Batticaloa Things to Do

Both out in front of the fort entry and atop the northeastern bastion are cannon emblazed with the VOC symbol. Those on the northeastern bastion lying next to a more modern era Sri Lankan Army pillbox watching out over the lagoon and the lagoon bridge across the way.

In true fashion of the era, there are bastions on the four corners of the fort. The lagoon borders on the north and east with a moat on the west and part of the south sides. Cannons were originally mounted in the bastions, though today there are pillboxes mounted by the Sri Lankan Army.

see this website for much more on the history of recent fighting in this area: http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DF15Df01.html

This was the main reason for the town’s importance, the fort. Superceding an earlier Portugese fort, the fort became the center of Dutch power along this part of the coast. From both this fort and the earlier Portugese, the unique colonies of Batticaloa Burgher evolved - see the website below. The emblem of the Dutch East Indies Company is still above the fort’s entrance. We ventured into the fort courtesy of a full colonel in the Sri Lankan Army. The entry is blocked by sentry gates on the road just across from the main mosque and next to the post office. I am not sure how accessible, if at all, the fort is to the normal tourist. It was the site for very heavy fighting throughout the civil war.

Batti was another East Coast town that was hard hit by the waves of the 26 December tsunami. Waters crushed over the sea barrier island to the east and pushed up into the lagoon as well. See the accompanying travellogue for more on this. Remember that the pictures date from two months after the event.

This is the town of the Singing Fish. I have seen both fish and shellfish as the originators of the sounds that take place between April and September near the full moon. The long lagoon bridge is where you can hear the phenomena the best, or so I am told. I was here in February and was quite exhausted from clinic work and preferred to stay at the hotel and try the local drink - arrack - with the locals.

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i can add my birht place , town & country detailes.

Here is the worn translation for the original Dutch church monument.

Within the fort there are several local governmental administrative offices along with the monument stone for the original Dutch church that was built here in the mid 18th century.