Galle is an odd town, especially if you are Maltese. We do not tend to be massively impressed by ramparts and fortifications, being, as we are, surrounded by them everywhere we go on our island. Yet Galle, with its dishevellment and its views of the ocean, makes for quite a fascinating day of walking around, eating and why not, shopping.

 

The Touts

Oddly enough our driver managed to drop us exactly near the rampants, which, even more oddly, happen to be the place where we encountered the Sri Lankan touts. Unlike those in Morocco, who can get really awful, the ones here are quite sweet and definitely not abusive. They sell children's cotton dresses which, truth to tell, I realised only later are superbly cheap and very good quality. They also sell huge tent-like dresses for women in exactly the same style, frills 'n' all.They are supposedly hand-embroidered but at $3 who's checking?

Eat at:

Mama's Roof Top Cafe - with rice and curry at an average $6 per person, ginger beer at $1 and a brilliant view on the side, Mama's remains a stalwart in this town. You will definitely not mind waiting (everything is fresh - take a book) as they ply you with freshly-made and extremely good poppadoms.  On a very good day (sunny, hot) your view will be that of the dishevelled and very charming houses and rooftops where TV satellites and TVs in general are king, the lighthouse and the historic buildings dotted around, not to mention the bright blue sea. On a 'bad' day you'll see all of those but the sea will the rough, which, unless you have any intentioned of swimming, you will not mind anyway.

The food is un-Europeanised and gorgous. Most of the time in Sri Lanka nobody asks you how you'd like your level of 'heat'; they deliver it 'their' way and 'their' way is medium. The formula is almost always the same: a massive bowl of rice, jackfruid, chopped green vegetable, pumpkin (with the skin on), soured mango (chutney, but not as you knew it), red dhaal (lentils) and a small portion of protein, in this case, chicken and prawns. Availability depends on what is in season and in the area. In the South, fish is plentiful (and very, very good). In the centre and Tea country it makes sense to eat meat. Chicken is always free-range and wild boar is illegal.

Shopping:

Go to KK and Elephant House for knick-knacks, bric-a-brac and generally beautiful things including some fabulous interiors and mega cool t-shirts and bags, Sri-Lankan cottons and silks.

 

The best people for planning your Sri Lanka trip are Sri Lanka in Style and Royal Travel. Get in touch with them before you go and leave the planning to the experts. Fly Emirates: they have the best connections.