Sri Lanka’s seven greatest wonders from ancient times include a palace to escape death, a dish, a book, and a fortress. But what made them so fundamental – to the nation and the world – as to earn their place in history?

A tree – and a trio of stupas are among ancient Sri Lanka’s greatest wonders. But why are any of these so important – not just to the island, but to the world?

Despite their iconic status, the original seven wonders of the ancient world pale in comparison to the seven wonders of ancient Lanka, the subject of the next three podcasts. But of them all, why include Panda Wewa, a reservoir now lost in the jungle, not from present-day Chilaw?

Rich, salty, earthy, savoury, sharp – gorgonzola is not a cheese common to Sri Lanka, and yet its mere anticipation calls to mind on the island the seven stages of living. And of them all, how can you ever manage to make the last, last? I wake and see two yellow Minivets flying off into the jungle. And, by a dizzy sequence of associations too tiresome to make sense of, my mind is turned almost immediately to thoughts of gorgonzola. Gorgonzola is not an easy cheese to fi

Protected by a necklace of high mountains and surrounded by dense jungle ideal for guerrilla warfare, the Kandyan kingdom’s natural defences helped it withstand repeated invasions. But what was this long-forgotten mountain war, fought for almost 200 years? Hills are, of course, what Kandy is celebrated for - and its most famous city-centre mountain, Bahirawa Kanda, or Gnome Mountain, is home to one of the tallest statues of Lord Buddha. It was once, more memorably, home to

City though it is, Kandy - sequestered within high mountains and deep valleys – has numerous secretive wild pockets of utter bewitchment. But where will you find them – and what will you find when you get there? One of Kandy’s most fantastic secrets is its nature. The city sits in a valley surrounded by five central hills, up which, like an indulgent bubble bath, buildings of later regret have begun to creep. But one side of the city remains nicely protected - UdawaththaKe

Kandy is much more than its city. And in an arc of land that spreads to the north are five places that tell stories of the kingdom that are almost entirely forgotten. What are they, and why do they matter? This episode is dedicated to an arc of land that fans out to the north of Kandy, first connected to the ancient Anuradhapuran kings and their successors, before passing under the control of the Kandyan kingdom, whose own borders ebbed and flowed in response to European

The Vatican City of Sri Lanka, Kandy, is a place built on religion, money, politics, faith, power, morality - and some of the most striking temples anywhere in the world. But which ones should you visit? Kipling believed that to understand a country and its history, you had to smell it. Yet the past is documented in so many other ways - in books, in architecture, in music, or even in food. In Sri Lanka, it is the temples that best hold their story. Even so, their stories,

Kandy’s deeper history is a byzantine tale of kings, caste, money, and religion. Here, history is not dead; not even sleeping or dazed. It is instead ever on the lookout. So what should you look out for? Proper guidebooks to Kandy lay out, in fine anatomical detail, the history, economy, and topography of the place, its sites and services listed in a proper, functioning order. Sadly, this book does not do that. It is an improper guide, the documentation of a personal quest

Despite its understated fame, Galagedera’s high street, like those of most Sri Lankan towns and villages, is booming. As high streets die all around the world, how is it that this one is so alive and well, and bursting with shops, shoppers, services, and action? Retail Therapy in a Tuk Tuk, the subject of this episode, will take you down one of the world’s busiest high streets. And if you wonder about the example chosen – which you may, at first glance, consider ec

Sri Lanka’s auberge actuaries estimate that the island has well over 2,500 hotels. But if you had to stay in just fifty, which ones would you be most blessed to choose from – and why? What modest moral argument there ever is to pick out the best in anything is fatally undermined in this guide, for it presents merely my point of view. No judge, still less a democratically elected jury, is on hand to mediate and amend. The choices are, at worst, biased; at best, whimsical.

Sri Lanka’s fourteen great rivers describe, along their winding courses, the whole history of the island, throughfares crammed with remembered journeys, feasts, technology, alliances, nature, gems, spices and religion. What are the stories they might tell us today? Sri Lanka’s 14 great rivers offer a rarely explored opportunity to unearth its history and its most excellent dishes - morish reminders that rivers, being all about life, prove there is no better way to experie

Who are the gods and ghosts that can still be heard whispering in this little-visited town on Sri Lanka’s eastern seaboard? Gods, Ghosts & and the faintest haunting of historical whispers of what was and - just about - still is, is the subject of this podcast, which delves beneath Trincomalee on Sri Lanka’s eastern seaboard. Haunted might be too strong a word for Trincomalee – but by any measure, the town, like the country, has more than its fair share of ghosts. And plen