Our next destination is Ella, about 150 km southeast of Kandy. The best way to travel is by train. This particular train route is very popular with tourists. It takes about 6.5 hours from Kandy to Ella. Most tickets were sold out at our first attempt. Later we found out a special tourists' First Class Viceroy II carriage that went on the Kandy-Ella train. We were lucky to get four of the twenty tickets of this carriage a few weeks before our travel day. Parera, our driver took us to the train station in Kandy and drove to meet us at Ella station when we got off. It's so nice to travel luxuriously in this special first class carriage with first class accommodations. We felt like traveling "in style" on the Orient Express!
Kandy lies in the midst of hills in the Kandy plateau and provides the most fertile and beautiful tropical plantations, mainly tea for the region. Thus, we enjoyed the amazing scenery from the train.
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Waiting for the train in Kandy
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Enjoying first class accomodations
 | Lyn and Kurt - Happy travelers 😍
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View of tea plantation
 | View of a village from the train
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View of a village near one of the stops
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Tea plantation view from the train
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Beautiful flower garden
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Arriving at Ella station
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ELLA
Ella, much smaller than Kandy, is a pretty town. It sits on the South Uva Province and forms part of the beautiful Hill Country. Tourists seem to be of a younger crowd as well. We think many of them are here to set out to climb the Adam's Peak, a main tourist attraction in the region. Other interesting places to visit are: Ella Rock, the Nine Arch Bridge and Ravana Falls. The center of town is very touristy and trendy with bars, shops and restaurants that offer more American and European dishes than Sri Lankan. Ironically, many Ella's guesthouses including the one we were staying offer tradition village cooking class to tourists. We did not take any cooking class or climb the Adam's Peak. Instead we enjoyed touring the Ceylon Tea Factory and Plantation, visited the Nine Arch Bridge and the Ravana Falls.
TOUR OF TEA PLANTATION
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The tuk-tuk-our transportation to the top of the Ceylon Tea Plantation Headquarter
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The only road in the plantation
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Enjoying the view of the plantation plateau
 | View of plantation
 | Plantation hillside
 | The Ceylon Tea Plantation Headquarter
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Tea Chart from the plantation exhibit
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Plantation workers
 | Plantation workers wrapping up their work day
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My favorite photo of the plantation worker. She's so pretty and colorful & happy to pose for the photograph.
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Other workers-All are pretty, colorful and glad to meet up with tourists
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The St. Benedict's Monastery in Adisham
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NINE ARCH BRIDGE
The Nine Arch Bridge in Ella is about 100 years old. It was built with blocks of stone and cement without any strengthening iron or concrete. The beautiful arches make it a very picturesque setting as it is located in the lush green forest and tea plantation. A popular time to view the bridge is in the afternoon when the Blue Train (Kandy-Ella) going on the bridge approaching its Ella stop.
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The Nine Arch Bridge
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Waiting for the train
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Here comes the "Blue" train (we took the day before)
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RAVANA ELLA WATERFALLS
Ravana Falls is a popular sightseeing attraction in Sri Lanka. It also ranks as one of the widest falls in this island nation.
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