Uppuveli – Anuradhapura - 120 km
Following an early morning yoga session, I hopped on the bike and
pointed it in the direction of Anuradhapura. Mercifully, the road was
reasonably flat with the slightest of tailwinds. Once in Anuradhapura,
it took pedalling around to locate a place to bed down.
Fortunately, touts on bicycles roamed the street, looking for lost
tourists to escort to a room. I usually avoid them, but they proved
useful this time as they pointed out reasonably priced accommodation
in one of the alleyways. At first, Anuradhapura was meant to be a
one-night stop. Still, I soon realised the city was graced with a
plethora of ancient relics.
The next day, I spent time in the ancient and sacred city of
Anuradhapura. I understood the city was built around a cutting of
Buddha’s fig tree (the Bodhi tree, or Tree of Enlightenment).
Sanghamitta, a Buddhist nun who visited the island in the third
century, brought the cutting to Sri Lanka.
The Kingdom of Anuradhapura flourished for 1,300 years until being
invaded in 993. Today, Anuradhapura is a massive, sprawling complex
of archaeological wonders and ruins built during Anuradhapura’s
thousand-year rule over Sri Lanka.