Golden Temple, Amritsar!!!

Almost after 5 months from our trip, I start my series on our Punjab and Himachal Pradesh tour. We started planning our trip sometime in January for our visit in March. March is our ideal time for long travels, as kiddo gets a month's break from school and her summer vacations during May are always planned for our trips to native and around. And accordingly we made the bookings. Just few days before our trip, there was an unexpected weather change and there were floods at most of the places around the country, but we were in no mood to reschedule our plans.

We reached Amritsar in the morning, and booked our taxi for the day for the tour of Amritsar city and Wagah Border. The weather had got worse, it was freezing cold. Our taxi driver dropped us at around 200mtrs from Golden temple and said, the taxi wouldn't go further and we had to go by walk till the temple. The walk is through the market place, where there are shops selling almost everything Amritsari, from Kulchas to scarfs(to cover your head while entering the temple), footwear to souvenirs. It was still 9 in the morning and we were told most of the food stalls would open only after 11 and we headed straight to Golden Temple. It started drizzling and the weather got still colder. All that chillness disappeared as soon as we got the glimpse of the temple, the Golden structure, with its reflection in the pure waters of Amrit Sarovar. The white structure surrounding the golden temple, the little kids taking dip in the holy sarovar, everything made the premises so serene and beautiful.

The entry to the temple, through the bridge

The top floor of the Harmandir Sahib main complex

 About Golden Temple

As per Wikipedia, the city of Amritsar was found in 1574 by the fourth Sikh guru, Guru Ram Das, while the Harmandir Sahib, or Darbar Sahib or Golden Temple, was designed by the fifth guru, Guru Arjan, who had the cornerstone laid by the Muslim Sufi saint Sai Hazrat Mian Mir on 28 December 1588. Guru Arjan completed the Adi Granth, the holy scripture of Sikhism, in 1604 and installed it in the gurdwara. Harmandir Sahib is considered to be the holiest Sikh Gurudwara.
The temple is built on a platform at the center of the Amrit Sarovar, connecting with the main complex of Harmandir Sahib by a bridge. The temple is three storied structure, with the front facing the bridge decorated with repeated arches. Check more about the structure here.

Travel Info:
Amritsar is a district in Punjab, India around 217km from the state capital Chandigarh. It is near Pakistan with Wagah Border around 28km and Lahore city of Pakistan around 50km.
By Road: Amritsar is on NH-1 well connected to Delhi, Jammu and other cities of Punjab.
By Train: Well connected to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and other parts of Punjab.
By Air: Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport, has many domestic and international flights, connecting with rest of the country and internationally.
Golden Temple is well with-in the city of Amritsar, and has accommodation and free food(langar) as well.
Timings: 3AM to 10PM, you can check out daily routine here.
Entry Free, everybody is allowed to entry the Gurudwara, better visit early morning, when the crowd is less.
Need to leave your foot wear outside and cover your head, while entering the temple premises.

Do check out the complete series on this trip of mine here.