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| Sunday, 19 October 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Romantic Closenburg Seven thousand cricket-crazy British tourists will converge on Galle in a few weeks time for the England tour of Sri Lanka. The 150-years-old British built palatial Closenburg Hotel has received several confirmed bookings for the period, says the General Manager Dayal Fernando. by Southern star
The Closenburg afternoon was deepening into evening and from our private balcony we looked down on the softly lapping waters of the famous bay where a lone fisherman had it all to himself-casting his line and swimming when he felt like it. The shadows of the coconut palms fell on the rippling water-a perfect setting for a promising evening in this famous, 150-year-old building on the Dutch fortress on which the sea roars',which is the meaning of Closenburg, as explained in a note, 'Galle, Closenburg and P&O,' by Alan Bolt, Director, P&O containers, London, dated October 1991 which the hotel's genial General Manager Dayal Fernando handed us just before we left.
Built on two and a half acres of land on the fortress itself-you have to climb the fortress to get to the hotel-but it isn't anything like climbing the fortress of Sigiriya (!). Arriving at around lunchtime, the scene was of an emerald islet set in a sapphire sea. The original paving tiles and flooring of the typically colonial verandah looked cool as we entered, out of the sizzling sun and into the cool environs of this showpiece of a colonial resort hotel, if we might call it that. Actually, when the famous shipping company P&O's agent Captain Bayley acquired Closenburg as the Company's station on the island of Ceylon shortly after the P&O ship Hindostan called at Galle initiating a regular service with Europe in the year 1842,he built the present house and with his wife designed the 'delightful gardens.' Alan Bolt says in his note. He goes on: 'He named the house 'Villa Marina' after his wife and the splendid position overlooking the sea,' the P&O director continues. The good old luxury of a bygone era is to be experienced once again in the 20 bedrooms and the dining and leisure areas of the hotel. The original, rich brown cement flooring in the rooms is polished so that you can see your face when you look down. One touch of old-fashioned luxury. Second touch-the soft, cream-coloured mosquito nets; third touch-the polished, wooden dressing tables and, of course, the beds with antique bedheads.
What we liked was that you didn't sink into feather mattresses, and the bed linen was not like laundered parchment as in some star-class hotels, but was soft and body-friendly, as were the blankets. And you had to have blankets because the modern amenity of air-conditioning made it necessary. All rooms have large, attached bathrooms such as they had in the old days but with the latest amenities. Some rooms have a view from the bed of Closenburg bay with the city lights shining through the palm trees on the road side.At the end of our verandah outside the rooms another view of the bay is offered while from the verandah itself you look down on a small, lush side garden and the semi-circular steps leading down into it from what must have been the Bayleys' private rooms. It was also interesting to look down onto the cottages built for those who work as carpenters and gardeners etc. in the hotel. As a soft, pink twilight fell,we sat out in one of the secluded, inner garden areas with a romantic atmosphere. This would not be complete without a comment on the excellent food served at Closenburg. Chef Thanuja applies the psychology on local guests of preparing dishes with which, they are familiar. A delicious fresh fish curry with low-country Sinhala vegetables and the mouth-watering accompaniments made a lunch we enjoyed to the full, followed by fresh fruits. After a more than merely comfortable night under nets, it was a quick breakfast washed down by steaming tea that GM Fernando told us is probably the best in the Southern region. We made a quick visit to the Three Fishes some distance away in a three-wheeler. This enchanting inn cum restaurant is managed by Closenburg Hotel and has the comforting touches of home about it. You walk through the 'house' onto the sandy beach with the sea at touching distance. Close by is another small inn also managed by the hotel where you can really let your hair down, kick your shoes off and do your thing. So when the cricket-crazy Brits descend on Closenburg Hotel in a few weeks' time, they will get a taste of the good old-fashioned luxury they introduced here nearly two centuries ago. |
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