NUWARAWEWA REST HOUSE
'New Town', Anuradhapura//

nestles on the "bund" of the ancient city reservoir of that name. A 70 roomed
hotel, it extends a friendly welcome, with garden loungers set out invitingly on the open verandas. Sit on the pool terrace, under a star studded sky as you admire the magnificent view of the lake and Mihintale the sacred mountain, enjoying a glass of wine and the company of friends.

Some rooms overlook lhe 3 Like and have patios or balconies: others overlook the play area and gardens, and there are family rooms too. They are air-conditioned, and all have en suite bathrooms with showers and bathtubs. Solar units provide piping hot water - and act as mirrors for the resident monkeys to admire themselves in!

There is a restaurant and a well stocked bar, a swimming pool. There are swings and slides and a kiddie's pooL Parents wishing to go sightseeing Find that hotel staff make good baby-minders too.

The conference room upstairs overlooks the lake. It accommodates up to 70 theatre style, and is m demand for meetings for machinery dealers, N.G.O's and local housewives. The hotel shop offers books, posters, maps toiletries, even swimsuits for those who forgot to bring their own.


Nuwarawewa is known for mouth-watering Sri Lankan food - delicious curries, hoppers, siring hoppers and local fruit juices, but their cooks are good at exotic dishes too, adapting local vegetables and fruit. Our regulars
request the fried lake fish, a dry zone speciality.

The bird sanctuary nearby makes for an en joyable pre-breakfast excursion, with 30- 40 species to look for. Our staff will help you spot them. Or recommend a knowledgeable guide to show you around the city. The sites are so many and interesting, culturally, artistically and photographically, that a few days can be spent .savouring the monuments, and participating in the simple devotions of
the pilgrims from Thailand, Korea, Japan, Germany or the United States, as well as Sri Lanka.

Anuradhapura - The Sacred City

Map >>

"In the very centre of this stretch of cultivation lies the mighty city of Anuradhapura. Th e lofty palaces and monuments of its sacred enclosure tower above the rest of the buildings, which cover the land for the space of two hundred and fifty square miles. At all approaches ornamental cause- ways with massive granite paving converge upon the gates and hint by the rich carvings of their marble curbs at the cunning of the artificer within. The colossal bastions
on the walls serve the cilizens for the defence offheir sacred treasures. Thousands o f people arepa using to and fro under the avenues of noble
tamarinds that shade the. broad streets. Crowds of elephants, some with gilded
howdahs. with the irburden of nobles in silk apparel pass near us. On entering the
gates, instead of crowded buildings as in a modern city, we see Monastery and temple, palace and shrine, spaced with fine lawns and extensive beds of sweet-smelling flowers, diversified by groups of palms and spice trees ".

Thus did the 19th century British writer, H. W. Cave, visualize ancient Anuradha- pura. He also wrote of the need to "requisition a pair of horses, a spring waggon
and camp furniture, three pairs of bullocks, a cook, cook's male and 15 coolies" - a months circuit in his day!

Today's traveller gets there by train, coach or car and can bicycle around the vast archaeological site ranked by Cave as comparable with the Valley of the Nile and such ancient marvels,

In his study of Buddhist monasticism and monastic architecture, the contem-
porary scholar, Dr. Senake Bandaranayake, emphasises Anuradhapura's preminent position in the history of Ceylon, the principal political and religious centre of the island for two thousand years. The late Anuradhapura period represents the culmination of the Sinhala tradition in art and architecture the monastic remains spread over 10,000 acres, .numbering nearly four thousand buildings.
Polonnaruwa is magnificent and Sigiriya spectacular but to appreciate them, you
need to know Anuradhapura. See it for yourself.


NUWARAWEWA RESTHOUSE
New Town, Anuradhapura,
Tel:025-22565 Fax: 025-23265
E-mail:hotels@quickhaws.com
Web: www.quickahaws.com