Where's the Fort?

For several days, I’d been told that I was to visit the Fort at Galle. It was across the harbor from my hotel, they said. Do you see it?



Galle, a natural port, was a flourishing international commerce center as early as the 12th century. Persian, Arab, Greek, Roman, Malay, Indian, and Chinese traders came and went, doing business with the local inhabitants.
In the 16th century, the Portuguese arrived. Their purpose was to claim part of the land to use as a trade center and fortify it to keep its former owners out. The Singhalese kings were defeated but unhappy. Having apparently learned the Arab proverb “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” they welcomed the Dutch, when they arrived nearly 60 years later. This turned out badly for the kings. The Dutch, having driven the Portuguese out, built an even stronger fort in Galle. The kings, hopeful if unwise, looked for another European power to force the Dutch out -- their final and greatest mistake. The English were happy to oblige in 1801 – and eventually took over the whole country. They moved into the Fort at Galle, using the solid Dutch structures already there, rather than building their own.
I was expecting to see a European style fortress but soon realized that the Fort at Galle had always been a fortified military and commercial center – a walled city and not a lord’s castle. It’s still a thriving community. The old Dutch buildings are now law courts, shops, restaurants, hotels, museums and homes.







(Lankesh told me I couldn’t take photos of the law court buildings. So I took a photo of the bride instead. Is it my fault if you can see a law court behind her?)



The Dutch Reformed church -- built in 1642 and reconstructed a hundred years later



and the Anglican church built in 1871.



still have Sunday services – in Singalese -- for the descendents of the people they converted to Christianity.
This was a port as the anchors outside the Maritime Museum and the lighthouse remind us.





But where was the sea?
Ah!



The ramparts seemed to be a favorite Sunday walk.



-- though some enjoyed themselves more quietly.


They were not looking out to sea as I thought. They were concentrating on something quite different.



The local cricket club!
I completed my stroll on the ramparts and came back to the car. Lankesh had a surprise for me – about an hour’s drive away, he said. And we were off.