After spending 1/2 hour at the hatchery, we boarded the bus and headed on to Galle. Galle became prominent with the arrival of the Europeans in 1505, when a Portugese fleet arrived, having been blown off course from the Maldives and took shelter in the harbour. Apparently, on hearing a c*** crowing (gallo in Portugese), the town was given its name Galle which has stuck to this day. The fort which stands to this day was built in 1589 and was named Santa Cruz. From the 17th century Galle became the main port of Sri Lanka for more than 200 years. Galle finally came under British rule in 1786, and by this time trading interests had switched to Colombo.

We spent an hour or so wandering the streets of Galle, being shown the prominent buildings, and walking along the walls. The test match was in its 4th day, so after taking the sites of Galle in, those who wished to alighted onto the fortress walls and watched a few overs, whilst a number of us stopped in a nearby coffee shop for some refreshments. At around 11.45, we all met at the cafe, and headed back to the bus, which would take us on to Colombo, via the newly completed highway. Instead of taking the conventional route, which would have taken us over 3 hours to complete, the highway route meant that we would reach Colombo in just over an hour.