The sacred temples of the valley

Remarks

• Costing only covers the return fare by car.
• This does not include the services of a guide, meals, and site entrance fees
• For each excursion, a sarong remains indispensable.
• Please consult us in advance if a French or English guide is required.

Goa Gajah

This excursion will have you discover one of the most sacred sites of Bali dating back to the first millennium. Our driver will take you along tracks through the valley of Goa Gajah where you will be able to admire tropical landscapes studded with small devotional altars.

Goa Gajah is one of the most ancient Balinese sanctuaries. It was not identified by archaeologists until 1923. Two structures justify the site’s celebrity: the mysterious elephant cavern, and an ablution pool. On the edge of this pool, an immense tree displays in season its red flowers. The Goa Gajah constructions are said to date back to the 11^th century.

Goa Gajah is the most spectacular among stops, located at the entrance to a gorge where an impetuous river flows throughout the rainy season. This sacred river is lined with buildings and small temples, some of which appear as if etched out by burin, beneath overhanging stone parapets. You can walk a while and discover a dozen of these little sites of prayer, attesting a very ancient cult along this river.

Gunung Kawi

The temple of Gunung Kawi is splendidly lodged in the depths of a gorge penetrated by the Pakrisan river descending the length of a peaceful village specialising in bone sculpture and engraving. The village shops on the main route (before reaching the parking lot) exhibit fine designs, with 'ethnic' jewellery, reasonably priced although of considerable quality. 

In order to reach the sacred zone, the descent must be completed by rope ladder and steps. A succession of royal monuments, tombs dug out of the cliff-side, may be examined at a first site on the left. They are qualified as tombs but are, in fact, rather altars carved into the shape of 'candi' Buddhists. These altars commemorate the legendary king, Anak Wungsu and his wife queen Betari Mandul, who reigned over the whole island. This reign at the beginning of the year 1000 was marked by a very strong link with Java. It was in this period that a part of the Island’s religious system was established, organised around three temples: the temple of origins (Pura Puseh), the temple of the village (Pura Desa) and the temple of the dead (Pura Dalem).
 
The visit continues on the other side of the bridge, with the enclosure of a classical Balinese temple, housing pavilions and pagodas. To the right at the end of the temple, a passage in the rock gives access to a curious collection of niches carved into the mountain face. To this day they continue to be identified as having been the cells of monks attached to some monastic institution.
 
Beyond the temple, lies a spectacular cliff from which sacred water pours through overflows into an ablution pool. Other 'candi' have been sculpted on the wall. The visit may be pursued beyond this ensemble, as far as the shanty huts of a farmer who will serve you delicious coconuts that he gathers from local trees. Even further on, a promenade in the rice-paddies will lead you to a small but most refreshing waterfall.

Tirtha Empul

The temple of Tirtha Empul is located at a few kilometres distance from Gunung Kawi. Although occupation of the site may again be traced back a thousand years, the present temple is relatively recent. All Bali regularly converges on Tirtha Empul to bathe fully dressed in the temple’s sacred waters provided by two ablution pools. Remain prudent in photographic ambitions and you will be permitted to bathe with the appropriate measure of sincerity manifested towards the Hindu religion. Bathe rather in long shorts or sarong than in bathing suit.
 
These rituals are to a certain extent the Bali version of the Ganges purification rites practised by Indian Hindus. The reflection of the sacred river emulated here scarcely exceeds a few metres in depth. If you should in fact venture to the end of the brick quadrilateral enclosure found just upstream of the baths, you will see the spectacular gushing of the sacred spring, its bubbling stirs up the black sand around an expanse of aquatic grass and algae. Visitors leave with vessels of sacred water, for their own devotions in household temples, and in order to bless the daily offerings made by the Balinese.
 
The temple is very active even further upstream. Do not hesitate to pass the gate and observe the highly choreographed and codified gestures of prayer: with the flower, without the flower, with blessed water, then with rice. Pray yourself if you feel like it, you will not shock a soul, and the priest in white will spray you with holy water. You will have no difficulty finding a Balinese to teach you the gestures.
 
On top of the hill still resides the luxury villa where Suharto would open his windows on the host of beautiful young girls bathing below. Since the dictator’s death, the villa has become a residence for Heads of State.           

The village of Penglipuran

 Acclaimed among the major tourist sites, this charming village has benefited from a highly successful restoration program. Its charm runs a risk of the overwhelmingly excessive, as if popped into a conservation jar where nothing might intervene to contaminate it. Too clean, too swept up, indeed perhaps over-polished, but magnificent all the same! The grandiloquent avenue flanked with houses either side, advances towards the magnificent temple, facades coated with moss, and roofs secured with bamboo lagging.

The village has indeed always been noted for its specialization in bamboo which the villagers handle with remarkable dexterity and originality. Penglipuran remains the centre for the finest woven baskets, the celebrated offering baskets.  It is also renowned for its curious roofs, unmatched in all Bali even if this very specificity runs the risk of monotony. The inhabitants will invite you to visit their homes in the hope of selling you a basket. All the young people have departed, without future even as guides since most groups arrive with their own guide.

The climb to the temple is spectacular. On the left, just in front of the temple, you will discover the Bale Agung, the great village meeting house. The principal trading resource for the villagers lies beyond in the 75 hectare bamboo forest.

Temple Pura Kehen

This is one of the most majestic temples in Bali. It spreads across three terraces and includes a particularly ancient sector where megalithic constructions may be detected. A magnificent banyan tree has grown on the first terrace. Kulkul drums, made of hollowed out wooden trunks, hang on the branches. It is difficult to envisage how those responsible for beating these drums in fact gain access to them. In the sacred enclosure a meru towers to a height of eleven floors harboring a multitude of altars. The temple is particularly notable for the beauty of its sculpture and wall reliefs.