Nuwara Eliya

Nuwara Eliya in the Central Highlands, is Sri Lanka's highest city at 1890 metres above sea level, and nestles in a broad valley surrounded by the country's highest mountains.  It is different here.  The houses have gardens of colourful flowers.  There are green lawns.  Sparrows chatter in the bushes whilst pigeons softly coo from the rooftops.  There is a racecourse, a golf club and the houses are of brick construction with tiled roofs.  The climate is very agreeable and altogether it feels very much like England.

Nuwara Eliya

Interestingly Nuwara was not discovered by the British until fairly late in their colonial rule.  Seeing the potential of the area in the 1830's they set about growing coffee, which for a time was very successful, until wiped out by the coffee blight of the 1870's.  The whole area was replanted with tea and the Ceylon tea industry was born.  The other main crop here is European vegetables and they are sent from here all over the island.

The Post Office at Nurwala Eliya 

We spent a morning here idling away our time whilst we waited to catch the train to Ella. Undoubtably the stop was a highlight for Anni who discovered a fabric shop.  Not content with going behind the counter to investigate the huge array of colourful silk and cotton fabrics for sale, she succeeded in gaining entry to the stock room where she rummaged around for material to purchase and bring home.  We left a couple of hours later, my wallet lighter, and our suitcases considerably heavier!