My first exposure to Sri Lanka was in August of 2003. I had spent a month in India the previous year visiting many of the Buddhist pilgrimage sites. As Sri Lanka has one of the oldest Theravada traditions, going back over 2200 years, I was anxious to continue my explorations there.
During my visit, I spent a week at a meditation center in the mountains, attended the Esala Perehera in Kandy, and with a rented car and driver I beat around back roads visiting the ruins of ancient Buddhist sites.
The links below will bring up PDF shows of many of these sites. Please be patient when opening these files as some will take several minutes to open. If you think you may want to read them again, you might want to save them to your computer while they are open.
Aluvihara, Ridigama, Arankele & Nalanda Gedige
Buduruvagala, Mulkirigala & Dimbulagala
Polunnaruwa & Medirigiriya
Kuruppukanda - the spirit of a village 