It was a long day, but after spending the morning at Sigiriya we went straight on to Anuradhapura for the afternoon.
Anuradhapura is a Sacred City built around the cuttings from the “tree of Enlightenment” – Buddha’s fig tree. It is another UNESCO World Heritage site and one time capital of Sri Lanka.
The old ruins provide a fascinating view of what was a very significant site, two large Stupas stand out across the landscape – one in quite disrepair, the other stark white with a gold top.
The original stupa was originally over 100 metres tall, but has now lost its top and is about 70 metres in height.
The white stupa is still a working temple and it is quite beautiful to see the followers all dressed in white gathering at sunset in Prayer. Their prayers are sung out loud for all to hear – a very moving experience.
There are hundreds of ruins to walk through in Anuradhapura, and the Stupas really are quite striking.
We had limited time here – just an afternoon – so our guide picked out a couple of the main sites, and drove us directly to them but if you had the time, you could spend the full day or many days in the city wandering from sacred landmark to sacred landmark.
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