subject: Place to Visit in Sri Lanka [print this page] Sri Lanka goes by many names during its historical past. Until only lately, the isle nation was officially named as the Dominion of Ceylon. The ancient Arabs once called it Serendip, and despite the fact that the name didn't catch on quite well, it has even so spawned a extremely enjoyable English word - serendipity, coined by Horace Walpole from the title of an account, "The Three Princes of Serendip", the protagonists of which "were constantly creating discoveries, accidentally and sagacity, of things they weren't on the lookout for". And this phrase remarkably describe what you ought to really expect when making Sri Lanka your travel destination.
This pearl-shaped tropical isle country in South Asia, which is 31 kilometers off the southern coast of India, has a population of about 20 million inhabitants in all of its 65,610 sq. km. acreage. Sri Lanka is an epitome of rich diversity in its physical compactness - a collective variety which stamps an indelible signature in virtually all aspects of Sri Lankan existence. In the splendid geographical features like wetlands, lagoons, tropical rain forests and rivers, copiously boxed in by a wide expanse of scenic beaches and crystal-clear waters at the fringes; to the varied indigenous flora and fauna; and naturally, on the rich cultural diversity in the men and women - a effectively assimilated mix of ethnicity, religion, festivals, customs and traditions, and food, descriptive of the island's continuous encounter with foreign traders and immigrants all through its colored background.
Sri Lanka will be the household of six Archeological Globe Heritage Sites by the UNESCO that characterize well the country's deep cultural heritage, namely:
The ancient city of Sigiriya
The sacred town of Anuradhapura
The ancient city of Polonnaruwa
The golden temple of Dambulla
The old town of Galle and its fortifications
The sacred city of Kandy
There is also a seventh Globe Heritage Internet site - the Sinharaja Forest reserve, that is accordingly designated as an Ecological Earth Heritage Web site through the UNESCO.
