A feast for the eyes – sweet, vibrant, irresistible, varied, compelling, everywhere you look – Kandy is endless eye candy.

The Sacred City of Kandy is the heart of Sri Lanka, and the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic has been the heart of Kandy for 2000 years.

There are gorgeous images at every turn.

I was delighted to find moonstones, each with special significance and very different from those in Anuradhapura.

Sweet-scented jasmine are ritual offerings at the temple.

Doors to sacred places

Imposing structures

And countless tributes to the Buddha of course

Surrounding the Temple, Kandy is a riot of tuktuks and shops and tourists and bus fumes. It is easy to find beautiful things to buy.

We spend hours on our balcony listening to the school choir across the small valley, watching the palm trees sway in the breeze and rain clouds scud along the far horizon, capturing magical sunrise and sunsets.

But Kandy has eye candy off another sort.. the fascinating hustle of downtown along Colombo Street.

The priceless heritage architecture kept alive by pride.

Kandy can be shopping therapy by day and cultural delights by night.

No trip to Kandy is complete without an evening of dancing and drumming.

The other senses are engaged in Kandy – the sooty smell of diesel bus fumes, the constant rattle of tuktuks jockeying for traffic advantage, the linger of curry and ginger beer flavors, but the eyes…the eyes feast on Kandy!