiest slope was found* 

A stone basin to wash the feet? This was at the foot of the first stone stairway


A green carpet between stone ruins and rocky outcrops


A moonstone.. buried under sand


Stupa in ruins, sitting atop the rocky outcrop


More ruins.. you could also see some statues amidst stone pillars


Irregular brick pattern.. it looks like in the good old days they didn't use the perfectly rectangular bricks


A korawakgala (handrail) made entirely of stone.


Lichenized bricks... the place was infested with lichens.. which means the environmental pollution here is next to nil.


The sky had different types of clouds in every direction, some appeared like they were taken right off a smudged oil painting.


Take a sneak peak at this 1 foot tall anthill.. that I found beneath a stone bench


The Yellow Tree.. I've no idea what this tree is but it sure stood out amidst all the green trees. 



This cactus stood out amidst other ordinary trees... for some odd reason it reminds me of flat faced cloth dolls.. tons of them!


Cactus and the sky



It's a stairway to heaven! This was behind the Yellow Tree. As you can see.. it's carved off the very same rock.. a pretty neat work


Rocky terrain.. met a cute salamander around here, but before I could say hi, it vanished into a plush carpet of fallen leaves. 


Lily filled pond.. this was found at the end of the rocky outcrop


This shady grove.. starts from the watadage and runs straight up to the pond (above).

You see.. I took 5 mts to gather all my courage to climb up a 50+ degree slope (in that rocky terrain) with all my might and then.. another 2 mts to argue *with my mind* if I'm going to risk my life and jump down a 3-4 ft drop *and I did jump* and almost sprained my ankle and trudged the rest of the rock up to that pond.. and then.. my dear lil cousin sis and her mom simply pointed at this path between the shady grove and said.. "why didn't you take that short cut?" -__-


Part of the pond.. I think.. without the lily pads.. and finally..



Medirigiriya Watadage... as seen from a distance

...

This concludes the sightseeing tour around the Watadage. Next time you'll see the famous Medirigiriya Watadage itself. ^__^