I hate climbing. It’s tiring and most of all, patience is not my strong suit, but the Sigiriya Rock is an exemption. Oh men, $30 to exhaust myself, yes partly but it was worth it. In fact, The Lion’s Rock is one of the most incredible climbs I’ve experience. There were stairs and signs that will lead you to the correct way. I thought I would immediately start at the rock itself, I was wrong. You need to walk a few steps to get to the rock. I even thought that the rock with lion paws is just near the entrance, I was wrong again. One will need to climb all the way to see the pair of the giant stone lion’s paws.
The thing is, I don’t know anything about Sirigiya’s Rock. All I know is, it’s a rock and a Unesco World heritage site. Good thing I have Thiwanka (from Sri Lanka Tour Plan) with me who guided me for free throughout the fortress. I didn’t expect that he will guide me and share his knowledge regarding Sigiriya’s rock since it wasn’t even part of our package. We just rented his car to take us to the rock but he did the extra mile throughout our stay in Sri Lanka. I was glad I don’t need to use the map and figure everything out by myself.
It wasn’t really that exhausting because I have company. There were stairs available to climb. I was amazed to see the world famous frescoes which still can be seen today over 1500 years old. Cave paintings were women in half naked depicted on clouds and they’re sort of offering something. In order to see these frescoes, one will need to use a spiral staircase. It wasn’t that long but my knees were literally shaking. It was like my mind was spinning a little. It was a bit windy and the view from the stairs was incredible.
The ancient staircase built into the rock are still somehow visible. Nowadays they have the modern staircase built for tourists. The climb was easy at first then the steps get a little steep all the way to the top. The lion paws remain still. It was like I was entering the lion’s mouth when I climb the stairs. I wondered how amazing it was back in the day.
It was cool to see an ancient pool entirely carved in granite rock. It’s remarkable how it was carved and at the top of the rock was really breathtaking. Great panoramic view of different angles of Sri Lanka. I can’t believe I was able to complete the 1012 steps.
Sigiriya Rock is all worth the entrance fee which comes with a CD that provides the historic details of the rock. The construction was mind blowing. They call it the 8th wonder of the world for a reason.
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