Cheesy Tourists At the Fort in Galle.

It was Tam’s Birthday yesterday! I couldn’t bring myself to drag her out surfing on her birthday, so we decided (she decided) to go be cheesy tourists somewhere. We picked the Dutch fort in Galle, which has been described to us as “tourist hell”, and “very busy”.

It was neither.

It actually turned out to be a really nice day, wandering around the old fort that was built in the sixteenth century by the Portuguese, captured and further built on in the seventeenth century by the Dutch, then taken by the British sometime after. It was the center of spice trade and maritime comings-and goings, with a deep port and plenty of protection from raids. It is absolutely huge, spanning one hundred and thirty acres, with a small town contained within the walls. It is mostly tourist shops, restaurants, and hotels now, but there are a few government buildings still being used.

Anyway, we were just being tourists. It’s kind of fun sometimes to just give in and do silly tourist shit with a bunch of sunburned Russian tourists. Luckily today was mostly just ourselves and a very few locals and others.

Tam looking so cute on her birthday day out…

It was Tam’s birthday today, the ninth of November, and at the first place we walked into, a beautiful old church, there was a gravestone of a ship’s captain that had died on that very same day. Judging by the skull and crossbones on the gravestone, we chose to believe that he was a pirate. It makes it so much more fun that way!

One of the sentries. Not a very official (or intimidating) looking chap.

Such a beautiful place. It is very green all around. This is the perimeter wall, with the original structures still in perfect shape. It is so nice to stroll around these green spaces, past old cannons and walls, overlooking the ocean and the international cricket pitch in town.

The lighthouse. It fell over for some reason, and it was rebuilt in 1926.

Yup. Cheesy tourist selfies…

We loved the little island behind us in the picture on the right. It had this one really tough, but unlikely palm tree growing on it. It was kind if surreal in that it felt like walking around a movie set from the Pirates of the Caribbean.

The fort sits on a peninsula, and has amazing views of about two hundred and seventy degrees of the Indian Ocean around it.

Beautiful.

Speaking of beautiful…

Im a lucky guy to get to spend time with this adventurer!

And, of course, we had to do the full tourist experience and pay the guy for the snake show. What else could we do?

The python on Tam’s head looks so grumpy.

I think this boat has been here for a while now.

Sometimes you just have to tourist it up. It turns out to be worth it when you luck into a relaxing, uncrowded experience like this.

It was very relaxing.