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After spending much of the day at Anuradhapura, went over to Mihintale for a short visit. As it was Poya Day, this area was also very crowded. Exhausted and hot, we elected not to climb the 1,843 steps up to Mihintale. Instead we drove up to near the top and  climbed a shorter distance.

We would recommend others to do the day in reverse–Mihintale first when you have energy for the climb. Or spend two days seeing the sites.

This site dates to 247 BC. It is believed to be where a Buddhist monk from India named Mahinda brought Buddhism to Sri Lanka by converting King Devanamplayatissa. As a result, this site is revered by the Singhalese.

At the top there are three places to climb further. One is Kantaka Chetiya, a dagoba built around 250BC. We tried to climb but the wait was too long so we only went halfway.