The ship stayed overnight in Sri Lanka so we had a full day to explore. We went to the Gangaramaya temple (didn’t try to pronounce it) and it was amazing! So many rooms, colors, gold, buddhas and knickknacks. It was beautiful. There was even a wedding going on that we were lucky enough to watch. Terry received a blessing from a monk with a knotted string.

Next stop was another little temple, and then the national museum. At both temples and the museum there were cruise guests with stickers, meaning they were on an organized tour by the ship. Looks like we did the same tour, just on our own. Probably saved us a good $200+ just for figuring it out on our own and walking or taking a Tuk Tuk instead of a prebooked bus with AC through the cruise line. It made us think that ship shore excursions aren’t worth it if you know how to get around and that you’ll make it back to the ship on time.

From the museum we walked through Viharamahadevi park and took a Tuk Tuk to the red and white mosque (I gave up remembering names). The mosque was closed for visitors and there were some visitors inside that couldn’t get out. Seemed slightly chaotic, so we kept wandering through the surrounding market instead. They have an orange colored coconut called King coconut here that we had to try.

Before going back to the boat we had Ceylon tea, which is from Sri Lanka, at the old Dutch hospital, an old hospital rebuilt into a shopping square.