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Empty stretches of sand, charming colonial towns, it's everything you want in an island escape

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Hanging out at Apa Villa Illuketia, an old colonial plantation that’s now a hotel with extensive gardens. After this photo was taken we saw a monitor lizard in the pond.Ellen Himelfarb

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You don’t have to share the sights of Sri Lanka with a billion others.Ellen Himelfarb

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Sri Lanka has delicious sandy beaches and they are often empty of tourists.Ellen Himelfarb

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We saw our first elephant by the side of the road near Udawalawe National Park, unsure if it was a baby or mama; subcontinental elephants are disarmingly small.Ellen Himelfarb

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The lighthouse in Galle, Sri Lanka by the city’s old ramparts.Ellen Himelfarb

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Sri Lanka definitely feels like a country on the cusp. Markets are beginning to gentrify and restaurants in town have discovered pizza for Western toddlers averse to the vernacular curries.Ellen Himelfarb

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