The bitter-sweet Fortress

The paved stone pathway, leading to a giant heavy wooden gate with studded iron bars, and surrounded with sturdy fortification gives you a feeling ‘almost’ like Julius Ceasar entering the Roman empire. You ‘almost’ expect the sentries on duty to open the great barred doors and usher your horse-ridden carriage, past the great fortified barriers.
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But you instantly snap out of your Ceasar like majestic feeling at the entrance itself. The sentries on duty take one look at your skin colour and let you carry your own luggage to the reception where you are ‘almost’ greeted welcomingly. Apartheid lives in this resort hotel, where locals are met with a certain arrogance, surprisingly by the very same coloured skin.

You have just stepped into the Fortress, a luxury boutique hotel located on the sunny, sandy beaches of Koggala, Sri Lanka, and behind its giant doors is an experience that would be ‘almost’ amazing.

So let’s not get bogged down by racist notions.
If you are willing and able to let go of that hint of the colour-bar that lingers in the air in and about the Fortress, it is an experience well worth living.

The stone paved road way extends beyond the great barricade and leads you to a very open verandah, where black marble floors gleaming under yellow lights merge your view with the glistening waters of the swimming pool yonder.

The Fortress, with its Dutch style architecture blended tastefully with Sri Lankan themes is built around a great courtyard overlooking luscious green grass and Araliya trees.
Its long stretches of corridors with slanting white barred roofs and cut cement floors take you back in history, to buildings influenced by the Dutch and Portugese.

There is a choice of dining experiences at this resort hotel. The mouthwatering fares that are whipped up by the chef are exotically in line with the prevalent ambience. Special mention is worthy of the array of mocktails which does wonders to your thirst quenched soul, after a stroll on the sun- kissed beaches just beyond the hotel. The colourful bar is designed in a retro- techno style. Sitting on the see through bubble swings chairs sipping a devillish brew concocted by the barmen is recommended for utmost relaxation.

The pristine white stretches of beach around the Fortress beckons you to dig your toes into the sand, moist with waves that just crashed in. Stilt-poled fishermen dot the horizon, in hope of the catch of the day, ranging from crustaceans and little silver fish that abound the reef.

The reef inhibits the rough tide to reach the shore. As a result of which the sea right beyond the hotel is calm and just right for a dip, under the vigilant scrutiny of the life guard cum pool boy who incidentally is the only non-believer of the prevailing colour-bar.

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