Negombo

First stop was The Wallawwa hotel, 20 minutes from Colombo airport, ideal to acclimatise, get over jet-lag and do a bit of sightseeing. Nearby, Negombo is a fishing port connected to the interior with a canal which the British used to transport cinnamon. The fish are sold at a market on the shore, with the smaller ones salted and dried in the sun for three days. Negombo has an old Dutch fort which is now a prison.

The main religion in Sri Lanka is Buddhism (70%) followed by Hinduism (13%) and then Islam (10%) and Christianity (7%). Negombo, with its roots in fishing, is predominantly Catholic with churches outnumbering all other temples.