SRI LANKA – NEGOMBO

Arrival Colombo Airport. You will be met and assisted by a representative and transferred to Negombo Hotel.

Check into Hotel. Standard check in time 14:00 Hrs.

Negombo is sometimes known as ‘Little Rome’ and nearly two thirds of their population profess a Catholic faith. Negombo is a major tourist destination in Sri Lanka.

Breakfast at Hotel.

St. Joseph Vaz, was a priest and missionary in Sri Lanka, during the Dutch occupation.

By the time of his death, Vaz had managed to rebuild the Catholic Church on the island.

He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 21 January 1995 in Colombo and later was canonized on 14 January 2015 by Pope Francis at the Galle Face Green in Colombo.

Morning: Visit Bolawatte Church, which had been frequented by Fr. Vaz and later became a very important centre of the Mission and is also the place where Fr. Giacome Gonsalves is buried.

– Visit Wennapuwa – St. Joseph Vaz College.

Breakfast at Hotel.

Proceed to Wahakotte.

Wahakotte is the place where Rev. Fr. Joseph Vaz first arrived in Sri Lanka from South India.

He arrived in  Wahakotte disguised as a labourer, where on a small hill the local peasants had built a little hut for him, which is still venerated by Catholics.

Today Wahakotte or Wasala-Kotte, holds a unique place in the history of the Sri Lankan Catholics.

Thereafter, proceed to Dambulla for a brief sightseeing tour of Sigiriya (Time permitting).

Breakfast at Hotel.

Depart for Kandy. En-route, visit Weuda on the Kandy-Kurunegala Road, this is the place where Fr. Vaz was taken prisoner on his first visit to Kandy.

Thereafter, visit Galgamuwa, the place where Fr. Vaz planted an ebony cross blessed by him at the entrance to the village as a safe-guard from wild elephants and poisonous snakes.

The annual feast is celebrated by the entire Kurunegala diocese in a very grand scale there.

They have treasured this cross up to this day.

Proceed on to Kandy, en-route visit the Temple of the Tooth and view a Cultural Dance Performance.

In 1692, Vaz settled in Kandy, where he was imprisoned as he was considered to be a Portuguese spy and was imprisoned with two other Catholics. Here in Kandy, he built a hut-church and later a proper church dedicated to Our Lady, and began converting other prisoners. In 1705 he was offered to be the bishop and first Vicar Apostolic of Ceylon, Fr. Vaz humbly declined the offer, preferring to remain a simple missionary.

In the 1745 revolt the British destroyed Bahirava Kanda and filled up the Bogambara Lake leaving no trace of Fr. Vaz’s grave. The old Seminary Chapel of the Papal Seminary was converted as the Kandy diocesan shrine of Blessed Joseph Vaz, where a life size mahogany wood statue carved by a local artist from Moratuwa is the focus of the devotion to the Apostle of Sri Lanka, to remember Fr. Vaz service to Kandy.

Breakfast at Hotel.

Enjoy a city tour of Kandy with visits to the Royal Botanical Gardens before proceeding to Colombo. En-route, visit The Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage.

Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage is situated near Kegalle and this orphanage was started in 1975 and  is home to the world’s largest herd of domestic elephants.

The Elephant Orphanage aim is to house the abandoned and wounded elephants.

After breakfast, Check out from the hotel at 1200 hours.

If you do have a late evening flight, an additional optional City & shopping Tour of Colombo can be organized.

Transfer to the airport for your International Departure.