Sigiriya
The rock that changes the way you see everything else.
There is no preparation for Sigiriya. The jungle opens and five hundred feet of ancient rock rises from the plain without ceremony. A 5th century king built a palace on its summit and decorated the sheer rock face with frescoes of extraordinary beauty. The frescoes remain. The hydraulic gardens at the base --- among the oldest landscaped gardens on earth --- still function on their original irrigation system.
Begin at dawn. The light on the plain from the summit at 6.30am is unlike anything the island offers from ground level. The climb takes 90 minutes.
Halfway up the rock, protected in a sheltered gallery --- semi-divine women painted in colours that have not faded in fifteen centuries. They must be seen slowly.
The world's earliest identifiable example of visitor commentary --- inscriptions left by visitors between the 6th and 14th centuries. Some are poetry. All are fifteen hundred years old.
The symmetrical water gardens, fed by an ancient hydraulic system that still pressurises the fountains after 1,500 years. Walk them in the early morning.
Climb the lower rock opposite for the sunrise view of Sigiriya's profile. The finest photograph available in Sri Lanka and almost no one takes it.