Galle Fort is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a functioning neighbourhood – boutique hotels, art galleries and some of Sri Lanka’s best restaurants occupy former Dutch merchant homes inside 17th-century coral-stone walls. The layered colonial history is visible everywhere: Portuguese foundations from 1588, Dutch reconstruction from 1663, British additions still standing. The rampart walk at golden hour, with the Indian Ocean on three sides and the lighthouse at the tip of the fort, is the image that most people carry home.