SRI LANKA, POLONNARUWA: JAGA FOOD RESTAURANT

So far, our second day in Sri Lanka had included climbing to the top of a mountain and walking all over a vast ancient city. We were beat and ready for some rest and refreshment. 

Sanjay gets an A+ for this restaurant choice. I never write posts about just a restaurant, but this one is worthy of the attention. 

We pulled up to the turnoff to the Jaga Food Restaurant and noted a TripAdvisor sign stating that Jaga Food is the #1 restaurant in Polonnaruwa:

At the end of the road leading to the restaurant is what looks like a California-style rambler:

The parking area is surrounded by beautiful fruit and vegetable gardens:

It turns out that much of the food served in the restaurant is grown on their own organic farm:

SRI LANKA: POLONNARUWA

After our exhausting climb of Sigiriya Rock, we crawled wearily into our wonderful air-conditioned, guide-driven car and were once again grateful for Sanjay, who took over and let us collapse in the backseat. The rest wasn't nearly long enough, however, as it was just an hour to our next destination: Polonnaruwa, the second oldest kingdom in Sri Lanka after Anuradhapura.

Along the way we saw two very different elephants walking next to the road. First, there was this poor elephant with a heavy chain looped around his neck and foot and a circus-like cloth draped across his back:

A bit further down the road we saw this wild elephant walking alongside the highway:

No shackles, no embarrassing drapery:

. . . just a plain ol' elephant. Which one would you rather be?

Polonnaruwa is a large complex of stupas, Buddhist monasteries, and Buddhist temples (a lot like Anuradhapura) and our third UNESCO World Heritage Site in a two days. Its heyday was rather short-lived, less than 200 years, ending when the city was abandoned in 1293 after a series of weak rulers and invasions. Like other ancient cities (think Machu Picchu), it was then quickly engulfed by the surrounding jungle and was more or less buried until it was excavated and restored in the 20th century.

At the center of the ancient city is the Royal Palace, which is believed to have stood seven stories tall and to have comprised 1,000 rooms: