The town center is a typical Sri Lankan main road with shops on both sides where you can get good and cheap Sri Lankan food. It's always fun to dive into the shops and have a closer look at the offered goods. Don't be shy and step into the shops. You will at least get a smile for free. You can combine this with a visit of the local market (see the Tangalle Market article later on). Tangalle has a regionally important fishing port where you can see plenty of colorfull boats. If you show up in the morning or late evening you can see the boats come in and unload their catch.
The name of the town in Sinhala means "projected rock", a reference to the rocks which form the coastline in the town area, which contrasts with the sandy beach of the surrounding areas. Another rationale is that the name is derived from ran-gala or "golden rock", which relates to a local legend that a holy man once ate a meal there and the rock was turned to gold.
There are a lot of great day trip destination around Tangalle which we will try to cover in the following articles.