TRAIN FROM ELLA TO NUWARA ELIYA

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Day 8: ELLA - NUWARA ELIYA

Friday, June 28, 2013

The alarm clock has behaved a little better today than it normally does when traveling. Today has sounded at 7.30 in the morning, why do we have to take a train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya!!
We will have the opportunity to make one of the most beautiful train routes in the world, the Highlands of Sri Lanka.
Before checking out at the Sunnyside Holiday Bungalow, we will have breakfast and take the time to chat with a Dutch guy who is touring the country for free like us.

After breakfast, as it is soon, we take the opportunity to have a couple of cups of tea, relaxing in the garden of our hotel these days we have spent in Ella.

Having tea in Ella before we go to the station

The train that runs through the Highlands leaves at 10.56 am and although we have been told that the schedules are not too rigorous in Sri Lanka, we hope this time is not the case and we are the exception that confirms the rule!
When we see that it is 9.30 in the morning, we talk to Cristina, to call us a tuk tuk to take us to Ella Station. Our surprise comes when she arrives and we ask her the price and she tells us not to worry, that this runs from her account.

More practical information to prepare your trip to Sri Lanka
- 10 essential places to visit in Sri Lanka
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Sri Lanka

Surprise us again the kindness of all the people with whom we are crossing in our travel through Sri Lanka and Maldives.
It did not take more than 5 minutes to reach Ella train station and we found that the entrance is closed by a chain that prevents passage.
The tuk tuk boy tells us not to worry and goes a moment inside, asks and then comes a boy who opens us and lets us pass to the platforms.
We have the tickets reserved from the first day we arrived at Ella and showing them to the boy, we have not had any problems to access early.

Ella train station

At Ella train station

The truth is that today is one of those days that we have butterflies in the stomach.
One of the many reasons why we decided to travel to Sri Lanka was to do this tour in train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya.
Together with this, we wanted to do it, if it could be, in the Observation Saloon, the last car of the train, which we have read, has fantastic views throughout the tour, having all the final glass part.

Train schedules at Ella Train Station

So, how can we not be happy if today is the day we will do one of the most beautiful train tours in the world.
Ella's train station is very small but has a special charm. As soon as you pass the area of the tracks, you enter a completely different scenario.
Green, in all its nuances, surrounds everything we have around.

Ella train station

Many times, when we are traveling, we think of those great topics that we read when we are at home: that will be the third world, there will be no comfort, it will be chaos ... nothing is further from reality!
This is the first world. It works to live and the smile is part of everyday life ...
Without a doubt, traveling opens the mind and the things we have are much more appreciated and are really not necessary for our day to day and especially to be happy.
A few minutes before they announce the arrival of the train, more and more tourists are arriving, but they are all accompanied by a local guide, who we intuit, will leave them once they ride the train, so that they have the experience of the tour in train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya and they drive to the destination, where they will wait for you ...
Few of us are the ones who travel for free and that attracts us a lot, because we can ensure that Sri Lanka It is one of the easiest countries to explore freely.
And at exactly 10.56h, our train appears in the distance ... with that whistle that announces that we are about to start crossing the Highlands in the best possible way: at the Observatory Saloon of the train that runs through the tea lands.
We look for our seat on the ticket and after placing the backpacks in the small space that we have in the luggage carriers above the seats, it is time to enjoy the experience !!
We have not yet traveled a kilometer and we already intuit that this journey in train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya It will fly away.
In the Observatory Saloon there is a large window at the end of the car, but it is quite dirty and a little broken, so it is best to open the windows in each seat ... look out and just enjoy!

Observatory Saloon on the train that runs through the Highlands. Train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya

And smell, yes, smell ... as soon as you look out the window of the train the smell of tea, green and nature transports you directly to another world.

"Living" the Highlands of Sri Lanka. Bring from it to Nuwara Eliya

Touring the Highlands by train is one of the best experiences you can have in Sri Lanka.

Touring the Highlands of Sri Lanka. Train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya

Landscapes of the Highlands of Sri Lanka. Train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya

Images of the Highlands of Sri Lanka. Train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya

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Train journey from Ella to Nuwara Eliya

That is what we do during the whole trip to Nuwara Eliya, which we fly through the vision of spectacular landscapes that we see and we are looking forward to more.

Highlands of Sri Lanka. Train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya

Train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya in the Highlands

One of the stops at a station of the Highlands tour

As we ascend, there is more fog and it starts to sparkle, but this bad weather lasts only a few minutes and the sun quickly rises again.

By train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya

Enjoying the train tour of the Highlands of Sri Lanka

Taking good photos from the train is easy, not because you are a good photographer or have a good camera. We won't get tired of saying that in Sri Lanka The photos come out alone.

Tea fields in the Highlands of Sri Lanka. Train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya

Of course, we are fortunate enough to share a train with a tourist who spends the entire journey with the body taken out of the train door, taking pictures and the entire Saloon Observatory is desperate because it enters and allows others to take decent photos of the landscape without him in the background !!! 🙂

Landscapes of the Highlands of Sri Lanka. Train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya

As we approach our Nuwara Eliya, time changes radically and a fog begins to flood the sky. The weather becomes much colder and sparkles again.

The fog begins to appear in the Highlands of Sri Lanka. Train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya

Landscapes. Train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya

Hopefully these days hold the weather and we can continue to say that the weather forecasts are of no use in this country.
The train from Ella to Nuwara Eliya, which runs through the Highlands, does not stop exactly in Nuwara Eliya, since this city does not have a train station, but it does in Nanu Oya, a town that is about 6 kilometers from Nuwara Eliya.
This is also something to take into account when reserving trips at the same station or watching the schedules online, since you don't have to look for Nuwara Eliya if not Nanu Oya.
Upon arrival at the Nanu Oya station we got off and found several tuk tuk at the same door, with which we negotiated to take us to Le Trevene, which will be our hotel in Nuwara Eliya the next 2 nights.
To lower the backpack helps me a man who, as expected, asks me if we need a taxi and telling him that we prefer a tuk tuk tells us that it makes us the same price since he has to return to Nuwara Eliya and prefers to do it earning something , that does not make it empty.
He also tells us that the state of the road from Nanu Oya to Nuwara Eliya is not exactly good and less at this time, when the rains make it a quagmire.
We are surprised by that honesty and just by looking at each other, we know that we will go with him, although before we haggle a little and agree to take us to The Trevene Hotel for 300 rupees.
So we follow you to the area where the vehicle is parked and in the end it is not just a taxi, it is a kind of van with 8 seats, in which we will not deny that comfort is present.
It is still raining and the road is true that it is quite bad, the potholes are countless and the mud floods the entire ascent until we reach the main road.
We hope that the weather gives us a small truce these days that we are in Nuwara Eliya, as it has been happening to us until now and we can enjoy the land of tea.
The man tells us that it had been 3 weeks that it did not stop raining all day, but that for two days it is much better ... And that we seeing what we see, we think that this time is very bad!
Between explanation and explanation, we continue ascending until we reach the main road and in just over 30 minutes we arrive at the hotel.
We had read some bad reviews The Trevene Hotel in Nuwara Eliya, but just entering, we love the site. A typical colonial house of this little England that we have just arrived and has already fallen in love with us.
Clean, with a very nice, comfortable environment ...
And the room they give us is huge, very clean and with an impressive large bathroom.
So in this case, most of the opinions we had read, such as that this accommodation needed a renovation or that it was already quite decadent, for us it has not been so.

Our room at the Nuwara Eliya Hotel

When checking, they offer us a welcome tea and we take the opportunity to ask them for the opinion of the Grand Asian Indian restaurant, highly recommended on the websites and reconfirm that it is very good, so we talk to the man who has brought us from Nanu Oya , to take us to the Grand Asian to eat before leaving.
It's after 2:30 and we need to fill the stomach!
Before we go, we go to the room and opening the backpacks we have a problem. Roger drops one of the cameras and taking it to see what has happened we see that the lens cover cannot be opened and crystals sound inside…
It has been a few tense minutes until we have verified that the breakage has only been of the lens protector and although the cover has run aground the camera is perfect. Goodness!!
Between this and the loss of the iphone of the other day, if we do not get to stand up well, this trip are would have gone by a "good peak".
This incident makes us delay a little and we take tea quickly and at 3 and shortly we enter the restaurant.
We ordered 2 kebab, garlic naan, samosas and a water that unquestionably remind us of our trip through India
The food is very good and the price is not expensive to be a restaurant that belongs to the famous Grand Hotel of Nuwara Eliya. The account has been 1730 rupees.

Grand Asian facade

After lunch we approach the Grand Hotel, which is opposite, to take a look inside and see a tea shop that has the same brand as the supermarket we entered later, 5 times more expensive !!

Grand hotel

So if you want to buy tea, don't do it at the Grand Hotel if you don't want to pay more for the same 😉
From here we decide that it is time to know the Nuwara Eliya, although the weather does not accompany too much, at least it has stopped raining, so we start and as we do not look for anything special to visit, we walk its streets in search of that walk How much we like to give on our trips.

Nuwara Eliya Pictures

On this walk we see the famous colonial houses that we have read so much when we were looking for information about this city.

Colonial houses in Nuwara Eliya

Nuwara Eliya is somewhat more chaotic than in the other cities we have been in so far, but we still like it very much.
We had ever said that Sri Lanka have you fallen in love with us? 🙂
It is much colder than in the rest of the country and for the first time on the trip, we have to put on our jackets. We see most people quite warm, even with wool caps.
On our walk we took the opportunity to go to a supermarket and buy a few snacks and be amazed by how many different things we can find.

Post Office Building in Nuwara Eliya

Around 7 in the afternoon we return to the hotel on foot, which although it is not too far away, if we have to walk about 10 minutes from the center.
Not being very hungry for having eaten so late, after a while resting, we go back down to the center to buy a few sweets.
Here we begin to see those famous patisseries that we had recommended so much.
After another walk through the center, we return to The Trevene Hotel, where we take the opportunity to connect for a while, answer some emails and after uploading some photos we have to rest ... tomorrow will be a lively day !!