I'll plug your volcano

When listening to the Twenty20 (I am reluctant to use the term) cricket yesterday although it was quite exciting, someone, I think it was Ed Smith, mentioned climbing one of the Pitons in St Lucia (as Darren Sammy is from St Lucia). Bear with me this is about to have some volcanic relevance. After Ed saying he nearly died several times climbing the Pitons (which could be due to all the poisonous snakes and weed) they obviously needed researching and very excitingly it turned out that they are two volcanic plugs. Which while they sounds pretty gross are actually rather cool. 

A volcanic plug is formed when pressure causes magma to build up in a vent which can then solidify. This rock is harder than the surrounding rock which can get eroded away while the magma core stays intact. I know that you are thinking that this mass of hardened mass of magma seems like a great place to build a fortress. Trotsky castle (Czech Republic) which was once home to Good King Wenceslaus, Edinburgh Castle and Sigiriya Rock Fortress in Sri Lanka are all built on volcanic plugs. Sigiriya as well as being on part of an old volcano is home to beautiful frescos, it was once used as a Buddhist monastery and has some of the oldest examples of landscape garden and urban planning in the world. But I think the most exciting thing about Sigiriya is that it has a mirrored wall so the king could look at himself while he walked, the mirror was made of well polished stone and has inscriptions from the 8th century. It is believed that the complex was built by King Kashyapa as a retreat and leisure palace (I wonder if people will think of Butlins as such a thing of wonder in the future) in around 480 AD however its use as a monestary dates from around 5th Century BC.

 Fresco

 The entrance has lions feet!

It's basically my new favourite place