Galle and the Fort and the touts
Galle Fort is well known for touts. We managed to drop several along the way, all the while looking for accommodation. Our plan all along had been to start basic and gradually work up market as we tired of basic. So picture, if you can, three "mad dogs and Englishmen" out in the noonday sun with backpacks and other bags.
Galle Fort is originally Portuguese, then Dutch, then British, and now Sri Lankan. It’s both crowded with buildings and empty at the same time. Narrow streets, but the buildings often extend way back with shady courtyards.
We were following the book. We started at basic. Er, no. "I am cheapest in the fort."
I expect he was. We could see why. Well, he was lower grade than we wanted, anyway. So were three others.
We headed for the Galle Fort Hotel with no real expectations. It is not a cheap hotel. For Sri Lanka it’s unbelievably expensive. It isn’t the most expensive, that is some $600 US per room per night, just up the road, but it is $200. We did the start of a deal. The place is an oasis. We loved it. Then we were made an offer we could not refuse. Three nights for the price of two.
We were standing in a room that was a pure delight when the manager made the offer. Pristine sheets, four poster bed, clean mosquito nets, white fluffy towels, air conditioning, shower, staircase, sofa. 
Later we noticed some idiots reviewed it as ’bad’ because it had no minibar and no TV. Idiots. The hotel is a better place for their not going back there. What were they thinking? This is a hotel to get away from it all, and to get away from idiots like that. Their review is somewhere hidden in the many real reviews. I guess they are marching to their own drummer.
Minibar, indeed! And dear little miniature bottles of gin! What do they think room service is for? It is time to deploy the word ’wankers!’ with venom!
We were ushered gently to the lobby and given a long cold drink while we checked in. I love touches like that. They cost almost nothing to do, and set the scene of quality and service completely. And that’s one thing the Galle Fort Hotel does so well.
Sri Lanka is excellent for service. It’s poor at repeatable high quality of the thing delivered by the excellent service. But at this hotel they’ve cracked it! They deliver reliable repeatable quality with unassuming, unpretentious quiet good service. They truly understand their market, and their staff recruitment and training is exceptional.
Am I waxing a bit lyrical about this place?
Well, yes, but it’s idyllic. You can even have a 100% private suite. And there’s a blissfully cool, clean pool for when you get back from exercising your shopping muscles in the fort. And we did. Melanie wanted some more local clothes, and Al and I wanted more sarongs. And in the heat we shopped until we dropped!
And the food... You can have what you like, of course you can, but their set meal is an amazing eastern fusion. And they offer excellent alternatives if you let their chef know that you can’t eat a particular food. With business trips I have a religion of trying never to eat in the hotel. Here my religion is never to eat elsewhere. They even made the papaya in the fruit salad at breakfast pleasant - not lime juice, but passionfruit juice. Now there is a real treat.
It was tempting to stay inside the doors of the hotel for the entire stay. But we didn’t! But we did learn that you do not say that you are at a costly hotel when bargaining for goods locally.
I’m going to carry on waxing lyrical. I’m sure it is imperfect, but I couldn’t find the cracks for things to slip through. if anything doesn’t work they just fix it. The beds get turned down with fragrant flowers placed on the linen.
The owners have two rather ancient and adorable Papillons that look at you hopefully while you’re having breakfast or dinner. Some halfwit complained in their review about the dogs! These people need to get a life. I hope they read this blog and see how much I respect them!