If you’ve been to the Galle Literary Festival (GLF), you’d know that while it’s a wonderful excursion, but a bit pricey. Being bookworms ourselves and quite monetarily challenged some friends and I needed to figure out a way to attend the festival on a very low budget.
The tickets of course aren’t negotiable so we worked on the other three factors. Hatching our low cost scheme we came up with the following. Accommodation : Camping tent, Food :Scout around Galle Fort for ‘economically viable’ food outlets, and Transport: Train to Galle and cycle to the sessions.
Of trains and bicycles
While two of my friends decided to cycle all the way to Galle the more pragmatic of us loaded our mountain bikes onto a train. We dispatched our bicycles to Galle via train the day before we were scheduled to leave. This costs Rs. 200 - which was our complete transport cost for our weekend at Galle!
Here’s an important tip though - to transport your bicycle via train you need to have it registered. You’d have to make a visit to your grama sevaka in order to do that and they will give you a slip that will be your confirmation of registration. That sorts out your transport around Galle. To get to the fortified city- you can catch the Colombo to Matara train that leaves at 9.48 am and will cost you Rs. 340 for a first class ticket.
Once we arrived at the railway station in Galle town, we asked around and found the parcel department. It wasn’t too hard to find when we followed the sound of chirping. The department was filled with perforated boxes of little yellow chicks. Among the boxes of chicks are sacks of vegetables and some heavy machinery that our bicycles were propped up against. Having retrieved them we peddled over to the Fort.
Cheap food hard to come by
We reached the colonial Fort around lunch time but our two cross-country cyclists, charred by the blazing sun, had only just huffed their way to Bentota. We decide to have lunch and wait for them. Food however, is a budget traveller’s nightmare in the Fort. From the swanky cafes to roof top restaurants - the price of bottled water will have you choking in disbelief. Even thambili is priced exorbitantly by the enterprising old uncles who cycle to Hall de Galle with their stock of fresh king coconut.
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We did however, manage to find a few reasonable options. During the GLF some of the Fort residents turn their homes into temporary restaurants where you’d be able to get well priced rice and curry meals. Indian Hut on Rampart Street- which overlooks the sea serves up absolutely scrumptious Indian cuisine and at a decent price. Unfortunately, people have cottoned on to this and if you don’t get there early, you’d be put on a waiting list. A little bit past Indian Hut further away from the lighthouse, is a very small cafe - again with reasonably priced food. You can get a delicious murtaba rotti (giant size) for just Rs. 350. And size - it can feed four famished budget travellers well. As for quick refreshers - lip-smacking milkshakes and quality Lavazza lattes for surprisingly cheap could be had at ‘Tea Zone’- a quaint cafe down Pedlar Street.
Waking up to the sound of the ocean
Cycling to the GLF sessions around the Fort is nothing short of fun and not to mention quick. I’d highly recommend it.
With day one complete and exhaustion taking over, we needed to pitch our tents. Along the ramparts, past Indian Hut and the little cafe and closer to the school in the area, there’s a wide open space that’s perfect for pitching tents.
It’s a bit secluded which makes it even more ideal. It’s right on the rampart so you have a direct view of the ocean. Waking up to the sun rise is a view and an experience that none of the hotels in the area can offer.
Returning
While you are down south you might as well head over to Unawatuna. The beach beats the sandy shores of the Galle Fort by far but do head back to the Galle railway station in time to transport your bicycles back to Colombo. You’ll be bicycle-less for a few hours so you can have dinner at a restaurant close to the train station and catch the evening train back to Colombo.
From all my budget travels around the country, cycling around Galle is definitely one of my top favourites. It’s recommended highly although it will leave your limbs a bit numb at the end of the trip- it’s all good exercise.
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