After visiting Pinnewala Elephant Orphange, we got on the bus and headed up to Mihintale around 2 hours drive away. This is the birthplace of Sri Lankan Buddhism and to reach it one has to climb 1460 granite stairs, but when one reaches the summit it is well worth it. However the last bit of the climb wasn't without its difficulties as one isn't allowed to wear shoes within religious places, so to climb up scorchingly hot granite stairs which had been worn away over the centuries was difficult to say the least.