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TRINCOMALEE - SRI LANKA

TRINCOMALEE - SRI LANKA

Trincomalee is an anglicized version of the Tamil word Tirukonamalai (lit "lord of the sacred hill"); it is a hill situated in the end of a natural land formation that resembles an arc.

The ancient texts, as well as an inscription unearthed by archeologists, call it Gokanna in Sanskrit. The Vayu Purana refers to a Siva temple on Trikuta hill on the eastern coast of Lanka in the 3rd century. The Mahavamsa documents that the King Mahasena destroyed a Deva temple and built a Buddhist shrine in its stead to expiate for an earlier heresy on his part. This explains the Buddhist archeological remains in the region. The South Indian Tevaram of Tiru-gnana Sambandar makes mention to the Siva temple in Trincomalee once again in the 6th century. You have many places to visit in Trincomalee.

The Koneshwaram Temple.

Most of the Tamils and Sinhalese believe that this place is sacred to them and they are the indigenous people of the area. Trincomalee and its environs have both Hindu and Buddhist sites of historical importance. These sites are sacred to the Hindus and Buddhists.

Even though King Mahasena demolished the Sivan Temple and built a Mahayana Buddhist temple on the hilltop the Sinhala Buddhists maintained good peaceful relationships as Theravada Buddhism does not advocate any conflicts with Hinduism and maintained excellent relationships.

Hot water wells 

Hot Water springs are in Kanniya, Trincomalee. People believe that this hot water is good for some skin deceases and it has healing power for Arthritis and Rheumatic. You have to come in less crowded time.

History of hot water wells.

According to the details provided in some information boards at the site, Kanniya Hot water spring has the history from the King Rawana era. It says that King Ravana stuck the earth with his sward in several spots and several fountains were started on those places. The water was hot and that is the beginning of this hot water springs. Some believes that this is a part of the Buddhist Monastery and Buddhist Monk used this place as a part of their complex. There are some old ruins scattered over the area. It seems that most of those historical artifacts were destroyed in the war time.

There are seven wells located here and all are built in a square shape. Wells are only 3-4 feet deep and you can clearly see the bottom. It's prohibited to use soap here, but if you want there is a separate place for that, just few meters away. The temperature is considerably high but very from one spring to another. Wells are soon run out of water, when we took 10-15 buckets of water quickly. So, people used to move one well to another, where the water is available. Good thing is nobody spent much time there and give chance to other people.

Pigeon island

Pigeon Island is located around 1 km away from the Nilaveli beach. This is consisting of two islands; one is small and other one is larger in size. From the Nilaveli beach you see this as a one island, but actually there are two. One small island and a larger island too. This is one of the best places to see corals. 

This island got its name because of the Rock Pigeons live over there. In year 2003 Pigeon island was designated as a national park in Sri Lanka. earlier it was a sanctuary. This island was used by British army as a place for shooting practice in early world war time.

By boat you can reach there within 15 minutes time.

The beach is covered with corals and you cannot get that experience in any other beach in Sri Lanka. It's difficult to walk here without slippers, because of these corals. Sometimes dead corals can make sharp cut, which can cause bad infection. You can have a sea bath in pigeon island, but I think Nilaveli beach better for it. Even sand was formed with the crushed corals. Visitors can climb-up the rocks and get the view of the surrounding.  You can see the real owners of the island, the pigeons in the other side of the island. If you come to the island, don't forget the nature trail and climb up the rock.

Fort Fredrick

The Fort Fredrick was built by Portuguese in 1623. This is located by the Trincomalee town. The famous Koneshwaram temple is located inside this fort. This Hindu temple earlier know as temple of thousand Pillars. According to historical information, Portuguese had demolished the old Koneshwaram temple and they build this fort with the parts of that. The remaining things were push down to the sea. According to the historical facts, this place also known as Gokanna and the Gokanna Temple also located in side this, where the current Koneshwaram temple is located.

This fort was captured by Dutch in 1639. Later this was captured by British in 1795. According to the historical information, there is another fort build by king Rajasinghe 11 (1635-1687). It calls Fort Ostenbur. Actually, he was getting some help from Dutch to fight against the Portuguese, but didn't have a much trust on them also. So, he decided to build his own fort. This fort is located inside the Trincomalee Naval Dockyard.

Lover’s Leap.
This is located on top of Swami Rock, next to the Koneshwaram temple. This vantage point commemorates the tragic end of a love affair. This point is situated at an abrupt end of a rocky cliff that is 350 feet above sea level. The daughter of an Old Dutch general named Francina Van Rhede who attempted to commit suicide when her lover abandoned her and sailed back to Europe, is the legend behind this famous site. However, she survived the fall and according to government archive records she subsequently got married after eight years. However, till to this day there is a shelter and a memorial built to commemorate Francine Van Rhede. If the conflicted history of this site is not of interest to visitors, this site should be visited for the magnificent sites it has to offer.

 

Feedback from valuable clients + See all

    "Thank you Cyril for making our Christmas holiday fun so smoothly and easy. We loved Sri Lanka and look forward to retuning again. Cyril, your knowledge and service was outstanding and it was so refreshing to have such a very highlevel of service. We will be sure to recomond your service and travel agency to our friends. Please feel free to use us as a reference, you can use my email or phone number to clients." Bruce Larson & family from USA

    "Dear Cyril, We just got back to Singapore today...I am will be back to work tomorrow.. :) Sad but true ha ha……. We were very lucky to have you as our guide. I don’t think there will be anyone else who could have done an excellent job that you have done. We will spread the word around and will surely sell your services...do keep in touch so we can work something out. Thanks for the photos they are great Will visit your website soon and put in some good words for you.. Ti..." Shuhanth Haridas from Singapore

    "Thank you so much Cyril for guiding us around your beautiful country. We thoroughly enjoyed our time which was made particularly special by your professionalism, enthusiasm and friendliness. We wish you all the best in the future. Warm regards from,  Aonghus O'Keefee and Sheela Hendricks- Ireland " Aonghus and Sheela Hendricks- Ireland

    "  Dear Cyril, We are fortunate to have you as a friend here in Sri Lanka. You are extremly  Knowledgeable and more than ever - having an attitude of helpful nature and the willingness to solve issues on hand whilst on our tour around Sri Lanka. As I have said to you we will reccommend you to all our friends who wish to tour in Sri Lanka. My family Karen, Kalvin and Andre also liked your company and wish you and your family well. God bless you all and we will keep in touch, for sur..." Alwyn Santhumayor & family

    "Dear Cyril, We want to thank you so much for making our trip so unforgetable and delightful. We received your name from our friends lives in Geneva who travelled with you in January 2009 and they gave you such a high recommendation that we decided to conbtact you for our two weeks trip this year. Although we have been to Sri Lanka a few times already. We have never found such an excellent driver and guide. It has been a great pleasure to visit Colombo with you and then to Koggala for two day tr..." Mr.Gabor Kato & Mrs.Ann Kato

    "Dear Cyril, Thanks for taking care of the Dr.Sethukavalar and his wife very well. They were indeed very happy for all the care you have shown during your tour. They were very impressed of your patience and kindness. I look forward to see you soon and maintain this good relationship we have developed in a short period of time. We will not hesitate a second to recommend you to all our friends who would like to visit Sri Lanka. Taking this opportunity of wishing you all the best. Thanks fo..." HARIDAS KANDASAMY

    "Dear Cyril, Here are some photos for you as we promised, and also little gift to you. Here is some photos of elephant boy which we were took on elephant ride. Please give to them when you go to Habarana again. We are very grateful to you for your services that you have done to make our holiday in this beautiful country. Still we are thinking over our nice trip with you. It was fantastic, really! Here in Holland, life is normal again. Greeting for your wife and daughter too. George and Cala ..." George and Cala

    "We had an excellent and memorable trip and all credits to Cyril. In-depth knowledge about the places, roads and history and culture. From the airport assistance - Food, accommodation provided and the vehicle was excellent. Very matured and patient, We being on safe hands.  Thanks for making it a memorable experience for all of us.  " Aubry De Souza and group from Dubai

    "We found Cyril on-line and after checking with lots of other guides we decided he is the one for us, that decision was the best one we did for our trip From the beginning, in our emails, Cyril listen to us and was very helpful, he gave us information and helped us to create the best trip for us.We had 10 days trip, for our honeymoon, to many parts of Sri-Lanka. the country is amazing, green, nice people and good food.Cyril was a great driver and even greater guide, he has so much knowledge and e..." Coral and Oded from Israel

    "We had excellent  8 days tour with CYRIL TOURS. It's all credit goes to Mr. Cyril. From the welcoming at Air port to hotels we stayed,food we had and driver who was provided was excellent. We always introduce CYRIL TOURS to all who wiling to tarvel to Sri Lanka. Swaran Kaur and family Kuantan - Malaysia 2012 May 18 - 25 May" Swaran Kaur and family from Malaysia

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