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Ok, that’s not really what Colombo is called, at least I don’t think it is. But, it does seem that Colombo is the place to buy gemstones. Sri Lanka is the Mecca (pardon the Mideast pun) of almost all types of gemstones…they just seem to grow here better than anywhere else and Sri Lanka is capitalizing on that fact.
Click here for the detailed Colombo Photo Gallery.
After getting blown out in Galle we quickly moved on to arrive in Colombo at about 6 pm last night. This morning we had a bus tour of Colombo but we decided to blow that off as well and just go out on our own to explore Colombo and maybe even buy Margaret some jewelry. She says “Yeah” in the background!
After a nice relaxing breakfast at Compass Rose, we got our heads around going out in the heat and walked down the gangplank. While Margaret got ready to go I went outside to the dock area and explored the many jewelry stores that were selling mostly gemstones. Nice selection, decent prices and, one even said he’d bring us some large green garnets which is one of the things Margaret was interested in. Seemed you could get a 25 carat stone for about $500!
Just before I did, however, I picked up a map from the on-ship local tour guide and, of course, he immediately said he’d take us to a jeweler downtown. Of course he would…he gets a percentage of any sale. But, since we wanted to go there anyway a free cab ride wouldn’t hurt.
Off we went in a nice van, getting a quick tour of the downtown area on the way. Nothing really remarkable. It seemed to be a reasonably clean and modern city with very nice beaches, decent transportation, modest traffic and plenty of good shopping. It also had a financial center with high-rise buildings. The worst thing was the port area was an absolute mess and certainly not appropriate for the Voyager guests to be walking through to get to town (as advertised).
We went to a nice jewelry store that had excellent air-conditioning. That was important since we were already sweating profusely. We looked at all types of gemstones and found some nice stuff. They are known for sapphires, rubies, garnets, moonstones and other semi-precious stones that are mined here in Sri Lanka.
Back at the port we saw Paul and Kathy returning with their bags after attending the award ceremony dedicating the new library addition to the orphanage. They do great work around the world. Congratulations Paul and Kathy! We took a picture of them, went back on the ship and then met them on the pool deck for a drink and watch the sunset on our exit from Colombo.
It turns out Kathy got a ring and they were getting it set at a jewelry store in town. Paul went through a lot of grief to try to meet the delivery guy at the port entrance…to make a long story short he was finally able to get the ring and run to catch the ship just before we left.
We had a great dinner together at the Prime 7 Steakhouse. We had great food, great wine, and great company. A pretty great combination!
Cheryl - The minute I started reading this portion of the blog, I knew it was Margarets kind of place and outing! Mention the word jewelry and I hear Margaret saying “Oh Yeah”! 🙂
Trip Summary » Travel with Dale & Margaret - […] Colombo, Sri Lanka […]