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Colombo Fort on foot: the colonial city in an afternoon
The oldest part of Colombo is compact enough to walk in two hours. A route past the lighthouse, the clock tower, the restored banks and the Dutch Hospital.
Fort is Colombo 1, the tip of the city that pushes out into the harbour. The Portuguese fortified it, the Dutch rebuilt it, and the British made it the commercial heart of Ceylon. The walls are long gone, but the streets are still laid out inside them, which makes Fort the one part of Colombo where a walk has a beginning and an end.
The route
Start at the Old Galle Buck Lighthouse on Marine Drive, built in 1954 and surrounded by old cannon, with a view over the harbour and the Port City beyond. Just north of it is the Sambodhi Chaithya, a white stupa raised on tall concrete legs so that sailors could see it from the sea.
Walk inland along Chatham Street. The Clock Tower at the junction with Janadhipathi Mawatha began life as a lighthouse in 1857. A little further along is Central Point, the old colonnaded bank of 1914, restored inside with what is claimed to be the tallest chandelier in Asia and a small museum of Sri Lankan money. Entry is free. The Lloyd’s Buildings of 1908 on Sir Baron Jayatilaka Mawatha have been restored too.
St Peter’s Church on Church Street, from 1821, is the oldest church in the city still in use and is quietly beautiful inside. The red-brick Cargills building of 1906 is the most photographed facade in Fort. It is mostly empty now, but there is a small store inside where you can buy a cold drink.
End at the Dutch Hospital
Finish at the Old Dutch Hospital, a seventeenth-century building around two stone courtyards, now restaurants and shops. It is the best place in Fort to sit down, and a good place for dinner if you have timed the walk to end at dusk, when the lamps come on under the colonnade.
Practical notes
Go on a weekday afternoon; Fort is a working district and empties at weekends. Parts of it around the President’s House are closed to walkers, so follow the signs. It is fifteen minutes from Colombo Court by tuk-tuk. Getting around the city covers tuk-tuks, PickMe and the coastal train, which stops at Fort station.
