Ancient Cities: Sigirya

 The ruins of Sigirya, claimed by locals to be the remains of an ancient palace but archeologically verified as a former Buddhist monastery, are almost assuredly the highest of all Sri Lanka’s ancient cities. The climb to the top involves over one thousand stairs.

At the ground level, there is a moat, as well as various supposed terraces, gardens and ponds, most of which amount to little more than shallow remnants of brick walls. Among outcroppings of trees at the mesa’s base, we began the laborious ascent. Brick stairs gave way to steps carved directly into the stone as we rose steadily (or in my case, sweating and taking frequent breaks) above the land.

A spiral stairwell, nearly rusted-through in places and shuddering in the strong winds, led us to Sigirya’s famous frescoes (read: a cave full of paintings of topless ladies). And another series of stone steps dumped us onto a high plateau on the left side of the mesa and an incredible view across the Lankan countryside.

Since it was still morning, we had spent the entire climb shaded by the gargantuan mesa. Before us, yet more stairs, framed by an enormous pair of stone lion paws, gave way to even more rickety iron stairs, all of which had to be climbed in the blazing sun before we reached the top.

If I haven’t said it before, let me state now, for the record, I hate climbing stairs. Give me a difficult hike and I’ll tough it out, but the repetitive nature of climbing endless steps is abysmal, daunting, and just flat-out, the worst. And to top it all off, there were signs everywhere warning that loud noise would awake swarms of wasps, and several families had screaming children.

I reached the top, sweaty, thirsty, and terrified of a wasp attack, but triumphant. The ruins themselves amounted to little more than tiered squares of foot-high brick walls, but the view was stunning and the breeze refreshing.