The Closenberg Hotel

We stayed in an interesting hotel in Galle called the Closenberg Hotel. 

Perched on a rocky outcrop with panoramic views, it had an air of the Riviera and the faded glamour of old Ceylon.

In the right hands it could have been stunning; in its current state, it was tired and crumbling but still somehow appealliing. 

The website was strangely deceptive, the photos were there and yet it looked so different, so much more stylish than the reality. 

We discovered an aquarium room full of old green dried up tanks, fish long dead. 

We talked to the old staff, a waiter who’d been with the hotel for 44 years. He wouldn’t be leaving until he had to.

And we walked to the surf beach down the private path, past the washing lines and vegetable gardens where we looked back at the hotel imagining its glory days. 

It would be a wonderful project if one had a few million pounds to invest!