Rathnapura Gems

Sir Lanka has always been famous for its precious stones. Rathnapura is more famous for gems though there are several areas which are also famous for them. In the past traders from overseas visited the island looking for gems. This is still an important export market today.

The gems of Sir Lanka are woven in to his history. The Mahavansa, the ancient chronicle of Sir Lanka too mentioned about gems and jewelery. Indeed, the lord Buddha himself is sad to have had to come to Sir Lanka from India to settle a dispute between two kings, Chulodara and Mahodara, over a throne of gems.

King Solomon is reported to have had gems brought from this island to win the heart of beautiful Queens. The great traveler, Marco Polo, Was said to have been so awe struck by a priceless ruby in the possession of the king of Sir Lanka that he recorded it as been “ span in length, with out a flaw, brilliant beyond compare.

Sir Lanka became known as Ratna Deep(Sir Lanka Gems). Some of the rarest precious stones in the world are found in abundance in the reach earth under our feet and the hills above us. Among the Several world famous gems Sir Lanka blue sapphire Weighing 466 carats.the largest known sapphire in the world. Weighing in at 19kg was also discovered here. Other famous gems include the Blue giant of the Orient, Weighing nearly 500 carats and the bluebell of Asia, which weighs in at 400 carats. The renowned Sir Lankan Star sapphire is on permanent display at the Museum of Natural History in New York, but due to an oversight, the stone has been called the star of India.
he gem-mining center of Sir Lanka is also a major crossroad between southern plains and the hill country to the east. A bustling market city servicing most of the surrounding towns. Many of the prominent gem dealers in Sir Lanka operate from this town. Scenery around the town is excellent and charming.

Sri Lanka Economy

The economy of Sir Lanka is both agricultural and trade based. Tea, rubber and coconut products are important exports. Spices, for example, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and pepper are exported to markets overseas. Rice is grown in Sir Lanka for home consumption. A new industry is the export of clothing and textiles. Tourism is also important.

Nilaweli Hikkaduwa & Unawatuna

Since Sir Lanka is an island, it belongs a beautiful and attractive beach around the country. Though the whole beach is very elegant the beaches in Nilaweli, Hikkaduwa and Unawatuna are most popular ones among the visitors.

Nilaveli Beach Hotel, is located 275 Km East to Colombo in one of finest tropical beaches. A clean secluded beach is approached through a tangle of trees where there is white sand sloping gently with miles of picture perfect shores into a clear, shallow ocean. Guestrooms in this hotel room gives a fantastic view of the morning sun rise, beach and the ocean through the wide glass windows.
Hotel Nilaveli Beach offers 80 delightfully designed and furnished rooms, categorized into Standard Air conditioned & non Air conditioned sea view rooms, Deluxe rooms and Luxury suites. The Hotel offers wonderfully comfortable place to stay, with its spacious rooms.

Nuwara Eliya

Even though Sir Lanka is a warm country the climate of the hill city called Nuwara Eliya is quite contrast to it because it is very cold there like the city of London. There are fields of Tea bushes all over the hills in Nuwara Eliya and it is a very pleasing sight for any one. The beauty of bio diversity can be experienced in the Hoten Place where the world’s end is situated and the Sinharaja rain forest also a live testimony for bio diversity is situated covering three districts.

Kandy

Kandy, the hill capital of Sir Lanka also an ancient city though it is not old much as Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. The sacred tooth relic lies in the famous religious palace called Dalada Maligawa or the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. Once in every year there is a world famous procession called Kandy Esala Perahera which consists of various cultural and traditional dances and proud elephant walkings. The historical cave temples like Aluviharaya and Dambulla are situated in Matale district

Anuradhapura

There are number of historical cities in Sir Lanka. The most important and interesting among them are Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa and Kandy. Anuradhapura the ancient and sacred city bears many ruins of proud Sir Lankan history. The ruins of the palaces of the ancient kings, ponds, temples, statues, the beautiful art works like moonstone, guard stone and many more can be visible there. The eighth wonder of the world Sigiriya the rock fortress of the great king Kashyapa is a miraculous creation. The water management system of the water garden of it stills a secret. Polonnaruwa is also a ruined city and the giant tanks like Parakkrama Samudraya, Girithalay wewa can be seen there.

KuttamPokun

The Kuttam Pokuna was built as the bathing ponds for the monks of Abhayagiri Monastery in northern Anuradhapura. Water is carefully channelled to gush out of a lion's head, and through a sophisticated system of filtration. At the far end of the Kuttam Pokuna ponds is a system to trap mud and dirt. Water flows into a pit, where the mud and dirt sinks to the bottom. It ensures clean water flow into the Kuttam Pokunaponds.

The monks perform their ablutions under the protective gaze of a five-hooded naga, the cobra believed to bring good fortune. Steps leads down to the two ponds while around them are shallow pools to cool off one's feet befond diving into the ponds. The Kuttam Pokuna demostrates not only great engineering feat by also workmanship and artistry of the ancient Sinhalese builders.

Sri Lanka

Sir Lanka is a very historical island which is situated in the Indian Ocean., south east of India and it lies between longitude 79C and 81C east and latitudes 50 and 100 north. From north to south the island is 425 kilometers long and from west to east it is 225 kilometers wide. Pidurutalagala, the highest mountain, which is 2,524 meters high, and the longest river is the Mahaweli which is over 300 kilometers long.

The island has a tropical climate. The monsoons called north east and the south west bring rain to all parts of the country. The temperature differs between 200 to 300 centigrade. In the central hills the climate is cooler. There are many different wild flowers, shrubs and trees here, and the Peradeniya and Haggala Botanical Gardens have a large variety of tropical plants.