Matara Rest House regains past glory under new management
Thursday, 6 February 2014 00:00
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Text and pictures by
P.D. DE SILVA
The rest house within the historical Dutch Fort in Matara was a popular evening meeting place for the Doctors, Lawyers, Planters, Businessmen and other professionals of Matara in decades gone by where they shared their day’s experiences and discussed topics of interest or negotiated business deals over a glass of beer or arrack, while their wives socialised and shared local gossip. Presently the picturesque beach front property is owned by the Urban Development Authority (UDA) and has leased it to Sarath Kandamby an entrepreneur of Matara who together with rest house manager Chryshantha Gunasekera have regained the exclusivity and glory it held in the past.
In 1780 the Dutch architects of the Matara Fort are said to have built housing for their medical staff on this spot. The ancient structures which with stood the brutal force of the 2004 tsunami and are much in need of preservation, still stand behind the present buildings. The rest house devastated by the tsunami in 2004 remained closed for nearly six years until it was rebuilt and opened on 28 October 2010.
The Matara rest house boasts of five comfortable air conditioned and three non air conditioned rooms. The room rates are Rs. 4,000 per air conditioned room and Rs. 2,400 per non air conditioned room. The restaurant with its mechanical fan can seat 40 persons in comfort. The Sri Lankan buffet lunch available daily is priced at Rs. 500 person inclusive of a desert of fresh fruit.
