Sri Lanka has its fair share of World Heritage sites, and the 5th century rock citadel of King Kasyapa called Sigiriya was worth the visit. Some say it’s the 8th wonder of the world, and there’s too many versions of that list to argue.

Surrounded by four enormous symmetrical gardens, still only half excavated and restored, the journey to the top is up 1200 steps.

Sigiriya World Heritage site

On top of that big rock are the remnants of a range of buildings as well as rock art on the way up there. The stories abound about the many features and their purposes. For instance, they say that the two boulders in the pic below were moved there to create a grand entrance. I remain a little sceptical.

Boulders that were rolled here. Staying with the theme, that would be up hill.

We traversed the side of this rock on suspended walkways that were rather more airy than I like. Then also up a teeny, weeny spiral staircase to see some wall paintings from the 5th century, then back down another spiral. Way too much fresh air up there. And did I mention it was seriously windy?

Can you see the spiral stairs?

After more steps, you get to the lion’s feet which guard the start of the next set of steps to the very top.

Lion’s feet. No Lion.

All in all, it was pretty amazing – the engineering and sheer size of the structure they built so long ago, and the technology they used in their use of water, and strategies to protect the palace were ahead of their time.

And boy, was it sweaty.