A Visit To The Ruins of Sri Lanka’s Ancient Polonnaruwa – Part Two

Posted on 2016-05-14 by true_north

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Shiva Devale No. 2

I had spent the first two hours visiting The Citadel area and the Quadrangle. It was a bit past 11 and, given the relative lack of shade, I was noticing the heat as I wandered around the sites and bicycled the roads between them. Yet to come were some impressive dagobas, image houses, and 3-D Buddhas carved out of the granite rock face. I left the main road and headed down the path to Shiva Devale no. 2 – Here is a Youtube clip which nicely illustrates the ride!

Chola Empire around 1100 C.E.

It is not the only Hindu temple in the ancient city – Shiva Devale No. 1 is just in between the Citadel and the Quadrangle but I hadn’t visited. And later I would cycle by small temple ruins dedicated to the Hindu gods Vishnu and Ganesha. They had been constructed during the three-quarters of a century when the Cholas (a south Indian Hindu Tamil dynasty) had ruled much of the northern and central part of Sri Lanka.

Shiva Devale no. 2 is said to be ancient Polonnaruwa’s oldest surviving building and dates to the early 1000s C.E. It was apparently meant as a memorial to one of the queens of the Chola king Rajaraja, who led the Indian invasion which destroyed Anuradhapura in 993 and established a power base in Polonnaruwa. Unlike the bricks-and-mortar construction of a Sinhala temple, this one features Indian-style solid stonework.

Visible behind the temple are two of the Nandis associated with the temple.

Polonnaruwa’s oldest building – Siva Devale #2

Looking at the Joseph Lawton photo from 1870, it is clear that some restoration work has been done over the past 150 years, especially on the dome. My photo is of the front of the temple; Lawton’s shows the back and one side of the structure.

Shiva Devale No. 2 ©Victoria and Albert Collection. London.

Lawton mislabeled the temple as a Vishnu temple. The Nandi figures and the lingam are associated with Shiva, the aspect of the Hindu Godhead (the Trimurti) associated with death and destruction.

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The Pabalu Vihara Area:

Not far from the Shiva temple are the remains of a monastic community with an impressive – the third-largest in Polonnaruwa – brick dagoba. Modern renovations have turned it into a two-level structure with a rather flat top. It would be interesting to see a photo of the dagoba from 1870 to see what it looked like before it was reconstructed.

Pabalu Vihara, a dagoba to the north of the Quadrangle at Polonnaruwa

Pabalu Vihara – Buddha with headless attendants

Pabalu Vihara – a side view of the stupa

the backside of the Pabalu Vihara

Going further north we now leave the confines of the walled ancient city and come to one of the many monastic communities which were established around image houses and dagobas. I passed by the ruins of the Menik Vihara and headed for Rankot Vihara.

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The Three Rulers of Polonnaruwa’s Golden Age

The first was Vijayabahu I (circa 1070-1110), who defeated the Chola (i.e. Indian Tamil) invaders who had built up the city as their capital and had ruled for a half-century.
After a period of civil war, he was followed by Parakramabahu I (1153-1186), the most successful and ambitious of the three. During his reign, sometimes labelled as the city’s Golden Age, much of what is visible in the ruins of the ancient city was built.
He was followed by Nissanka Malla I (1187-1196). His nickname The Vainglorious sums up his reign.

After these three effective rulers, a series of weak and ineffective ones eventually ended with the invasion of yet another Indian kingdom (the Kalinga) which put an end to Polonnaruwa as the Sinhalese fled the city for points further south.

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The Rankot Vihara

a first view of the Rankot Vihara – the largest of Polonnaruwa’s dagobas

The construction of the dagoba at the Rankot Vihara is attributed to Nissanka Malla I. It follows the classic design of the Anuradhapura dagobas of a thousand years before and, next to that ancient city’s massive stupas, is the fourth largest in Sri Lanka. Its base diameter is 170 meters (550 feet) and as it stands now it is 33 meters (108 feet) high. On top of the anda (the dome-shaped bottom) sits the square harmika and on top of that the spire.

The image below shows the extent to which the structure was overgrown in the 1870s when the British photographer Joseph Lawton visited the area and made his remarkable images.

The Rankot Dagoba – a photograph by Lawton 1870-71.©Victoria and Albert Collection. London.

Surrounding the base of the stupa are small shrines, some still the object of worship by visiting Buddhists. The photo below is of the main shrine on the north side of the dagoba. To its left one of the secondary shrines is visible.

The Rankot Vihara – Sri Lanka’s 4th largest

The dagoba is essentially a mound of earth and dirt covered with a skin of brick and mortar. Somewhat squat in appearance, it lacks the more semi-spherical look of Anuradhapura’s stupas.

the top of the Rankot Vihara dagoba

The name Rajkot is apparently derived from two Sinhala words – ran meaning “gold” and kotha meaning “pinnacle”. These days there is no gold leaf covering the brick and mortar spire.

offerings and incense at the base of the dagoba

internal shrine on the side of Polonnaruwa’s Rankot dagoba

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Alahana Pirivena

From the Rajkot Dagoba, it was a short ride to the monastery area named Alahana Pirivena. The image below shows some of the mini-stupas on terraces not far from the Lankatilaka. The monastery was associated with cremation rituals and the stupas may be those of the city’s upper class. Also visible in the middle left of the image are standing columns of one of the monastic residences that would have existed.

mini-dagobas on a terrace near the Lankatilaka

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Lankatilaka:

As I approached the Lankatilaka, Sri Lanka’s most impressive gedige or image house, I thought of similar temples built to house statues of Zeus and Athena in ancient Greece. There too the statues were so tall that their heads just fit under the roofs of the structures built to house them.

Much of Athena’s temple – the Parthenon in Athens – still stands but the statue is no longer there. And nothing remains of Zeus’ temple in Olympia or of the statue of Zeus, considered one of the seven wonders of the ancient Greek world. Here we have the brick walls and back of the temple still standing. The wooden roof is no more and most of the standing Buddha figure – the core built of brick and then more finely sculpted with stucco – has not survived.

approaching the Lankatilaka

Lankatilaka – Joseph Lawton photo from 1870-71. ©Victoria and Albert Collection. London.

The Lankatilaka, one of the main structures built during the reign of Parakramabahu I, had as its focal point the 15-meter-high standing Buddha, standing on a lotus pedestal. He was probably shown in the common “Have No fear” mudra (pose) with his right hand raised and open.

The Lankatilaka’s standing Buddha –

the Lankatilaka’s standing Buddha – bottom

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Kiri Vihara

Just to the north of the Lankatilaka is the next of Polonnaruwa’s sites, the Kiri Vihara. These days it is a gleaming white stupa, thanks to a recent paint job. It was somewhat overgrown when photographed by Joseph Lawton in 1870, but the shrubs and trees that had somehow rooted themselves in the cracks between the bricks have been cleared.

Kiri Vihara – Polonnaruwa dagoba next to Lankatilaka

Do note that visitors are required to remove their footwear when entering any grounds considered sacred. It was now about 1 in the afternoon and I still remember the heat of the bricks on the terrace burning the bottoms of my feet as I walked around the stupa. To deal with the heat, those not accustomed to walking barefoot – i.e. most Westerners – sometimes bring socks to wear. It would be interesting to know if this “solution” is acceptable – or if it still considered disrespectful in the eyes of the locals. On another note, I did walk around the stupa clockwise as seems to be the custom in Sri Lanka (but not, I might add, at Buddhist sites in Myanmar, where other taboos seem to be more important).

Kiri Vihara Dagoba. Joseph Lawton photo. ©Victoria and Albert Collection. London.

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The Gal Vihara Buddha(s)

Back on the bike again, I headed over to what would be my last site visit of the day. Somewhat dehydrated, needing some lunch, and feeling the heat of the day, I had hit my limit. I am glad, however, that I did not turn back right then and there but headed over to the Gal Vihara Buddhas. What I would see is the most impressive of Polonnaruwa’s various sites – superbly executed rock carvings on a large scale which are still in remarkable shape given their age.

Gal Vihara’s seated Buddha

Carved into a south-facing granite rock face is a series of Buddha figures in various poses. The images above and below show the first of the four – a seated Buddha shown in the meditation pose (Dhyana mudra) and in the state known as samadhi. The 4.6 meter high (15′) figure was originally contained within an image house built around it. Parts of the brick wall foundation and a few sockets where wooden beams would have been inserted into the rock face are still evident.

Gal Vihara seated Buddha figure - circa 1870 photo by Joseph Lawton - Victoria and Albert Collection

Gal Vihara seated Buddha figure – ©Victoria and Albert Collection. London.

Next to the seated Buddha – and inside an artificial cave cut into the rock – is another seated Buddha in the same pose. It is apparently 1.4 meters high (4’7”). The area was not open to the public when I was there. The image below shows the entire Gal Vihara site with the seated outdoor Buddha on the extreme left and then the scaffolding in front of the Samadhi Buddha in the cave. Also visible are a standing Buddha figure and a reclining Buddha.

Gal Vihara site – the standing and reclining Buddhas

The standing Buddha, once thought to be a representation of Ananda, the faithful disciple of the Buddha, is now held by most to be a standing Buddha figure. Evidence of a separate image house enclosing the figure and separating it from the reclining Buddha breaks the apparent connection between the two. Somewhat puzzling is the unusual crossed-arms mudra that the figure is depicted in – it is not one I have ever seen.

standing Buddha or Ananda at Gal Vihara - Joseph Lawton.©Victoria and Albert Collection. London.

standing Buddha or Ananda at Gal Vihara – ©Victoria and Albert Collection. London.

An interesting point mentioned in a Wikipedia article on the site (click here to read) is that the carvings may originally have been covered with gold leaf. This would definitely have given them a glow within the confines of the candle-lit image houses that would have been the worship focal point of the monks whose residences surrounded the carvings.

close up of the standing and reclining Buddhas

reclining Buddha figure at Gal Vihara in Polonnaruwa - photo by Joseph Lawton circa 1870

reclining Buddha figure at Gal Vihara in Polonnaruwa – ©Victoria and Albert Collection. London.

close up of the reclining Buddha – Gal Vihara at Polonnaruwa

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A Visitor’s Tip – Hire A Taxi For the Tour!

I had been on the move for over five hours by this point. I looked at the map and checked my Rough Guide to Sri Lanka guidebook to see what else I should get to – the Lotus Pond and the Tivanka Image House.

Given how I was feeling – and given the heat of the afternoon – I decided to turn back to the entrance and my waiting taxi driver. As I mentioned at the start of the first Polonnaruwa post, I regretted not just using my taxi driver for the day – or even better, having come to Polonnaruwa the night before to allow for an earlier morning start with a tuk-tuk driver as my guide and transportation.

My day with the ruins of ancient Polonnaruwa had been absolutely worth it. Along with another day spent in Anuradhapura and most of a day at Sigiriya, my visit provided me with a better idea of the impressive accomplishments of the Sinhalese people of a thousand and two thousand years ago. The builders of stupas which rivalled the pyramids of Egypt in size and the guardians and transmitters of the Buddha’s teachings to other parts of Asia from their vibrant viharas – this is certainly a legacy to be proud of.

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My Other Sri Lanka Cultural Triangle Posts

A Visit To The Ruins of Ancient Polonnaruwa – Part 1

Sigiriya – Sri Lanka’s World Wonder Before Machu Picchu

The Ruins of Ancient Anuradhapura – Part One

The Ruins of Sri Lanka’s Ancient Anuradhapura – Part One

The Ruins of Ancient Anuradhapura – Part Two

The Ruins of Sri Lanka’s Ancient Anuradhapura – Part Two

Up The Steps Of Sri Lanka’s Mihintale (Mahinda’s Hill)

Up The Steps Of Sri Lanka’s Mihintale (Mahinda’s Hill)

The Aukana Buddha: Sri Lanka’s Colossal Standing Rock Statue

The Aukana Buddha: Sri Lanka’s Colossal Standing Rock Statue

Sri Lanka’s Dambulla Cave Temple: A Buddhist Treasure Trove

Sri Lanka’s Dambulla Cave Temple – A Buddhist Treasure Trove

Posted in Sri Lanka | 1 Comment

A Visit To The Ruins Of Sri Lanka’s Ancient Polonnaruwa – Part One

Posted on 2016-05-10 by true_north

Last revised on October 15, 2022.

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The Sinhalese Cultural Triangle

The Cultural Triangle – enlarge with a click

Along with Anuradhapura and Kandy, Polonnaruwa is one of the key points in Sri Lanka’s Cultural Triangle, which contains much of the impressive ruins of pre-modern Sinhalese kingdoms – mostly religious structures and monuments but also some secular buildings. A visit to Sri Lanka which focuses on more than sun and surf and wildlife preserves will take you to this area and introduce you to the Sinhalese accomplishments of a millennium or two ago.

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Logistics: The Best Way To Visit The Site

What I Did –

Using Dambulla as my base, I set off at 7 a.m. from my hotel on the outskirts of town and was at the entrance of “The World Heritage City of Polonnaruwa” by 9:00. Nearby was a bike rental stand where I picked out my ride for the day. My taxi driver would wait at the entrance while I cycled up and down the roads passing through the site.

I spent about five hours on and off the bicycle and made it as far as Gal Vihara (#22 on the map below) before I decided to end the day. By eleven the heat and the burning sun had ended whatever allure bicycling around the site might hold. I never did get to the Lotus Pond and the sites to the north. Also, after leaving the archaeological zone I did not get to the attractions some 3 kilometers south of the entrance (See #1 and #2 on the map below) since I did not know about them. Bad preparation on my part…

Polonnaruwa –ancient city – site map

What I Should Have Done:

Arriving in Polonnaruwa the afternoon before would have been the thing to do. The location of The Lake House makes it sound like a great place to stay for the night. The Rest House would be another option. It is close to Pothgul Vihara (#1) and the Statue (#2), which do not require an entry ticket. I would have paid them a 30-minute or so visit and then walked the path along the shore of the artificial lakes. It would mean that the next morning I could begin my tour in the cool of the early morning – the site opens at 7:30 a.m., and the ticket costs US$25.

(The Cultural Triangle ticket has not been available since 2012 though some guidebooks still mention them! Each of the major sites in the Triangle now charge their own entrance fee. The site ticket is only valid for one day so if you’d like to return the next day to finish off your visit, you’d need to buy yet another ticket.)

I would also scrap the bicycle idea and, as I would later do in Anuradhapura, hire a tuk-tuk driver instead. This way, my energy could be spent visiting the sites and not simply getting to them as the day gets increasingly hot. Having a tuk-tuk driver who has done the tour a hundred times also means you will approach the various sites from the right entrances and make the most efficient use of your time.

One last thing I should have done is have a better idea of the historical context of the site before I visited; this would have helped me make more sense of what I was seeing while I was actually there! This post is my attempt to understand more clearly what the images are showing. Better late than never!

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UNESCO Video – Overview of the Site

This brief UNESCO-sponsored video on YouTube gives a good overview of what Polonnaruwa is all about –

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Pothgul Vehera:

Some three kilometers south of the entrance to the rest of the site is the Pothgul Vehera. The evening before or the end of the day tour would be a good time to include this site in your trajectory. I did not get there on my visit – but here is what you’ll see if you get there. The area was the site of a monastic community (the Sanskrit term is vihara) which included an image house. The ruins of some of the monastery residences can be seen, as can the inner room (the sanctum) of the image house. The floor plan looks like this –

Some imagination is required to reconstruct what a thousand years have taken away! Who had the structure built and what its purpose was are still unclear. Given the many projects undertaken during the rule of Parakramabahu I (1153-1186), some attribute it to his builders.

There is also some doubt about what the exact purpose of the structure was, with a library or an image house being the two most popular explanations. Given that there is only one entrance to the inner room and it faces east, this would seem to indicate a gedige-style image hall, a late architectural development in Sinhalese architecture characteristic of Polonnaruwa. A YouTube video – see here – may help you visualize what you’ll see if you pay a visit.

The other nearby attraction is the 3 to 4-meter (11’2″) statue of a male figure carved out of the rock face. Again, the exact age of the work and the figure’s identity are both open to debate. If it is indeed a depiction of Parakramabahu, then it would date to the 12th C during his reign. It may be, however, a depiction of the legendary founding sage of the city, Pulasti. Whoever it is, he seems to be holding a scroll, probably indicating a religious text.

Given all the other work done during Parakramabahu’s time, he may well have commissioned his artists to pay homage to Pulasti – or to himself.

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The Citadel Area:

For a couple of centuries (1060 to 1300 C.E.) Polonnaruwa was the capital of a Sinhalese kingdom that tried to recapture the glory of the previous one based in Anuradhapura. Ironically, it was the invading Cholas from south India who first chose Polonnaruwa as their capital in Sri Lanka after they sacked Anuradhapura around 1000 C.E. It would be another 75 years before the Sinhalese would take back control of the island; Polonnaruwa continued in its role as the kingdom’s capital.

The city was located in a fertile corner of the plains to the north of the hill country at a major crossing on the Mahaweli Ganga River. It was also more easily defended than the very exposed city of Anuradhapura to the north. With the creation of artificial lakes – i.e. reservoirs or tanks – and further irrigation, the area would become even more productive. In a time when agricultural productivity was the very foundation of a successful kingdom, Polonnaruwa fit the bill as the capital of a thriving state.

My tour began at the Citadel area at the south end of the site near the entrance. It is here that the rulers of the city – beginning with Vijayabahu I and then continuing with Parakramabahu I and his successors – built their palaces and other government buildings. The first ruins I walked through were what is left of Parakramabahu’s Palace. The heavy brick walls of what was the multi-storey Royal Chamber still stand.

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The Remains of Parakramabahu’s Palace

Parakramabahu's Palace - a school group visits

Parakramabahu’s Palace – a school group enters from the east

the ruins of the Parakramabahu’s Palace

ruins of the Parakramabahu's Palace - another view

the ruins of the Parakramabahu’s Palace – a view from the west

a close-up view of the bricks and mortar wall

Evident at the top of the brick walls are the holes that would have held the wooden beams on which additional floors of the palace were built. One story has it that the palace had a thousand rooms, a fanciful number meant to convey the immense power and wealth of the king.

Parakramabahu’s Palace – yet another view from the east

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The Council Chamber

Not far away from the remains of the Palace is another structure built during the time of Parakramabahu, The Council Chamber or Audience Building. Still intact is the multi-layered base of the building and some of the columns on the floor of the chamber that would have held the wooden roof.

The three levels of the base are covered with reliefs of elephants, lions, and dwarfs –

The Council Chamber in Polonnaruwa’s Citadel area

elephant friezes at the base of the Council Chamber in the Citadel at Polonnaruwa

the lion and dwarf friezes above the elephants on the base of Polonnaruwa’s Council Chamber

another view of the Council Chamber – base and platform pillars

stray dog near the Council Chamber

visitors among the pillars of the Council Chamber

Polonnaruwa’s period of greatness lasted about two hundred years but after 1300 C.E. it was abandoned. The dams which created the artificial lake fell into disrepair and people moved further south as new Indian invaders arrived. It would be the British in the mid-1800s who would come upon the ruins of the city and begin extracting the ruins of a once major Sinhalese capital and important Buddhist centre. Here is what the Council Chamber looked like in 1870 before archaeological work began!

Polonnaruwa. The Audience Hall. Lawton. 1870-71. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

On the platform of the Council Chamber, there were four rows of pillars or columns which supported the wooden roof.

pillars on the Council Chamber platform

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The Royal Baths (Kumara Pokuna)

Not far from the Council Chamber – and just outside the walls of the Citadel – is yet another construction attributed to the reign of Parakramabahu I – The Royal Baths (Kumara Pokuna).

looking down at the Kumara Pokuna (The Royal Baths) from the west

In the middle of the cruciform-shaped pool is a circular stone which along with the raised platform all around the edge of the pool may have served as a resting spot for bathers.

a view of the steps and spout of Polonnaruwa’s Kumara Pokuna (Royal Baths)

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Dalada Maluwa (The Quadrangle)

North of the Citadel area, I would bicycle to the religious heart of the ancient city – the Dalada Maluwa, renamed The Quadrangle by British archaeologists in the late 1800s. I would find there what the current edition of The Rough Guide describes as “home to the finest and most varied collection of ancient buildings in Sri Lanka”.

The Sinhala word dalada means “tooth”; it refers to a supposed tooth of Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, which ended up in Sri Lanka. To the Sinhalese, it is the powerful talisman. It reminds me of the Palladium from Graeco-Roman myth, the wooden statue of Athena created by the goddess herself which Aeneas took with him when he fled his city to found a New Troy called Rome. His very possession of the Palladium gave him his legitimacy. Christian equivalents would be a splinter from the Cross or the grail from the Last Supper.

The Dalada – The Tooth – symbolized the political legitimacy of whoever held it. During Anuradhapura’s time as the capital, it had been kept there. Now, for a brief time, the Dalada Maluwa area would be its home. These days The Tooth is found in Kandy, the last Sinhalese capital before the British take-over of the island in the 1800s.

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The Vatadage (Circular Relic House)

First up was The Vatadage (Circular Relic House). This Youtube video is a great introduction to the building and its layout.

Polonnaruwa’s Vatadage – (Circular Relic House)

Polonnaruwa Vatadage Layout

Missing is the wooden roof that covered the original structure; supporting wooden beams would have rested on the pillars as they sloped down from the top.

steps leading to a seated Buddha at the cetner of the Vatadage

steps leading to a seated Buddha at the center of the Vatadage

The steps lead to the main platform of the Vatadage with its small stupa at the very centre. The guardstones on the sides of the steps – considered among the finest of their type in all of Sri Lanka – are the usual nagaraja (literally snake king) figures holding items that connote abundance and wealth. At the foot of the steps is another Sinhalese architectural feature – the moonstone. this one has exquisite carvings of (starting from the center) lotus flowers, horses, elephants, and geese.

a portrait view of the moonstone carvings at the Vatadage in Polonnaruwa

a portrait view of the moonstone carvings at Polonnaruwa’s Vatadage

Vatadage Moonstone with horses, elephants, and swans

Vatadage limestone “Moonstone” with horses, elephants, and swans

Again, to put things into historical context, here is what the Vatadage looked like in 1870 when the British photographer Joseph Lawson took the image shown below. As incomplete as the buildings are today, they have come a long way from the state they were in less than 150 years ago! Along with cricket, the Sinhalese can thank the British for beginning the process of uncovering the physical remains of their glorious Sinhalese past!

Victoria &Albert Museum - Joseph Lawton photo of the Vatadage 1870-71

a missing Buddha at one of the Vatadage’s four cardinal points

one of the four buddhas in the Vatadage

the head of one of the Vatadage’s seated Buddhas

seated Buddha in front of the Batadage dagoba

seated Buddha in front of the Vatadage’s central dagoba (stupa)

To finish our tour of the Vatadage, here is a wonderful 3D reconstruction of what the building may have looked like one thousand years ago. It is the work of Bethany Pereira and I found it on Youtube –

The Vatadage is only one of the structures in the Dalada Maluwa or Quadrangle. Over the next hour, I would visit the Hatadage, the Satmahal Prasada, the Nissankalata Mandapa, and Thuparama, which was unfortunately closed due to extensive renovations.

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The Hatadage

The image below is of the Hatadage, the last of the three Dalada shrines built to house the relic in Polonnaruwa. To the left is the antechamber or mandapa which leads to the main room where the Tooth would have been kept.

a view of the Hatadage in Polonnaruwa Sacred Quadrangle

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The Satmahal Prasada

A curious building – a seven-storey ziggurat! – stands to the side of the Hatadage in the corner of the Quadrangle. Still attached to the front of the second storey of the Satmahal Prasada is the stucco relief of a standing deity or Buddha figure.

Polonnaruwa – Satmahal Prasada (Seven Storey Temple) – the seventh has crumbled!

Polonnaruwa – Satmahal Prasada © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

According to The Rough Guide To Sri Lanka, “the ziggurat-like form of this temple is without parallel in Sri Lanka, its unique design perhaps the work of Khmer (Cambodian) craftsmen, although no one really knows”.

Also in the Quadrangle are standing columns of other buildings.

pillars and standing Buddha in Polonnaruwa’s Sacred Quadrangle

another view of the standing Buddha in the Sacred Quadrangle – follow the path down to the end!

Ancient Polonnuruwa - Bana-sáláwa (The Preaching Place)

Polonnuruwa – Bana Salawa (The Preaching Place) – © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Lotus Mandapa in the Sacred Quadrangle at Polonnaruwa

Next Post: Ancient Polonnaruwa – The Ruins North Of The Quadrangle

Useful Sources of Information

If you are going to visit Polonnaruwa – and spend US$25. to enter the site – it would make sense to get as much out of it as possible! The two following books provide the historical context and site details to enrich your visit.

An excellent hard-copy guidebook to take along on a Polonnaruwa visit is the Rough Guide To Sri Lanka. There is a detailed section dealing specifically with the individual structures in the archaeological zone, as well as a useful overview map and a detailed map of the Quadrangle.

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Another excellent source of information on Polonnaruwa and on the other sites in the Cultural Triangle is this digital book available at Amazon in mobi format. The authors are David and Jennifer Raezer, and you can find it on Amazon here. If you are an iPad user, having the book and its excellent architectural diagrams and floor plans available as you tour the side would definitely enrich your experience. At $5.99, it is an investment that will repay itself quickly!

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The Lawton Photos

All of the Joseph Lawton photos come from the Victoria & Albert Museum Collection. Click here to see the entire portfolio of photographs that Lawson took circa 1870-1871. I did process the jpg files in Adobe Lightroom to correct the white balance, as well as overall exposure levels and contrast.

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Posted in Sri Lanka | Tagged Buddha tooth relic, cultural triangle, Dalada Maluwa, Kumara Pokuna, Lawton photo Polonnaruwa, moonstone polonnaruwa, Parakramabahu I, Polonnaruwa Citadel, Potgul Vehera, Sacred Quadrangle, Satmahal Prasada, Vatadage Polonnaruwa, world heritage city | 1 Comment

Sakura Hanami: Cherry Blossoms In Toronto’s High Park

Posted on 2016-04-30 by true_north

2018 Peak Bloom – May 9 to 12 (see here)

2017 Peak Bloom – Not Quite There On April 23!

2017 Note! I was there on Sunday morning (the 23rd.) and, while there were hundreds of visitors , the blooms are not out! I’d say peak bloom is a few days away! Compare the shot I took this morning to the one I took in 2015 when it really was peak bloom! Please see the High Park Nature Center’s alert here for the latest as of April 25!

April 23, 2017 – not quite there

cherry blossoms over a High park path way

May 2015 – wow!

Each year from late April to mid-May (it depends on the year!) thousands of visitors head for Toronto’s High Park, the home to over one hundred cherry blossom trees. The first of the trees were a gift from the citizens of Tokyo to the people of Toronto in 1959; in that year the Japanese ambassador presented 2000 Somei-Yoshino Sakurathe trees. This variety is known for its early blossoming and its fluffy white blooms. Over time yet more trees have been donated by the Japanese Consulate and High Park has become Toronto’s prime spot to view the blossoms, a long-time spring ritual in Japan known as Sakura (cherry blossom) Hanami (flower viewing).

map source – see here

While the display of blossoms may not be as impressive as some in the past – thanks to the mild winter weather and a cooler than usual spring we’ve had – it will still make for a great outing. To view the blossoms while taking in the energy and joy shown by the many fellow strollers makes the walk along the pathways of High Park worth whatever effort it takes to get there.

Chiyoda_Ooku_Hanami

I took the following pix in May 2015 shortly after buying a telephoto lens for my Sony A6000. I also brought along my 10-18 wide-angle lens and a 35 mm prime. To no surprise everyone there had some sort of camera – from iPhones to point & shoots to dslrs. Some fussed with tripods while others stretched out with their “selfie” sticks. Everybody was having a good time; some had even dressed up for the occasion!

Later this week I’ll bicycle over to High Park along the Goodman Trail from my Riverdale neighbourhood in east Toronto. Maybe I’ll see you there. I’ll be the guy with the camera!

Some Other Toronto Locations To Check Out –

April 22, 2017 – south side of U of T’s Robarts Library @ Harbord and Huron

Where Else To Find Cherry Blossom Trees In Ontario

Exhibition Place
McMaster University
York University (near Calumet College and on Ottawa Road near McLaughlin College)
the University of Toronto’s main (next to Robarts Library) and Scarborough campuses.
Niagara Falls also has many near the Falls itself.
The Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington and Hamilton was also the recipient of a number of Somei-Yoshino cherry trees that were donated by the Consulate-General of Japan in Toronto as part of the Sakura Project. The trees are located in the Arboretum and the Rock Garden and were planted to celebrate the continual strengthening of friendship between Japan and Canada. Peak bloom time at Royal Botanical Gardens is normally around the last week of April or the first week of May.

(See here for the Wikipedia page from where the above information was shamelessly copied. The Wiki entry is worth reading in its entirety!)

Links To Other Info:

The High Park Nature Center has a “Cherry Blossom Watch” page. Click here. This website is also where I found the Google map which I started the post with.

A CBC Metro Morning news item from April 28, 2016 discusses the state of this year’s blossoms – not spectacular but not hopeless either! See here.

The blog Sakura Cherry Blossoms (click on title to access) looks to be the ultimate source of information on the High Park cherry blossoms. The most recent prediction for 2016 is pretty bleak. The blogger Steven Joniak writes –

Updated May 4, 2016 – The latest Sakura Watch post confirmed, I’m sadly changing my prediction to now state that there will be no peak bloom to view in High Park in 2016. There was only a single blossom on 1 tree in the park today, and a small cluster on another tree nearby – all other trees appear to be going to leaf which leaves very little hope that the remaining buds will develop into cherry blossom – see full post here

Posted in Toronto | Tagged cherry blossom viewing in Ontario, high park best time blossoms, High Park cherry blossoms, HIgh Park cherry tree map, peak cherry blossom time in High Park, Toronto cherry blossom location, toronto high park peak bloom, Toronto peak cherry blossoms, where are the cherry blossoms in high park | 2 Comments

A Boat Cruise To The Bottom of Tasmania’s Bruny Island

Posted on 2016-04-25 by true_north

Previous Post: Bicycling From Hobart To Bruny Island

Along with beautiful beaches and a laid-back atmosphere, Bruny Island offers visitors the chance to take an unforgettable boat ride down the coast of the island to its southern tip. Twice a day Bruny Island Cruises craft sets off with thirty or so passengers on a two-to-three-hour adventure. The cruise regularly makes it into lists of Australia’s top tourist experiences. This YouTube video gives an excellent idea of the trip; just remember that you’ll be in that boat and not in the airplane used to film many of the stunning aerial views!

Leaving Adventure Bay at 11:15 a.m. or at 2:15 in the afternoon, the boats travel about thirty kilometers down to the Friars, a collection of islands and rocky outcrops and the home of a number of fur seal colonies, before turning back for Adventure Bay.

Here is a promotional photo of one of the company’s boats. Note the red rain gear – it is supplied by the crew after you board the vessel; wool caps and gloves are loaned out at the welcome center at no extra cost. Given the strong wind blowing from the south and the choppy water that day, I would make use of them all for the extra warmth and water protection they provided.

Bruny Island Cruises boat – see here for image source

Since the morning trip was sold out, I bought a ticket for the afternoon cruise. At $120. it is not cheap but it is $15. cheaper than the morning outing. I am not sure what the difference is or if there is an advantage – in terms of water roughness – in taking one or the other. (Spoiler alert! The sixty-kilometer round trip would prove to be worth the cost. When you consider the salaries of the three experienced and capable crew members, the cost and maintenance of the boat, the insurance…well, you would have to wonder how someone could do it all for $60!)

small cave entrances in the Bruny Island cliff face

The boat left Adventure Bay and rounded the point around the outside of Penguin Island and made its way down along the coast. One of the main attractions of the trip is the dramatic cliff face – sometimes vertical columns of dolerite stretching up for one hundred meters , sometimes caves and holes and passages created by the incessant pounding of the waves over time.

looking into a passage eroded through the rock

another view of the above passageway – lichen covers some of the rock face

Bird life is plentiful; on our way down the coast we passed a number of spots that seemed to be favoured by seagulls, cormorants, shearwaters, and other birds. In the image below, nobody was home but signs of their presence was evident!

bird poop covers the perches on a cliff face

We passed by the dramatic dolerite columns below and stopped for a photo-op, the boat circling around slowly to give passengers on both sides of the boat a chance to get a shot or two.

pillars of sandstone on Bruny Island - testament to the power of the waves

pillars of dolerite on Bruny Island – testament to the power of the waves

short section of Bruny Island’s vertical cliff face

At times the spray from the waves was such that we got lightly showered; my cameras were tucked safely away under my red overcoat. Occasional stops for various geological features like blowholes or the columns above were moments when the cameras came out we all snapped madly away.

fellow travellers at work with their cameras

a group shot with the Bruny Island cliffs in the background

My Sony Nex-3N had a 16-50 mm zoom on it, while my Sony A6000 had the 55-210 mm. All of the above shots were taken with the more wide-angle zoom. I was also hoping to get some shots with my telephoto.

Isla Magdalena penguins up close

A couple of year ago I visited a penguin colony and a sea-lion colony in the Strait of Magellan not far from Punta Arenas at the bottom of South America. While we did get to walk among the penguins and it was easy to get close-up shots, I was later frustrated with the limitations of my lens when we passed by Marta Island and the sea lions.

sea lions on Isla Marta

The 16-80 mm lens on my dslr just didn’t zoom in close enough. I was later reduced to cropping the images in my Adobe Lightroom app to make them seem more immediate. As the following image on shows, it still was not close enough!

Isla sea lions lounging on the beach

This time the 55-210 lens on my Sony A6000 would allow me to get real close-ups of any wildlife we encountered. I did increase the iso to 1600 and sometimes to 3200 in order to have faster film speeds and compensate for the rocking boat. I did see iPhones snapping away at the same time and wondered how those shots would turn out! Here is what my telephoto zoom lens was able to deliver –

Where in the world is Waldo the Australian Fur Seal?

the terraces on a rock face on one of the Friars (set of islands off the Bruny mainland)

Near the southern tip of Bruny Island is a collection of islands and rocky outcrops called The Friars. It would prove to be the highlight of our trip. While the seagull below was easy to see, on first looking at the above scene, I did not notice the fur seals! Take a look at the cliff face above and see how many you can pick out! (There are eleven in all!)

sea-gull on rock ledge

We would spend some fifteen minutes or so with these fur seals, stopping in front of a couple of different terrace rock outcrops where they were lounging in various states of alertness.

solitary fur seal on a Friars rock ledge

two more fur seals on the rock ledges of the Friars

fur seals taking note of the visitors

a closer up of the fur seal on the left in the above image

I later learned that the fur seals we were looking at belonged to the Australian Fur Seal species, one of seven in the Arctocephalus genus which are found mostly in the southern hemisphere. They did look different for the true seals – for example, the harp seals and grey seals of the waters off the coast of Newfoundland – that I am familiar with. Like the Canadian seal the Australian seal (Arctocephalus Pusillus) was once the focus of a thriving seal hunt.

Australian seal species map – see here for map source

As the map indicates, there is another species of Arctocephalus – the New Zealand or forsteri – found in Tasmanian waters. I am assuming that the ones we saw that day were the more common Australian ones. Let me know if you can spot any of the forsteri species on the rocks.

nine fur seals and a sea-gull on the rocks of The Friars off Bruny island

five fur seals look back at the creatures in the boat

eight more fur seals chillin’ on the rock – The Friars – Bruny Island

another half-dozen fur seals on the rock of The Friars off Bruny Island

three fur seals hanging out on the rock of the Friars – Bruny island

Leaving The Friars, we headed back for Adventure Bay, moving a bit faster than on our way down. To make the trip complete we would encounter a few dolphins as they swam along the boat or in the boat’s wake. Given the wind and the rocking motion of the boat, I did not bother pulling my camera out from underneath the raincoat to attempt a shot. As it was, the dolphins tended to pop up unexpectedly and disappear just as quickly. It was a thrill just to see them without worrying about capturing the moment!

the ride back after dolphin watching

Shortly after four we were back on shore. The consensus of the people I spoke to – while a sunnier and calmer day would have been nice, it was definitely a worthwhile experience that we were happy to have signed up for!

Posted in Tasmania | Leave a comment

Bicycling From Hobart To Bruny Island

Posted on 2016-04-23 by true_north

My ’round Tasmania bike tour ended with a ride back into Hobart and a room at the Prince of Wales Hotel in the Battery Point district of the city. I got there in the early afternoon. The next day was Good Friday, and everything would be shut. Easter Sunday would likely also be a very quiet day in the city. Having already spent some time in Hobart, I had one more short excursion, one more “to do” on my list – a ride down to Bruny Island.

a view of Adventure Bay From Bruny Island’s The Neck

I’d spend a couple of nights tenting on the shores of Adventure Bay on the south part of the island beyond The Neck. The Saturday afternoon boat cruise to the island’s south end promised to be one of many highlights. (See here for the Bruny Island Cruises promo!)

Bruny Island Cruises display at Hobart’s Tourist Info Center

My plan was simple – reorganize my gear at the hotel, go down to the Salamanca Market and buy a couple of days worth of food supplies, and arrange to leave behind at the hotel a bag full of gear and clothing I would not need for my three-day mini-tour.

Hobart To Bruny Island (Adventure Bay)

On Good Friday morning I was ready to go by 7:30 a.m., knowing that for the first couple of hours, I would have the road pretty much to myself as I made my way to the ferry landing at Kettering for the short boat ride over to the north end of Bruny Island.

(While several British sea captains, including James Cook and Robert Bligh, visited the island, it gets its name from the Frenchman Bruni D’Entrecasteaux, who passed by in 1792. Not only does he have the island named after him but the water between it and the mainland is known as D’Entrecasteaux Channel.)

the view from my Prince of Wales Hotel window at dawn

From Battery Point I cycled southeast on Sandy Bay Road past the University of Tasmania area and on through Taroona, a suburb of Hobart famed these days as the town where Mary, the Crown Princess of Denmark, went to high school. Born in Hobart, she was known as Mary Donaldson in those days, but a chance meeting with Frederik the Crown Prince of Denmark at the Sydney Olympics would change her life. It would also provide endless fodder for Aussie tabloids and another potential question for the Down-Under version of Trivial Pursuit!

Taroona Shot Tower from the south

The image above – my first of the day since I started pedalling and another Trivia question – What Taroona structure was once the tallest on the island? Answer: The 48-meter tall Shot Tower. (See here for the reason behind the Tower’s name.)

the Taroona Shot Tower from the south

From Taroona (with its dedicated bike lane right through the town) the road continues over Bonnet Hill, the single toughest hill of the ride but a relative piece of cake after a ’round Tasmania bike ride. Significant road improvements were in progress on Bonnet Hill, and a bike lane is part of the plan.

Here is the Google Maps-generated elevation chart for the ride to Kettering. Note that Bonnet Hill looks a lot less challenging than it does in the chart inserted in the map above!

Hobart-Kettering elevation chart

Down through Kingston and on to Kettering via Margate, Traffic was still quite light and, as in Taroona, there was a generous paved shoulder on the B68. It certainly made the ride even more enjoyable.

the road – B68 – from Kingston to Margate – lots of paved shoulder

Approaching the ferry terminal, I had to smile as I cycled by vehicle after vehicle in a lineup that stretched back about 700 meters. Once at the front of the line, I leaned my bike on the wall of the Mermaid Café and went in for my reward, a cup of Flat White with a double shot of caffeine. I chatted with the few pedestrians until the ferry – the smaller of the two in service – pulled up to the landing area.

a shot from the ferry as we leave Kettering for Bruny Island

a view from the ferry as we leave Kettering for Bruny Island

going to Bruny Island on an overcast Good Friday

Once on Bruny Island, I got to work on the second half of my day’s goal – the 39 kilometers to my tent spot at the Captain Cook Caravan Park on Adventure Bay. While I may have gotten on the ferry first, I (and those on foot) would wait until all the vehicles got off before getting on my way. This meant that all the traffic was ahead of me and I would not see many other vehicles until shortly after the next ferry landing.

As nice a ride as the road to Kettering had been, this would be even better, given the wonderful views of bays and beaches I was treated to from my bike saddle. Other than the three hills indicated in the elevation chart below, the route is pretty much flat.

Bruny Island – the B68 to the south end of the island and then a side road to Adventure Bay

The hill that requires the most effort is the first one as you leave the ferry behind – and even it was dealt with quickly. As I was going up a cyclist at the end of her Bruny Island tour was coasting down. We exchanged info on the road conditions – she was on the way to Hobart and planned to use the route I had just come in on. Since she too had been on the Strachan to Derwent Bridge road, she knew what I meant when I said ” No real hills”!

photo stop at the top of the first of Bruny Island’s hills

North Bruny Island view on as cloudy morning

North Bruny Island view on a cloudy morning

Once the two first uphills (and the downhill rewards) are done, there is an almost twenty-kilometer flat stretch. The wind was gently blowing in the same direction that I was going so the kilometers passed by even easier. Past Get Shucked, the oyster place; past the Bruny Island Cheese Company; past the Bruny Island Airstrip towards a part of the road I had been anticipating since seeing the Google Earth satellite view months before – The Neck! It is a four-kilometer-long isthmus which connects the north and south parts of the island.

Bruny Island’s “The Neck”

The middle section – the 2.5 kilometers through the narrowest part – is not a paved (i.e.sealed) road; instead, it is hard-packed sand. Some trip reports I had read made it seem like a big deal. From my experience, even a set of 24 mm tires would be fine to deal with this stretch. The dirt was mostly firmly packed down. Admittedly, it would be the only dirt road I would cycle over on Bruny Island. It may be that other sections of the road may need wider tires. A heavy rain would also change the nature of the road.

a view of the west side of The Neck from the dirt road

As I cycled by this part of The Neck, I noticed the side walking trail up to the Lookout and the Truganini Memorial. I figured I would check out the view on the way out in a couple of days, so I kept going.

Bruny Island’s The Neck – looking back at the tree in the above photo

I had initially worried about eating the dust stirred up by passing vehicles, but it proved not to be an issue given the light traffic conditions, the short distance of the dirt road, and the fact that the wind had already blown away the really loose sand.

Leaving my bike for a walk to the beach at Bruny Island’s The Neck

As the photo above shows, I got off my bike and walked down to the beach. A couple were just putting away their fishing gear, and we exchanged greetings. I’m sure I said the word “Wow” more than once as I scanned the scene and took in the view of the beach and of Adventure Bay framed by the headland in the distance.

Attached to the physical beauty of the spot was the fact that just over 200 years ago, the British sea captains James Cook and Robert Bligh had sat in this very bay while their men resupplied their ships with fresh water and food. Here they also made contact with the natives who lived on the island, known to them as Lunawannalonnah. This contact would lead to the tragic demise of the entire Nuenonne community, of whom Truganini was apparently the last survivor.

fishing poles on the Adventure Bay’s side of The Neck

a Wow moment on the beach at Bruny Island’s The Neck

the south end of the 2.5 kilometer gravel road across Bruny Island's The Neck

the south end of the 2.5-kilometer gravel road across Bruny Island’s Neck

Back on the road, I cycled south to the junction. At this point, the main road – B68 – continues on the right to the island’s two largest communities – Alannah and Lunawanna. I turned left – as in the image below – and headed to Adventure Bay. Around this time, a gentle rain started to fall, and I got a bit wet as I pedalled the final seven kilometers to the caravan park.

South Bruny Island Junction - Adventure Bay to the left:B68 to the right

South Bruny Island Junction – Adventure Bay to the left – B68 to Alannah on the right

wet road on the way to Adventure Bay

a view of Adventure Bay from the road near the cemetery

Adventure Bay is perhaps the third-largest community on Bruny Island with a mix of private residences (weekend retreats for Hobart urbanites) and tourist rental accommodation, as well as a café and a general store for food and sundry items, a tennis court, and an Anglican church. Near the south end of the bay is the Bruny Island Cruises reception centre and not far away is the dock from which their boats leave for their three-hour cruises to the south end of the island. I had booked a seat on the next afternoon’s cruise.

Bruny Island’s Adventure Bay – Google satellite view

Central Business District Adventure Bay Bruny Island – the general store

St. Paul’s Anglican Church on Tasmania’s Bruny Island

Adventure Bay Sculpture - Globe with Whiales inside

Adventure Bay Sculpture – Globe with whales inside

Bruny Island sculpture plaque

Adventure Bay Bruny Island sculpture – different angle – mother whale and calf inside the globe

the beach in front of the Captain Cook Caravan Park

The rain stopped just before I started to put up my tent at the Caravan Park. Just behind the tenting area runs Cook Creek. With my tent up, I walked down to the beach and then over to the mouth of the creek. Then I walked along the beach back to the commercial heart of the community – the general store and the café! I also checked out the sculpture across the road – see the pix above.

my tent in the tenting area of the Cook Caravan Park

Cook Creek mouth just south of the Caravan Park

looking west up Cook Creek on Bruny Island

sunset on Bruny Island’s Adventure Bay

The boat cruise was scheduled for 1 p.m. so the next morning I contented myself with a walk along the beach, brunch at the Penguin Café, and a visit to the general store where I bought a copy of the Saturday paper. Heading back to the Caravan Park, I headed for the excellent kitchen/dining building. It has everything you might need – I made use of the kettle and made myself a cup of coffee to go along with the news. No Wi-Fi on Bruny Island, at least not in Adventure Bay, so it was back to paper news!

Had I been a bit more ambitious that morning – and If I didn’t have a 1 p.m. boat ride to catch – I could have done a thirty-kilometer circuit of South Bruny Island. The ideal thing would have been to spend another day on the island but given my schedule that was not possible. There are definitely enough roads and trails to pedal down that two or three days on the island – maybe using Adventure Bay as a base camp – would be easy to fill.

For example, look at the map below for a ride that takes you from Adventure Bay over an elevated central plateau to the island’s west side and the communities of Lunawanna and Alonnah before you head back to Adventure Bay.

Bruny Island South Circuit

Instead, I made a second cup of coffee and chilled. The woman spreading vegemite on a slice of toast responded to my “What does that stuff taste like?” with a “Here, you try this little piece and tell me”. My scrunched-up face and a “Definitely an acquired taste – and one I don’t think I’ll be acquiring!” ended her attempt at Aussiefication. When I told her my spread of choice was crunchy peanut butter she laughed and admitted that her father now had his granddaughter eating his favourite peanut butter on toast too.

It is a short distance around the bay from Caravan Park to the Bruny Island Cruises reception building. At 12:30, I walked over for the one-hour-plus cruise to the bottom of the island’s east coast. It was well worth the $105. even if the water that day was less than ideal. The result was more than a few blurry images of a rugged seacoast and some animal life we passed along the way. Soon to come is a post that will cull the better shots from a boat rocking in the waves – a challenging shoot!

A Boat Cruise To The Bottom of Tasmania’s Bruny Island

Bruny Island’s Adventure Bay road on Easter Sunday morning

On Easter Sunday morning I got up around 6:45, intent on packing up, having breakfast, and getting on the road by 8. I figured everyone would barely be waking up by the time I got going and that the road would be all but empty. That pretty much proved to be the case. It was just me and the changing views from my saddle vantage point on a beautiful sunny morning.

Bruny Island view from the Lookout on The Neck

On my way down The Neck, I stopped at the Lookout. The pix above and below capture some of the awesome views. At the bottom of the steps I stopped to read the Truganini information board pictured below left; later, at the top at the top behind the top viewing platform, I noted a stone cairn with a Truganini commemoration plaque.

Truganini Board at bottom of the steps to the lookout

Truganini Board at the bottom of the steps to the Lookout

Truganini memorial plaque at the top of the Lookout

I was looking at what was once her whole world – until strangers from far away came and took not only it – but everyone she knew – away.

another view of Adventure Bay From The Neck Lookout on Bruny Island

It’s funny how a return trip along the same road becomes a completely new trip! Now the few uphills became exhilarating descents; even the views were different! Cycling the roads of Bruny Island brought back memories of a tour I had done of the half-dozen Southern Gulf Islands between the B.C. mainland and Vancouver Island a few years ago. Relatively empty and well-maintained roads, fabulous views of beaches and bays … just a relaxing place to pedal along.

a view from the saddle on the ride back to the ferry landing at Roberts Point

a Bruny Island view from my saddle on the ride back to the ferry landing at Roberts Point

the front of the lineup for the Bruny Island ferry to Kettering

The way back to the mainland was on the larger ferry this time – the two-decker Mirambeena. This time it would be last on and last off once we got to Kettering.

the double-decker Mirambeena coming into Point Roberts on Bruny Island

leaving the Bruny Island dock at Roberts Point

back to Kettering on the Mirambeena (the larger of the two ferries)

It was about noon when I got back to Kettering and the road to Hobart. The traffic for the next hour and a half would be the worst of the trip, with the waves of vehicles from the ferry being joined by other road traffic coming from B68 south of Kettering. It was only when I got to Kingston where the bypass takes most of the traffic to the A6 that things settled down. The stretch over Bonnet Hill and through Taroona and on to Hobart was almost traffic-free.

Missing from this post are shots of the road for the return ride from Kettering! I took zero pix as I made my way back to the Prince of Wales Hotel in Battery Point to collect the stuff I had left behind. A vegan lunch and a Flat White with soy milk later, I left the POW and headed over to Goulburn Street to Nararra Backpackers and my $60. single private room, somewhat cheaper than the $205. the POW room rate!

Hobart – downtown area

Conclusion: The ride from Hobart to Bruny Island and back was one of the highlights of my three weeks of cycling in Tasmania. Had I known what it was like I would have set aside a couple more days to explore the island’s backroads leisurely.

All in all, it is a laid-back corner of an Aussie state that is already pretty laid-back. It proved to be a great way to end my ramble ’round Tasmania!

Next Post:

A Boat Cruise To The Bottom of Tasmania’s Bruny Island

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The Wabakimi Canoe Area – Overview with Maps

The Wabakimi Canoe Area – with Wabakimi Provincial Park’s 8,920 square kilometers (3,440 sq. mi.) as its core – is one of Ontario’s more remote and vast paddling destinations. The network of lakes and rivers scratched by retreating glaciers some ten thousand years ago have made this section of the Canadian Shield a paddler’s paradise.

See here to access an interactive Google Maps view of the above for more detail.

Wabakimi Canoe Area’s approximate boundaries are:

the Albany River to the north,
Highway 599 to the west, and
the Kopka River and Lake Nipigon to the south and
the Little Jackfish River to the east.

The Ogoki River, the longest river within Wabakimi Provincial Park’s boundaries, runs east from its headwaters in Endogoki Lake just outside the park’s boundary near Savant Lake. Wider sections of the Ogoki include Wabakimi Lake, Whitewater Lake, and Whiteclay Lake. The Ogoki Reservoir, meant to divert most (i.e.95%+) of this flow from the James Bay watershed to Lake Nipigon via the Little Jackfish River, was created in the early 1940s with the construction of the Waboose Dam and the height-of-land Summit Dam.

At approximately 27,000 sq. km. (10,400 sq. miles), the Wabakimi Canoe Area is larger than ten U.S. states or five times the province of Prince Edward Island. And the fantastic thing is that this remote section of north-western Ontario sees very few visitors. While some fly-in fishing outposts see some action, the seven hundred or so canoe tripping parties each year have Wabakimi mostly to themselves.

Ontario’s Largest Provincial Parks By Area – Wabakimi ranks second

The reward for making the 250-kilometer trip up the highway from Thunder Bay to Armstrong Station is a memorable trip on any one of the many possible combinations of waterways through this slice of the Boreal Forest of the Canadian Shield, limited only by time and ambition and perhaps the willingness to splurge on a bush plane insertion or pick-up.

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Getting Hooked On Wabakimi:

In early 2010, my bro Max and I hadn’t even considered Wabakimi. Actually, we had never even heard of it! And if we had, the distance from our southern Ontario homes would have made us think hard about driving that far. Then we found Kevin Callan’s book A Paddler’s Guide to Quetico and Beyond; it has a chapter that focuses on the Beckwith Cabins on Best Island in Whitewater Lake. It provided us with the initial motivation to make the 1800-kilometer drive.

Finding the Friends of Wabakimi (formerly Wabakimi Project) website led us to Phil Cotton and Barry Simon and their as-yet-unpublished material for Volume One of the five map sets that this Wabakimi advocacy group has published over the past decade. Now we had what we needed to know about our chosen canoe route. Ken Kokanie’s downloadable map set also helped provide more details on portages and campsites, making our first Wabakimi trip a reality.

Since that first trip, we have been back a half-dozen times. The map below shows the rivers we’ve paddled.

The other day while reminiscing about our various trips – over one hundred paddling days in some of what Wabakimi has to offer – we mulled over a list of our half-dozen favourites, those memorable places with a definite “wow” factor. As subjective as any such list will be, we figure that our attempt to nail The Six has to contain at least a highlight or two that would make the cut no matter who was making it!

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Our Wabakimi Top Six:

Cliff Lake on the Pikitigushi R. system
The Kopka River’s Seven Sisters section
The Albany R. Falls – Upper Eskakwa to Snake
The Misehkow River
The Palisade River
The Beckwith Cabins on Best Island
More Spots Worthy of Consideration
A Spot You’d Definitely Include

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1. Cliff Lake on the Pikitigushi River System:

small stretch of Cliff Lake's vertical rock face

a short stretch of Cliff Lake’s vertical rock face – that’s Max on the cliff edge!

Despite having visited Wabakimi the previous two summers, we had not even heard of Cliff Lake and had no idea what we would find. It took a trip report by Chuck Ryan to make us aware of the lake as one of the great pictograph lakes of the Canadian Shield. While the fifty feet plus in height rock faces that line some stretches of the lake are awesome in themselves, the presence of two or three-hundred-year-old Anishinaabe rock paintings elevates the lake to an even higher level.

the Cliff Lake Pictograph sites with Selwyn Dewdney’s numbering system

The east-facing orientation of these pictographs provides an interesting counterpoint to those on the west-facing Mazinaw Cliffs found on the other side of Ontario in the much more easily accessible Bon Echo Provincial Park.

Cliff Lake – Dewdney’s site #219

We will definitely get back to Cliff Lake one summer soon – and this time, we’ll spend more than a day there to experience the pictographs with hopefully both a setting and rising sun!

For more info on Cliff Lake, see

rock face at the south end of the lake across from the first of the portages to Bad Medicine Lake

Update: In September 2018, we returned for a second look! Check out –

Down The Pikitigushi From Cliff Lake To Lake Nipigon: Logistics, Maps and Day 1 – Cliff Lake

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2. The Kopka River – The “Seven Sisters” Section

The Kopka is one of the favourite rivers of Cliff Jacobson, the U.S. version of Ontario’s #1 canoe advocate, Kevin Callan. References to the Kopka River pop up in a couple of his books that I have read. Like Cliff Lake, it wasn’t a destination I was at all familiar with before I started researching. Max and I ended up with a twelve-day canoe trip from Allan Water Bridge to Hwy 529 and a shuttle back to Armstrong Station. It took us up the Brightsand and Kashishibog Rivers and down the Kopka River for the last five days from its headwaters in Redsand Lake.

While the entire trip was memorable, the most dramatic was the section of the Kopka from the south end of Lake Kenakskaniss to the bottom of the last dramatic set of rapids. This stretch makes up the Seven Sisters section of the river. In the barely two-kilometer distance between these two points, there are seven drops in elevation, adding up to an awe-inspiring 215 feet (65 meters).

Portages on the Seven Sisters section of the Kopka River

looking up to the beginning of the first of three sets of Kopka River falls

We were so taken by this stretch of the river that we are planning another trip that will combine it with a return visit to Cliff Lake – the ultimate double-header and one we can do in ten days or less. It would start with a plane ride from Mattice Lake to Cliff Lake and then a three-day paddle down the Pikitigushi River to the Mud River VIA train stop. A train ride to the west of Collins, and we’d access the Kopka via the Aldridge Lake route. The return visit will include more time spent just being there instead of paddling through.

Update 2018: Instead of connecting the two by train, we paddled right down to Lake Nipigon and up the mouth of the Wabinosh River to Wabinosh Lake, where the Kopka ends its run. See this post for the details.

Canoeing Lake Nipigon From Windigo Bay To Echo Rock

Kopka River- view between first and second falls in Seven Sisters section

Kopka River – view between first and second falls in the Seven Sisters section

For more info on the Kopka River system, see this post –

A Tale of Three Rivers: Being An Account of a Trip By Canadian Canoe Up the Brightsand and Kashishibog Rivers and Down the Kopka

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3. The Albany From Upper Eskakwa to Snake Falls

You can’t go wrong with waterfalls and sets of powerful rapids on any Top Six list; they demand respect and elicit awe from those paddling by. While we missed the challenging rapids just upriver from where the Misehkow empties into the Albany, we did get to experience four sets of Albany waterfalls over two days as we paddled down towards Petawanga Lake.

Well-trodden portage trails around all of them made for easy carries; we would dump our gear at the end of the trail and then walk back upriver with our camera gear, hoping to capture a little of the magic. Upper Eskakwa, Eskakwa, Snake, and Miminiska Falls too – what a buzz to stand there and take it all in!

The Albany River (892 kilometers from its headwaters in Cat Lake to James Bay) shares the “longest river in Ontario” status with the Severn River. And while it is no longer the river it once was, having been neutered by some water diversion schemes, it is still an impressive river. We were glad our canoe trip included at least a few days on this historic waterway of the fur trade era.

For More Info on The Albany: See Paddling The Albany River (From the Mouth of the Misehkow to Petawanga Lake)

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4. The Misehkow River

We won’t soon forget the Misehkow, a short, little-travelled river system that flows about one hundred kilometers from its headwaters east and north to merge with the Albany River. The only signs of human activity along the river are an abandoned outpost on Rockcliff Lake where we landed and a mining camp just below the river’s one major waterfall, Iron Falls. What we did see during the three days we spent on the river was a half-dozen moose – more moose than on any stretch of river before.

Morning mist on the Misehkow at Day 3’s “Mooseview” Camp

moose and calf on the Misehkow

my idea of a meditation center - Day 4 camp on the Misehkow by the rapids

at OM on the Misehkow – Day 4 campsite and meditation center!

For more info on the Misehkow, see Canoeing Wabakimi’s Misehkow River.

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5. The Palisade River

The Palisade is another short Wabakimi river that empties into Kenoji Lake after winding its way south and east from its headwaters near Burntrock Lake. It has some beautiful narrower stretches that add intimacy to paddling through Canadian Shield country.

We did the scenic stretch from Kenoji up to the turn-off for Scrag Lake. We had actually planned to go all the way up to Burntrock Lake. Unfortunately, it was the summer of 2011, and NW Ontario was ablaze with a record-setting number of massive fires. Thunder Bay 50 had its start right near Burntrock Lake, so our route plan changed.

smoke on the Palisade – the Thunder Bay 50 fire makes its presence known

Update Jan. 2021 – our planned trip down the Ogoki river this summer from its headwaters to the Reservoir will include a side trip up the mouth of the Palisade. This time we will check out a reported four pictograph sites we did not know about in 2013! See here for their reported locations.

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6. Whitewater Lake – The Ogoki Lodge & The Beckwith Cabins on Best Island

From Wabakimi Lake, the Ogoki River takes you down to Whitewater Lake, passing through Kenoji Lake. Located around the lake are several lodges and outposts that make it seem quite busy, yet on our two trips across the massive lake, we saw no one…no fishermen and no paddlers.

When we paddled by the Ogoki Lodge, we stepped on shore to take a look. We were surprised to find an abandoned set of buildings, the most impressive being the main lodge pictured below and four cabins and a two-storey motel-like addition. It was an incredible amount of real estate to be sitting there idle, and we wondered what the story was.

Ogoki Lodge – built in the 1970s and now all but abandoned

One story we later heard was that the tipi-inspired building at Ogoki Lodge was designed by an eccentric American hermit named Wendell Beckwith. He lived on nearby Best Island until he died in 1980. Since it was just a short paddle to Best Island, we checked out what he called “the center of the universe,” feeling a little like pilgrims as we walked around the site and peeked into the three cabins he had constructed.

one of the three Beckwith cabins on Best Island

As impressed as we were with Beckwith’s work, we left with a more depressing thought. It was clear that if something is not done soon, time and nature will combine to bring down the Cabins. The largest of them has a massive hole in the roof open to the elements; the blue tarp seen in the image above was someone’s attempt about a decade ago to deal with the problem. It has been five summers since we were there, and when our thoughts turn to the fate of the Beckwith Cabins, we meditate on the one certainty that nothing in this world can escape.

In 2021 we returned to Best island. Below is what the main cabin looked like. It is the same building Max is standing in front of in the image above.

exterior view of the Main Cabin on Best island – view from the other side

Very little is left of that blue tarp that had been put over the roof in 2007!

a view of the front of Beckwith’s Main Cabin from behind

If only the Cabins could serve as a hook of a different kind to lure visitors to Wabakimi Park. This is where the voice of reason chimes in with a harsh – “Yes, spend a million dollars to preserve and maintain the cabins so that all of fifty or sixty paddlers or fishermen a year can see them!”

For more info on Ogoki Lodge and the Beckwith Cabins, see

The Ogoki Lodge & The Beckwith Cabins: “All Things Must Pass”.

This post from 2021 brings the state of the three cabins up to date.

A Two-Day Paddle Across Wabakimi’s Whitewater Lake

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Other Spots That Should Be On The List!

7. Brennan Falls/Granite Falls on the Allan Water River

I know – more waterfalls! The two on the Allanwater River system are especially welcome after spending a day paddling the length of Brennan Lake.

8. Our favourite Wabakimi campsite – a spot on the Kopka

Had it been a rainy day – or had the water level been higher or lower – it may well have been all different. On another day, we may have kept going in search of a campsite further downriver. Instead, we stopped at 2:00 to enjoy one of those perfect afternoons which became a perfect evening. Looking around, we agreed that we were lucky to be smack dab in the middle of one big WOW.

9. Echo Rock … on the southern edge of Wabakimi

A day’s paddle from the mouth of the Kopka River and Wabinosh Lake along the shore of Lake Nipigon is a majestic rock face we have paddled by on the southern edge of Wabakimi country. Even though the rain and wind meant less-than-ideal visits when we first paddled alongside it one afternoon and then again the next morning, we will not forget the power and majesty that this spot exudes. It reminded us of another rock face at the other end of the Anishinaabe world, the one at Bon Echo in eastern Ontario called Mazinaw Rock.

approaching Echo Rock from the east in the rain

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A Spot Not Mentioned That You’d Definitely Include:

If you’ve been to Wabakimi, let us know if we hit some of your high points and what spot we missed that really should be mentioned. Send us a jpg image and a comment to go along with it, and we’ll post it right here!

You’ll be giving us ideas on a potential route for our next Wabakimi canoe trip!

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Here is the complete collection of Wabakimi-related posts we have uploaded since our first visit in 2010:

The Greater Wabakimi Area:

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1. Down Wabakimi’s Allanwater R. To Whitewater L.

On our first visit to Wabakimi, we took the train from Armstrong to Allanwater Bridge and then paddled the route you see on the map below over a ten-day period. Our vehicle was waiting for us at the south end of Little Caribou Lake. After this trip, we were hooked on Wabakimi!

Introduction, Logistics, and Maps

Day-By-Day Trip Report

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2. Down the Flindt River to Collins Via the Ogoki, the Palisade, the Grayson, and the Boiling Sand Rivers

Thanks to our first trip, we returned the next summer (2011). This time we had fifteen days. Starting at the CN tracks at Flindt Landing on the park’s southwest side, we paddled the route you see in red on the map below.

Introduction, Logistics, and Maps

Days 1 and 2 – Down The Flindt River From the CN Tracks

Days 3 and 4 – The Flindt and Ogoki Rivers

Days 5 and 6 – The Ogoki, the Palisade, and the Grayson Rivers

Days 7 and 8 – The Grayson River and Whitewater Lake

The Ogoki Lodge and The Beckwith Cabins: “All Things Must Pass”

Days 9 and 10 – McKinley Bay To Smoothrock Lake

Days 11 to 15 – From Smoothrock Lake To Collins Via the Boiling Sand River

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3. From Allanwater Bridge to the Kopka R. via the Brightsand and Kashishibog Rivers

For the third summer in a row, we drove back up to Wabakimi, an 1800-km. trip from southern Ontario. This time instead of heading north from the CN tracks, we headed south and, after paddling up the Brightsand and Kashishibog Rivers, entered the headwaters of the Kopka River. We followed it all the way down to Bukemiga Lake and the access road to Hwy. 527, where Clem Quenville was waiting to shuttle us up to our vehicle in Armstrong.

Canoe Trip Plans: From Allanwater Bridge to the Kopka

A Tale of Three Rivers: Being An Account of a Trip By Canadian Canoe Up The Brightsand and Kashishibog Rivers and Down the Kopka

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4. Down The Misehkow and Albany Rivers…

bush plane insertion and 220 miles of paddling and portaging

and then back south via Petawa Creek, Hurst Lake, the Witchwood River, the Raymond River, and the Pikitigushi River to the side of the road from Armstrong Stn. where a Mattice lake Outfitter shuttle was waiting. We were back for the fourth summer in a row!

At 17 solid days, this was one of our longer trips, and it remains my brother’s favourite. It really was an epic made more interesting because of the gaps in the information we had on what was coming up. Our posts should help clarify more of what you’ll paddle into.

Overview: Paddling The Perimeter of Wabikimi Provincial Park

Wabakimi Canoe Trip Plans: Misehkow, Albany, Witchwood, Raymond, Pikitigushi Rivers

Canoeing Wabakimi’s Misehkow River

Paddling the Albany River (From the Mouth of the Misehkow to Petawanga Lake)

Up Wabakimi’s Petawa Creek Without A Paddle

Paddling From Auger Lake to Felsia Lake (The Mouth of the Witchwood River)

A Two_Day Paddle Up Wabakimi’s Witchwood River System

Up Wabakimi’s Raymond River to Cliff Lake

Down Wabakimi’s Pikitigushi River From Cliff Lake

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5A. The Pikitigushi R. From Cliff Lake To Windigo Bay

After an absence of a few summers when we did trips down the Bloodvein, the Coulonge, Temagami, and the French River area, we were back for an early September trip. We flew into Cliff Lake, one of our favourite Wabakimi spots, and then paddled the route you see sketched on the map below.

The first part of the adventure ended with a descent of the Pikitigushi to Windigo Bay. We could find no record or information from anyone having done it. It turned out to be a very enjoyable two-day paddle!

From Cliff Lake To Lake Nipigon: Logistics. Maps, and Day 1 – Cliff Lake

From Cliff Lake To Lake Nipigon: Days 2 & 3 – From Cliff Lake to The Bear Camp

From Cliff Lake To Lake Nipigon: Days 3, 4, &5 – From The Bear Camp To Windigo Bay

The second part of the trip (5B) had the potential for some real drama since we paddled out into Lake Nipigon. Making use of a string of islands that stretches from Windigo Bay to Gull Bay, we spent three days on the lake before hitting the mainland at Echo Rock near Jackfish Island. We returned to Hwy 599 via the Wabinosh River. On the way, we looked for a reported WWII prisoner-of-war camp a local had told us about before the start of the trip.

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5B. Windigo Bay To Echo Rock and Up To Waweig Lake

The NW Corner of Lake Nipigon: Windigo Bay To Echo Rock to Waweig Lake

Canoeing From Lake Nipigon’s Echo Rock To Waweig Lake

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6. Wabakimi’s Upper Ogoki River: From Top To Bottom (Almost!)

In July of 2021, we were dropped off by an MLO Beaver in Endogoki Lake, the headwaters lake of the Ogoki River. Our plan was to paddle all the way down to the Waboose Dam at the east end of the Ogoki Reservoir before following the redirected upper Ogoki’s water down the Little Jackfish. As the first couple of posts below reveal, we experienced some “challenges” during the first few days! They were followed by a week and a half of drama-free paddling down the Ogoki to the Waboose Dam and on to the Little Jackfish.

We now have some new Wabakimi highlights to add to our post on A Paddler’s List of Wabakimi’s Top Six Scenic Spots!

the Upper Ogoki from its Endogoki Lake headwaters to the Waboose Diversion Dam

The Ogoki River From Top To Bottom

Bushwhacking The Ogoki Headwaters: Endogoki Lake Days 1 & 2

Bushwhacking The Ogoki Headwaters: Days 3, 4, and 5

A Two-Day Paddle Across the Ogoki’s Whitewater Lake

Down The Ogoki – From Above Ogoki Falls To Whiteclay Lake’s NE Arm

Down The Ogoki – From Whiteclay Lake (NE Arm) To The Ogoki Reservoir (Two Mile Bay)

Canoeing The Ogoki Reservoir: From Eight Flume Falls to “Moose Crossing”

Canoeing The Ogoki Reservoir – From “Moose Crossing” To The Waboose Dam

Paddling The Ogoki Reservoir From Waboose Dam To South Summit Dam

Paddling Down The Little Jackfish River From The Summit Dam To Zigzag Lake

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September 2023

7A. DownThe Savant River To East Pashkokogan Lake

Maps and Information (Rapids, Portages, Campsites, etc.)

Day-By-Day Details

Day 1: Jutten Lake
Day 2: Halfway Down Savant Lake
Day 3: Down Savant Lake’s North Arm
Day 4: Into Jabez Lake
Day 5: Jabez to Savant Falls
Day 6: Savant Falls To Velos Lake
Day 7: Velos Lake to McCrae Lake
Day 8: McCrae Lake to East Pashkokogan

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7B. From East Pashkokogan Lake To Kenoji Lake Via The Misehkow & Palisade Rivers

Posted in Pictographs of the Canadian Shield, wilderness canoe tripping | Tagged Albany rapids, Best of Wabakimi paddling, Best Wabakimi canoeing, Misehkow moose, top places in Wabakimi, Wabakimi Cliff Lake, Wabakimi highlights, Wabakimi Kopka River | 23 Comments

Pix Of Tasmania’s East Coast – Hobart to St. Helens

Posted on 2016-04-10 by true_north

This gallery contains 41 photos.

Finally – the first batch of pix of my ’round Tasmania bike ride. These come from the first week and cover the route up Tassie’s east coast from Hobart. Rolling countryside, farm fields, and beaches, beaches, beaches – an enjoyable … Continue reading →

More Galleries | Tagged Tasmania east coast beaches, Tasmania east coast cycling | 5 Comments

Doin’ Time In Van Diemen’s Land- Tasmania By Bicycle!

Posted on 2016-02-23 by true_north

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The Story Behind The Island’s Name

I’m off to do some time – four weeks’ worth – in Van Diemen’s Land – and it won’t be a punishment! The island – someone cleverly called it “the land down under The Land Down Under” – was named Van Diemen’s Land in honour of the governor of the Dutch East Indies by the Dutch sailor Abel Tasman. He and his crew landed on the east coast in 1642.

Click on the More options prompt in the top left box for a full-screen view.

3200 km by air from Perth to Sydney

It was the British who established the first colony – a convict settlement – on the island in 1822; it was their second colony in Australia, following the founding of Sydney in 1788.

Until 1853 Van Diemen’s Land – and especially the Tasman Peninsula – would serve as the ultimate banishment for convicts from Great Britain and Ireland. [I had no idea of the history behind a U2 song titled “Van Diemen’s Land” on the Rattle and Hum album until I started reading up for this trip! Here is a YouTube clip of Edge singing it in a live performance back in the 1980s.]

Hold me now, oh hold me now
’til this hour has gone around
And I’m gone on the rising tide
For to face Van Diemen’s land

It’s a bitter pill I swallow here
To be rent from one so dear
We fought for justice and not for gain
But the magistrate sent me away

In 1854 its name was changed to Tasmania, thus honouring the Dutch sea captain who first set European eyes on it. To no surprise, the indigenous people who were already there did not fare well at all. These days the island’s nickname is Tas or Tassie and it is one of Australia’s seven states, separated from the mainland by the 240-kilometer-wide Bass Strait.

Wineglass Bay on the East Coast – see here for web source

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Why Cycle Tasmania?

Maybe it has something to do with islands? My three-week Cuba trip in January 2011 was followed by a great ride on New Zealand’s South Island in February 2013.

The Roads of Cuba’s Oriente: The View From My Bicycle Saddle

The Roads of Cuba’s Oriente- The View From My Bicycle Saddle

Bicycling New Zealand: Part 1 – The Logistics Of A 3-Week Trip On South Island

Bicycling South Island New Zealand: Part One – Planning A Three-Week Route

Sri Lanka was a planned early 2014 trip until I remembered the 30ºC + temperatures in Cuba! When an avid cycle-touring friend returned from Sri Lanka and noted that the state of the roads and the traffic volume would make for a very unpleasant ride, I ended up joining a small group of fellow walkers instead. We spent a couple of weeks hiking the island’s hill country. (See here for the first of the Sri Lanka posts!) The few cyclists I saw did not make me think I wanted to be on the road with them!

The Richmond Bridge – built in the 1820’s. I’ll be cycling over it on Day 2 on the way to Triabunna and the East Coast.

Tasmania – another island and one of the world’s great bicycle touring destinations. I had not really considered it because of the 27 to 30 hours to get there. However, having done the flight to Christchurch, NZ, I figured Hobart wasn’t that much further. When my brother reminded me that it was still less than the 2000 kilometers and 36 hours it took us to drive from Toronto to Red Lake, Ontario for the start of a canoe trip, my mind was made up!

YYZ-LAX-MEL-HBA

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What Makes Tasmania A Great Cycling Destination

Put the time to get there on one side of the scale; on the other side you find these points:

stunning and varied scenery – from beaches to rainforests and mountains all packed into an area the size of Sri Lanka, Ireland, or Iceland
an excellent road system, little heavy-duty traffic, and good secondary roads to choose from
a low population – 515,000 in all, of which maybe 40% live in the Greater Hobart Area and 75,000 in Launceston at the north end of the island
an excellent tourism infrastructure – motels, backpackers (i.e. youth hostels), many caravan parks and campgrounds.
a temperate climate with low humidity
March in the southern hemisphere is like our September; it is the tail end of summer with the students back in school

It’s easy to see why Tas gets the rave reviews it does from bicyclists who make the journey to get there!

Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain – image source here – I hope to do the six-hour return walk to the summit on a day off the saddle

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Route Planning

Since Tasmania is a popular bike touring choice, it’s easy to find information on the net to help with planning. I’ve spent some time at the Bicycle Network Tasmania website and its many links to yet other sites. It is a very thorough site with everything you could want to plan your own route.

There are many trip reports out there. One I looked at was the Travelling Two website belonging to a Canadian couple (Friedel and Andrew) – the post is “Cycling Tasmania”. The Cycle Traveller’s blog has a post titled “Cycle touring Tasmania: the easily distracted way” which provides some useful tips and suggestions. Google “Tasmania bicycle tour” and you’ll find a dozen more that merit mention.

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Renting The Bicycle in Hobart

As I did for the N.Z. bike trip, I’ll leave my bike at home and rent one there. Given the $140. to get the boxed bike to the airport in Toronto and then back home, as well as the $200. ($100. each way) charged for oversized sports equipment, I was already looking at about $340. to take my own bike. Still a question mark is what sort of condition the bike would be in after five sets of baggage handlers were finished with it. I still remember going shopping in Vancouver for a new front wheel shortly after arrival from Toronto thanks to the damage the baggage guys did to my bike that time. Renting a bike in Hobart is the way to go!

The Neck on Bruny Island – I’ll be cycling across to a south-end campsite

I found my ride at longhaultasmania.com.au. I did consider the rental bikes at Green Island Tours but in the end felt more comfortable going with a true touring bicycle instead of a hybrid with its straight handlebars and more compact frame. The choice cost me an extra $200., to be expected since at a retail price of AUD 2000. the touring bike sells for perhaps double the price of the hybrid. You do get what you pay for!

For AUD 650. I have three and a half weeks’ use of a premium touring road bike, the Surly Long Haul Trucker. Included are the front and rear pannier racks, though I am not expecting the front racks to look exactly like the ones in the image below. It will be the first time I use a bike with 26″ wheels as opposed to the usual (for me) 700C. The consensus seems to be that, given the same number of spokes (usually 32 on a touring wheel), the smaller wheels are stronger. Not that I expect to be doing a lot of off-tarmac riding – Bruny Island may be the one section where I face some dirt road.

Surly LHT 26″ wheels and pannier racks …web-sourced image – see here

I will be bringing my own panniers – the two smaller front ones and the two rear ones – as well as a handlebar bag. I try to spread the weight out with a third in the front and the rest in the back. Amazingly, the weight of the bags alone is 4.6 kilograms (ten pounds)! My goal is to keep the total weight of the bags + contents down to about forty pounds.

Strahan Harbour – photo /credit to Owen Hughes – I’ll be spending a day off the saddle here, maybe doing nothing or maybe taking a boat or plane ride along the coast

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The Itinerary

East Coast

Day 01 (March 6) Hobart 50 km Richmond
Day 02 Richmond 59km Orford
Day 03 Orford 56km Swansea
Day 04 Swansea 43km Bicheno
Day 05 Bicheno 76km St Helens
Day 06 St. Helens 98km Scottsdale
Day 07 Scottsdale 67km Launceston

West Coast

Day 08 (March 13) Launceston 53km Beauty Point
Day 09 Beauty Point 73km Ulverstone
Day 10 Ulverstone 78km Cradle Mountain
Day 11 Cradle Mountain hiking trails
Day 12 Cradle Mtn 75km Rosebery
Day 13 Rosebery 73km Stahan
Day 14 Strahan rest day
Day 15 (March 20) Strahan 41km Queenstown
Day 16 Queenstown 85km Derwent Bridge
Day 17 Derwent Br 51km Tarraleah
Day 18 Tarraleah 53km Hamilton
Day 19 Hamilton 80km Hobart
Day 20 Hobart 65km Cygnet
Day 21 Cygnet 80km Adventure Bay
Day 22 (March 27) Advent Bay 83km Hobart
Day 23 cycling to the top of Wellington Mountain from Hobart

Overall total: about 1400 km over 23 days

Tasmania East Coast – pic source here – a slice of my first few days on the road

I have booked accommodation in Hobart for the first three nights as my body gets over the 16-hour time change and is in the air or in airports for over a day. My tent, as well as a sleeping bag and Thermarest air pad, are coming along. My cook gear will be left behind; I’ll use the facilities in the backpackers’ kitchens instead.

I will make a concerted effort to keep it vegan. Along with the few food items I am bringing with me, local food markets and the occasional Indian or Thai restaurant will hopefully keep me fueled. At worst, I’ll lose a bit of weight – maybe as much as the 15 pounds I lost last September on our Trans-Cordillera Real trek in Bolivia!

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The Spot Connect

iPhone and SPOT Connect

My Spot Connect, a GPS tracking and communication device, is coming along for the ride. My brother and I have been using it for our northern Ontario canoe trips for the past five years and its SOS button is reassuring to have in case of emergencies. (Not that you’d ever want to use that button!) It also sends your location marker every ten minutes via satellite to a server, which then posts it on a website which the folks back home can monitor my where=abouts. Tasmania is hardly a wilderness canoe trip but the signals will start being recorded on March 6 as I head for the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary and Richmond on Day 1 of my Tour de Tasmanie.

Meanwhile, I’ll be watching out – especially on nights when I am tenting! – for a possible visit by these grumpy little “devils”!

See here for the image source – I hope to have my own Tasmanian Devil photo to insert here soon!

Update: If only there were so many Tasmanian Devils that one or two would be peeking into my tent at a caravan park! The reality is that the species is on the verge of extinction thanks to a facial cancer that has reduced its number to about 10,000. I did see a couple at the Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary.

Unfortunately, I saw far too many more – along with wallabies, pademelons, possums, and wombats – as roadkill on the roads I cycled. I remain unconvinced by the argument that this is a positive sign that the populations of these animals are healthy.

You can access the pix and maps of my actual bike trip beginning with these posts- they will take you up the scenic east coast to St. Helens.

A Day-By-Day Report On The Ride

Pix of Tasmania’s East Coast – From Hobart To St. Helens

Pix Of Tasmania’s East Coast – Hobart to St. Helens

Day One – From Hobart To Richmond Via Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary

Cycling Around Tasmania: Day 1 – From Hobart To Richmond Via Bonorong

Day Two – From Richmond To Triabunna

Cycling Around Tasmania: Day 2 – From Richmond to Triabunna

Day Three – From Triabunna To Swansea

Cycling Around Tasmania: Day 3 – From Triabunna To Swansea

Day Four – From Swansea To Bicheno

Cycling Around Tasmania: Day 4 – Swansea To Bicheno

Day Five: From Bicheno To St. Helens

Cycling Around Tasmania: Day 5 – From Bicheno To St. Helens

Day Eight – From Launceston To Deloraine

Cycling Around Tasmania – Launceston To Deloraine

Day Nine – From Deloraine To Gowrie Park Via Sheffield

Cycling Around Tasmania – From Deloraine To Gowrie Park via Sheffield

Day Ten – From Gowrie Park To Cradle Mountain

Cycling Around Tasmania – Gowrie Park To Cradle Mountain

Day Eleven – A Day Off the Saddle: Rambling Around Dove Lake

Cycling Around Tasmania – Rest Day at Dove Lake & Cradle Mountain

Day Twelve: Cradle Mountain To Zeehan

Cycling Around Tasmania – Cradle Mountain to Zeehan

Zeehan to Queenstown Via Strahan

Cycling Around Tasmania – Zeehan To Queenstown Via Strahan

Bicycling From Hobart To Bruny Island

Bicycling From Hobart To Bruny Island

Posted in Tasmania | Tagged #1 bicycle tour, reasons to bicycle Tasmania, Surly long haul Tasmania, Tasmania bicycle tour, Tasmania touring bike rental, why bicycle tasmania | 5 Comments

A Winter Morning’s Ramble Up the Don Valley & Moore Park Ravine

Posted on 2016-02-10 by true_north

Previous Post: January 12, 2016 – Viggo Goes For A Walk As Snow Blankets Toronto’s Riverdale

Viggo and I set off at nine this morning. A very light covering of snow and a temperature around 0ºC promised to make for a very pleasant walk. We headed for our customary a.m. ramble – a walk down the Broadview hill to the Riverdale footbridge.

My Fuji X10 came along; it hasn’t seen much use in the past three years as I have turned to various Sony cameras, both DSLR and compact to capture my pix. They all have aps-c sensors as opposed to a much smaller sensor in the Fuji.

The Sonys produce sharper images and have none of the post-processing issues associated with the raw files from the Fuji X10. On the plus side, the X10 is a bit more compact and it has an excellent built-in Fujinon lens with a 28 to 112 mm zoom. It is also a beautiful camera to look at and it is just fun to use.

From Broadview Avenue, the Don Valley stretches from south (on the left side of the pic) to the north. When we got down to the footbridge, I decided we’d go down into the valley itself for our walk instead of our usual walk along the fence up to the Adult Learning Center. The snow covering meant that there would be less bicycle traffic down there – a good thing given Viggo’s chase drive.

the Lower Don Valley and downtown Toronto from Broadview Avenue

From the green footbridge, I looked over to the off-leash dog area in Riverdale Park East. A dozen or so dogs were at play. We went down the steps of the bridge to the trail on the banks of the Don River and headed north.

Riverdale Park West off-leash dog area

a shot of the Don from the trail footbridge

the rail tressle as it crosses the Don near the Riverdale Footbridge

the rail trestle as it crosses the Don near the Riverdale Footbridge

As we walked up the valley – Viggo off leash and free to check out things he figured needed to be – I decided that we’d take advantage of a beautiful day and walk all the way to the Brickworks area and up the Mud Creek Trail to Moore Avenue. It is perhaps my favourite city walk.

Given the total absence of sunshine in any of my pix, you’ll probably be wondering what was so alluring about the mostly brown and white scenery we got to be in for the morning! The thing that makes me smile is that we are walking near the downtown area of an urban sprawl of six million and often are able to forget that fact!

a flooded area just off the Lower Don Valley Trail

the Bloor Street Viaduct – looking back south

the Don River just before it goes under Bayview Avenue

the Don River just before it goes under Pottery Road

Once at Pottery Road, we headed west to Bayview Avenue and then via a short-cut, up to the ridge over-looking the cavity created over a 75-year timespan by the Don Valley Brickworks. The view from there is always a “wow”. Down below is the Brickworks and the three artificial ponds created about 20 years ago when the city turned it into a park and bird sanctuary. On the horizon is downtown T.O. The overcast and somewhat hazy conditions this morning gave it a special feel.

looking south – the grand view of Toronto from the Brickworks lookout

a view of downtown T.O. from above the Brickworks

From the ridge it was down to the Mud Creek Trail, taking some time to frame a few shots of the creek as Viggo sniffed around. It was the water from this creek which, when mixed with the top-grade clay deposit closer to the Brickworks, provided the ingredients for the bricks that (it is said) built half of Toronto back in the day. Now Mud Creek flows down into the artificial ponds and then continues on its way to the Don River a bit to the south.

Mud Creek just above the Brickworks ponds

As we walked under the train trestle in the pic below, a CPR train happened to rumble overhead. Unlike a number of the other tracks we walked over or under, this set is still at work!

the rail tressle crossing Moore Park ravine

the rail trestle crossing Moore Park ravine

a stretch of Mud Creek near Moore Avenue

Viggo following some racoon tracks along Mud Creek

Viggo checking out some raccoon tracks along Mud Creek

homes overlooking the Moore Park Ravine

As we came up to the north end of our walk, I noticed a number of trees with red dots on them. I have seen similar markings on some trees in our neighbourhood. I figured it meant they were to be removed because they were dead. I would soon find out the full reason.

back down the trail from Moore Avenue

driftwood frozen in a Moore Park ravine pond

Ash Tree Removal Sign – Now I Understand the red dots!

A full explanation of the red dots in front of me, I still had to laugh at the urgency given to the project by the City. The planned start reads “August 14, 2015”. The City workers’ motto of “as much as we have to, as little as we can” came to mind as I calculated how much behind schedule they were.

Moore Avenue at the top of the ravine trail

Looking at my GPS watch I noticed that we had walked six kilometers since starting out. In front of us was Moore Avenue. Behind the houses is Mount Pleasant Cemetery. We would not be exploring that world on this walk! Back down the trail we went, meeting again the dog walkers and their critters that we had met on the way up.

fellow dog walkers and their dogs down in the Moore Park Ravine

the Brickworks ponds and trails

a view of the way back home from the top of the Brickworks

a view of the way back home from the ridge to the north of the Brickworks

We connected to the Lower Don Bike Trail on the west side of Pottery Road and redid our tracks all the way back home – as the sign indicates, a three-kilometer distance. There were definitely more signs of traffic on the path since we had come up earlier – two bike tire tracks! We would eventually see one cyclist making his way downtown. Viggo was on leash as he sped by.

the Lower Don Valley Trail at Pottery Road – 3 km to home!

Viggo notices the ducks in the Don

the Don River on its way to Lake Ontario

There was a bit of action down in the river that Viggo wanted to check out – a small gathering of ducks seemed to require some herding and he was keen to get the job done. Luckily his treat drive was stronger and he soon came running back to me instead of getting into deep trouble.

same shot as above – done in portrait orientation

the no-longer-in-use rail tressle over the Don

the no-longer-in-use rail trestle over the Don

An article on the Brickworks informed me that a massive hobos’ camp was situated just south of the Brickworks in the depths of the 1930’s Great Depression. Hundreds of men camped out on the west side of the Don not far from the pillar in the pic above.

an area of the trail affected by flooding – i.e. bank erosion

We did a small detour to check out the campers in the tent below. The people had been there a month ago. The voices inside again assured me that they were doing okay; they told me this camping trip was only until they were found an apartment.

Viggo checks out the Don Valley camper

a bend in the Don River north of the Riverdale footbridge

Viggo checks out Mr. Beaver’s handiwork

looking west from the trail towards St. James Cemetery

And that was our morning walk. In the pic below you can see those red dots on the ash trees in the wooded area on the east side of the Don River. On top of the snow bank runs Broadview Avenue and the final two-minute walk to our front door.

River Park East and the red dots on the ash trees

Viggo had a well-deserved nap when we got home and, for a couple of hours, he was pretty relaxed. By mid-afternoon, we had played indoor “fetch” and some tug games. He would get another walk before this day ended – a short thirty-minute spin around the neighbourhood – another day in the life of our dawg!

the stats on my morning walk with Viggo

If you want to plan your own Lower Don Valley Trail/Moore Park walk, here is the Google Maps link! A dog is optional! There is public transit to the Brickworks as well as a shuttle bus that takes you up to Broadview Station if you want to do just a part of what Viggo and I covered.

Info and a map of the Mud Creek ravine can be accessed at the lostrivers.ca website here. To me, the ravine is one of Toronto’s hidden treasures. I vaguely recall reading that it figures in one or two of Margaret Atwood’s novels.

The lostrivers.ca website mentioned above also has a page on the Don River section between Pottery Road and Riverdale. Well-researched and readable, access it here. I did email a “thank you” for the work that someone put into all the material at the site but it may be that nobody is home! The most recent date I found was 2006 – ten years ago. Still, what is out there for us to read and use is appreciated.

Evergreen Brickworks

The Brickworks itself may be worth a visit. This Wikipedia article – here – provides useful background info. So does their own website…

Posted in Ramblin' With Viggo, Toronto | Tagged ash tree removal program, Lower Don Valley Trail, Moore Ravine rail tressle, Mud Creek Trail, Toronto dog walks, Valley Brickworks Toronto | 3 Comments

A Traveller’s Guide To La Paz, Bolivia

Posted on 2016-02-08 by true_north

Previous Post: Getting Real High In Bolivia – La Paz, Lake Titicaca and the Cordillera Real

There are lots of reasons to make a trip to Bolivia. Check out The Lonely Planet’s Bolivia guide-book and the following pop up as some of the top places you must see and experience –

Salar de Uyuni (the world’s largest salt flat)
Tiwanaku (many other spellings including Tiahuanacu)
Lake Titicaca
Isla del Sol
Sucre
Potosi
the Jesuit Missions
the Cordillera Real

Add one more one incredible place to the list – the city of La Paz. It will be your probable entry point to Bolivia if you are flying in and it may be on your path if you are travelling from Cusco or Santa Cruz. Actually, you will land in El Alto, a sprawling Aymara community some ten kilometers away and 600 vertical meters above La Paz. The satellite image below sets the stage but really does not convey the total “wow” of what you will see.

satellite shot of El Alto-La Paz

As you leave the airport for your La Paz hotel room you will look down into a gorge cut into the high plains of north-western Bolivia and there it is – La Ciudad de Nuestra Señora de La Paz (The City of Our Lady of Peace)! And if the view of the office towers and the homes of a million people built on opposite slopes of the valley doesn’t take your breath away, then the 4000-meter altitude certainly will!

a view of La Paz from El Alto

Then it is down to the city where for the first couple of days the plan is to take it easy while your body acclimatizes to the higher altitude that it finds itself in. (I came from Toronto at 100 meters above sea level!) Eventually, you will be feeling up to seeing other nearby sites that make La Paz the base camp for many excellent excursions. (I’ve put those sites in bold in the list above.) But first, you can explore a dynamic and fascinating city with its unique blend of indigenous and Spanish cultures and its many layers of sometimes tortured history.

If you want to get a sense of the city and its people, keep on scrolling! What follows is a list of Things To See And Do that will make sure that your time is not wasted!

1. Walk Down La Paz’s Main Street

During my one week in La Paz, I stayed at two hotels – The Hotel Rosario on Calle Illampu at the top end of the map and the El Rey Palace Hotel down near the bottom. La Paz’s main street is the yellow ribbon that runs down the map. It has different names as you walk south-east from the Plaza in front of San Francisco Church.

view of the plaza in front of Iglesia de San Francisco

For the first part it is Avenida Mariscal Santa Cruz; then around Calle Colombia, it becomes Avenida 16 de Julio. Locals refer to this stretch, lined with trees, as El Prado. After this stretch it takes on yet another name – Avenida Villazón – before splitting into two streets, the southbound Avenida 6 de Agosto and the northbound Avenida Arca! By this time you are in the neighbourhood known as Sopochachi. Whatever name it is wearing, this 1.5-kilometer walk makes for a great introduction to the city. It also gives you some light exercise as you acclimatize to the altitude.

street vendor on a side street near San Francisco Church

the crosswalk in front of Iglesia de San Francisco on Avenida Mariscal Santa Cruz

Av. Mariscal Santa Cruz

While La Paz does not run with the efficiency of Zurich or Toronto, it is also far from the chaos of Delhi or Calcutta. There are traffic lights which people obey; pedestrians appear to have rights; things are pretty tidy and there is relatively little graffiti; the air is free of the smell of human waste and there are no running sewers on the sides of the street.

Trying to make something like this work for a million people at 3500 meters (11500 feet) above sea level is a challenge that los Paceños seem to be meeting – and Bolivia is far from South America’s richest country. Perhaps I came with low expectations but I must say I was quite impressed with Bolivia’s capital city.

Admittedly you won’t find the river that created and apparently still flows down this valley from the Altiplano. Called the Rio Choqueyapu, what is left of the river is buried in concrete beneath the streets and is heavily polluted. In colonial times, it served as the natural border between the Spanish, who established a commercial and political district on the east side of the river, while the west side was the location of the already-there indigenous community.

Echoes of this division can be felt to this day. However, a decade of Evo Morales has made for a significant change in the place of the Aymara and Quechua in the cultural landscape of the capital city.

I walked down this stretch of the main street more than once during my stay as the variable weather illustrated in the images will show! I was there in September and it rained on three of the 25 days I spent in La Paz and on a trek in the nearby Cordillera Real.

El Prado near La Plaza del Estudiante

As you walk down the street it transitions into a broad avenue with a tree-lined pedestrian walkway down the middle as well as sidewalks on each side of the street. I got to walk it in the rain one day; I returned on a Sunday to find no vehicular traffic at all – it had been turned over completely to walkers!

the pedestrian walk down the middle of El Prado

It made for a relaxed and very festive atmosphere. I was especially impressed by the numbers of dogs on leashes. While I did see a few stray dogs in my rambles around the area, most seemed to have owners. Compared to the packs of stray and often lame and hurting dogs I came across in the towns of southern Patagonia, this looked to be doggie heaven!

La Plaza del Estudiante on El Prado in La Paz

dogs - not stray! - at Plazea del Estudiante in La Paz

dogs – not stray! – at Plaza del Estudiante in La Paz

the water fountain at La Plaza del Estudiante in La Paz

another view of the water fountain at La Paz’s Plaza del Estudiante

After I moved down from the Hotel Rosario at the top end of El Prado to the El Rey Palacio Hotel near the Plaza del Estudiante, I got a nice view of the Plaza from my hotel room. In the image below you can see it – the small patch of green – in the middle left.

yet another view - the buildings around Plaza del Estudiante in La Paz

the view of La Plaza del Estudiante from my hotel room

Plaza Antonio José de Sucre just below Plaza del Estudiante

I only ventured a few blocks south of the Plaza on my visit – the pix below show some of what caught my eye. Beyond the neighbourhood called Sopochachi is the upscale district of Zona Sur – a significant 500 meters lower in altitude than uptown La Paz! A bit further down the valley and you get to attractions like the Muela del Diablo and the Valle de la Luna. Maybe next time I’ll get down there!

the square below the statue of Antonio José de Sucre

El Prado and La Paz as seen from Killi Killi Mirador

a view of La Paz’s downtown from Mirador Killi Killi

side street art off Avendia Arce SE of the Surcre statue

side street art off Avenida Arce SE of the Sucre equestrian statue

the mural closer up – lots of symbolism for sure!

Above is a piece of very dramatic and surrealistic street art. Snow-capped Illimani and the condor with a Mi Teleférico car in his claws and white tigers and a clown who seems quite pleased with the scene – what is going on here? Let me know if you can “read” this image!

A Reader’s Comment: Two notes about the graffitti: these are not white tigers, are zebras that in the last 15 years helped people to learn about traffic education and became a ‘personaje tipico’ de La Paz. You can experience it being A Zebra for a Day, next time you gotta try, it’s fun! And the ‘clown’ is another typical personaje of La Paz, is called Pepino and is the protagonist of the carnival in La Paz, it has some relation with european harlequin.

a view of Parque Urbano Central and Miraflores Norte from Avenida Arce

La Paz street art – a world of women

a delapidated building at the top of Avenida Arce in La Paz

a dilapidated building at the top of Avenida Arce in La Paz

Not far from Plaza del Estudiante is the campus of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés. The simplistic Ché Guevara billboard message meant to ignite the status-quo-challenging nature of nineteen-year-olds at the university also fits in with the political orientation of the current Morales government. The full quote goes like this:

Toda nuestra acción es un grito de guerra contra el imperialismo y un clamor por la unidad de los pueblos contra el gran enemigo del género humano: los Estados Unidos de Norteamérica.

The Poster Boy on the campus of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA)

Ché – The Revolution’s Poster Boy on the campus of the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (UMSA)

Without a doubt there is much to see as you walk down La Paz’s main street; it makes for a great introduction to this two-mile high city in the Andes.

2. Plaza Murillo

Plaza Murillo is a one hundred meter square set in the old colonial centre of the city. Arranged around the square are the symbols of State and religious power – the National Assembly, the Presidential Palace, and the Cathedral. It is a short walk uphill from the Avenida Mariscal de Santa Cruz. On your way up Calles Socabaya or Ayacucho, you pass by many government buildings and commercial towers housing banks and the head offices of other major enterprises. Also prominent are the high-end hotels frequented by the visiting politicians and business people who have come to make their deals.

From Plaza San Francisco to Palza Murillo

Iglesia de San Francisco to Plaza Murillo

From afar the square is not even visible. The shot below was taken from the scenic lookout Killi Killi. You can see the domed tops of the Cathedral and of the National Assembly but the green space in front of them is hidden from view.

La Catedral and Plaza Murillo from Killi Killi

Once you get there, it is a different story! The plaza is alive with locals and visitors from afar. Vendors sell ice cream from under their umbrella-covered carts. Pigeons cover the main terrace while people watch or feed them. Sitting here for a while and watching la Paz go by is a great way to spend part of a morning or afternoon in La Paz.

pigeons and passers by at Plaza Murill in La Paz

pigeons and passers-by at Plaza Murillo in La Paz

On on side of the square is the National Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional), the national seat of government. it is done up, as are the other major building around the square, in the neo-classic style that seems to exude stability and power! In the photo below it sits to the right of a dilapidated building badly in need of some renovation.

delapidated buidling next to the National Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional)

a dilapidated building next to the National Assembly (Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional)

Plaza Murillo with Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional and Palacio Quemado (the Presidential Palace)

Plaza Murillo with Asamblea Legislativa Plurinacional (the National Assembly) and Palacio Quemado (The Presidential Palace)

In the centre of the square is a statue of Pedro Domingo Murillo, one of the early fighters for Bolivian independence from Spain. He was hanged in the square in 1810 after the rebellion failed. He is looking toward the Presidential Palace and on his right is the Cathedral.

La Catedral at Plaza Murillo

La Catedral on Plaza Murillo La Paz

door panels of Plaza Murillo Catedral – La Paz

interior shot – La Catedral at Plaza Murillo – austere is the word!

The first time I visited the Plaza Murillo it was a sleepy weekday morning; the sun was out and so were the pigeons and the strollers. I enjoyed it so much I went back a second time on a Saturday. Unknown to me, that morning a major event was being hosted in the square in honour of Bartolina Sisa.

main speaker at the Bartolina Sisi comemmoration at Plaza Murillo

Aymara speakers in front of a painting of Bartolina Sisa

Of course, I had never heard of her before and only understood some of what was going on. I had to google her name later on that day to get the full story. It turns out that she was an Aymara woman and the wife of Tupac Katari. Here is how Wikipedia summarizes her importance –

Together with her husband, she led an indigenous uprising against the Spanish in Bolivia at the head of an army of some 40,000 which laid siege to the city of La Paz in 1781. Katari and Sisa set up court in El Alto and their army maintained the siege for 184 days, from March to June and from August to October. Sisa was a commander of the siege, and played the crucial role following Katari’s capture in April. The siege was broken by colonial troops who advanced from Lima andBuenos Aires.^[2]

Bartolina Sisa was captured and executed by the Spanish on September 5, 1782.^[1] She was hanged after being publicly humiliated in the Colonial Square (now Plaza Murillo), beaten and raped. Once dead, the Spanish cut her body into pieces, showed her head in public to intimidate the natives, and sent her limbs to be exhibited in different villages.

In her honour, the 5th of September was instituted as the International Day of the Indigenous Women since 1983.

In spite of my ignorance of the details of Sisa’s life and death, I was moved to tears as I stood on the front steps of the Cathedral and watched the commemoration and the parade of delegates from various communities from the Altiplano and the Yungas.

The Aymara and Quechua campesinas there were certainly not members of Bolivia’s privileged class and yet in their faces I read a resilience and a determination. And also a dignity and a pride in who they were and of those who had come before them. Prominently displayed was the Aymara flag, the Wiphala.

Plaza Murillo and National Assembly on Bertolina Sisi Day

looking into the front door of the presidential palace – Murillo Plaza La Paz

One significant change thanks to Evo Morales is the greater recognition of the place of Bolivia’s indigenous people. I was half-expecting him to come walking out of the Palace down the corridor pictured above to join the crowd in the Plaza Murillo!

some of the hundreds of women at the comemmoration ceremony

some of the hundreds of women at the commemoration ceremony

delegation in the march-past with Bertolina Sisi banner

delegation in the march-past with Bertolina Sisa banner

Plaza Murillo comes to life!

campesina delegates in front of the Presidential Palace at Plaza Murillo

delegates with the Aymara flag, the Withal at a Bartolina Sisa commemoration

delegates with the Wiphala at a Bartolina Sisa commemoration

long line of delegations in the parade at Plaza Murillo

You may not get to be there for the same event I did on my second visit to the Plaza Murillo, but you can be sure to leave with your own positive memories. It is definitely worth an hour of your time.

Nearby are the National Art Museum (under renovation when I was there) and the Museo Nacional de Etnografia y Folklore. The 90 minutes I spent there was another highlight of my stay in La Paz. Click on the title to see some trip advisor reviews. (It scores a 4.5/5.)

Next Post: soon to be uploaded! More Things To See and Do In La Paz

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Table of Contents:

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Shiva Devale No. 2

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The Pabalu Vihara Area:

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The Three Rulers of Polonnaruwa’s Golden Age

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The Rankot Vihara

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Alahana Pirivena

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Lankatilaka:

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Kiri Vihara

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The Gal Vihara Buddha(s)

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A Visitor’s Tip – Hire A Taxi For the Tour!

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My Other Sri Lanka Cultural Triangle Posts

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Table of Contents:

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The Sinhalese Cultural Triangle

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Logistics: The Best Way To Visit The Site

What I Did –

What I Should Have Done:

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UNESCO Video – Overview of the Site

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Pothgul Vehera:

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The Citadel Area:

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The Remains of Parakramabahu’s Palace

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The Council Chamber

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The Royal Baths (Kumara Pokuna)

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Dalada Maluwa (The Quadrangle)

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The Vatadage (Circular Relic House)

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The Hatadage

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The Satmahal Prasada

Useful Sources of Information

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2018 Peak Bloom – May 9 to 12 (see here)

2017 Peak Bloom – Not Quite There On April 23!

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See also –

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The Wabakimi Canoe Area – Overview with Maps

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Getting Hooked On Wabakimi:

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Our Wabakimi Top Six:

1. Cliff Lake on the Pikitigushi River System:

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2. The Kopka River – The “Seven Sisters” Section

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3. The Albany From Upper Eskakwa to Snake Falls

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4. The Misehkow River

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5. The Palisade River