Delightful sights, history and a touch of luxury

Martin Hesp experiences some highlights of the island in the northern half of Sri Lanka

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Magic moments... That's not only the name of a famous Perry Como song, it also represents a kind of ambition.

At least for some of us. The kind of people who would like to enjoy at least one magic moment every time they leave their front door. Magic moments are partly what these articles are about and they are certainly a thing most of us want to experience while we are travelling or on holiday.

Which is why I was thinking about the concept the other day, sitting on a bus as it trundled into the northern half of Sri Lanka. The lovely island - sometimes known as the Teardrop of the Indian Ocean - is a game of two halves. Southern and central Sri Lanka represents one of the most beautiful and scenic places on Earth, but the north is nowhere near as pretty. Not only is much of it flat, but you are also treated to regular reminders of the recent civil war in which an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 people died.

So you need magic moments in such a place, and fortunately Sri Lanka is full of them.

The first dose of enchantment hit me after we had driven across the isle to its east coast and the exotic old seaside town of Trincomalee. I had wanted to visit this jolly-sounding port ever since reading about the obscure Atkinson brothers of Trincomalee, who are mentioned in a Sherlock Holmes story. An example of what Sherlockians call the “casual reference” or “untold tale” where either Holmes or Watson allude to a case that the reader never actually learns the details of.

"From time to time," writes Watson in a Scandal in Bohemia, "I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee..."

So for years I've wondered: what was the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers and where on earth is Trincomalee?