The white tower
Among palms on the rampart.
Pavan Lulla — CC BY 3.0 · Z thomas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Z thomas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Z thomas — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Pavan Lulla — CC BY 3.0
Galle Lighthouse is a white tower on the ramparts of Galle Fort and Sri Lanka's oldest light station. With palms around it and views over a small beach and open sea, it is one of the city's most photographed sights, and it is run by the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. The Dutch minister Philippus Baldaeus, who served here in the 1650s, described an iron cannon and a lantern on the rampart rock to guide sailors. The British built the first true lighthouse in 1848, a 24.4 m iron tower made from plates shipped from England, on the Utrecht Bastion. A fire destroyed it in July 1936, and the present 26.5 m concrete tower went up in 1939, about 100 m from the original site. You see the tower from the ramparts beside a small yellow building and palms, with rocks and a narrow beach below that people come to use. From nearby walls you look at the mosque and old houses on one side and the sea on the other. At sunset visitors and locals gather on the wall, the best time to be here. The lighthouse stands inside Galle Fort, about 18.3 km from Hikkaduwa Beach and 107.9 km from Colombo in a straight line. It is a working light, so it cannot usually be climbed. Take care walking on the ramparts, as barriers are not everywhere, and do not copy the locals who jump from the wall into the sea.
Among palms on the rampart.
Rocks and sand below the ramparts.
People gathering on the wall.
Galle Fort, Sri Lanka
Not usually, since it is a working light, though the ramparts give a close view.
At sunset, when people gather on the ramparts and the light softens.
