Kandy to Nuwara Eliya
The drive to Nuwara Eliya from Kandy is about 2 hours through tea country. It is one tourists often make a few stops on. Our first stop was at Glenloch Tea Estate, where we took a tour of the tea making facility and then got to taste and buy tea. This was a good place to pick up gifts for friends and family back home. Seeing the tea making process and learning about the different types of tea was interesting.
After the tea plantation, the next stop was an overlook of Ramboda Falls. The double waterfall was beautiful, as was the entire valley below. After the falls we continued on up the road into the hills. Many roadside stands selling fruits and veggies were seen along the drive. When we finally made it to Nuwara Eliya, it was easy to tell we had arrived.
Nuwara Eliya
Known as “Little England,” it was easy to tell we were close to arriving in Nuwara Eliya. The first stop we made in town was the post office. It is a very British-looking building made of red brick. Inside I bought some Sri Lankan stamps, and then it was on our way to the hotel. We stayed at Oak Ray Summer Hill Breeze while in Nuwara Eliya. It wasn’t my favorite place in terms of amenities, but it had some nice views.
In the evening we ventured to Indian Summer, an Indian restaurant, for dinner. This was actually my favorite meal of the entire trip. The food was delicious, Northern Indian cuisine. Sri Lankan food has many similarities to Indian food, but I am not as fond of the vast amounts of black pepper that is added to Sri Lankan food.
Nuwara Eliya is located up in the hills, and at the higher elevation it was not nearly as warm or humid as down by the coast. The cool evening and delicious meal were nicely capped off with some masala chai; a nice change of pace from the black Ceylon tea usually served in Sri Lanka.
Due to the colder climate, it was early to bed for me. I wasn’t prepared for how chilly it was in Nuwara Eliya, so once we got back from dinner I headed straight to bed. This worked out well, as the next day we had places to go, animals to see, and a 4-hour drive to get to them.
