On the scenic slopes of Mount Agung, you will encounter Bali’s largest and most spiritually significant temple, the Mother Temple of Besakih in the eastern region of the country. Ensure that you check into a stylish boutique hotel Bali has to offer tourists, such as the L Hotel Seminyak. With access to premier dining, shopping, and entertainment, it is an ideal Bali luxury hotel to host your stay. Believed to date back to the fourteenth century, it is an intricate complex comprising twenty-two temples that are scattered throughout two parallel ridges. It features meandering stepped terraces and stairways that provide access to numerous court yards and gateways, which then ascend up to the primary spire, hotherwise known as a “Meru”, which goes by the name of the Pura Penataran Agung, which is the main sanctuary, within which the lotus throne, or “padmasana” is enshrined. This sanctum sanctorum dates back to the seventeenth century. The temple sits on the slope of an active volcano, which erupted in 1963, but the lava flow missed the temple by mere metres. This is regarded as confirmation of the temple’s power and spiritual significance. Each year, the temple comes a alive through a series of festivals and celebrations numbering about seventy, which are a treat to experience and capture through the camera lens. Visitors should not to employ the services of tour guides around the temple, or exchange money in return for “prayers” at the end of the “tour.” These individuals are not with the temple, even though they assert that they are. There is never an admission fee into a place of worship, especially a Hindu temple, so do not be fooled by these individuals.
Angela Fernando is an impassioned travel writer who composes pieces under the pen name Sumaira Narayan. She loves writing about new and exciting places around the world and intends to visit them all someday.