Good day to you dear reader, and I trust that this blog finds you well! Today I will be concentrating on the city of Amritsar, in India’s Punjab region not far away from the border with Pakistan. It’s an impressive city with a very nicely curated centre of town.

That centre of town itself centres on the Golden Temple of Amritsar. The reason that most people pay a visit to Amritsar is the temple and that’s from tourists to Sikh pilgrims. The official name of the Golden Temple is Harimandir Sahib, and wiki says that means ‘Abode of God’, and it dates back to 1581. It is one of the holiest sites in Sikhism and harks back to and through the days when Sikhs ruled this part of the world. The ‘Golden’ part refers to, well the golden centre piece which people line up to enter and walk through.

I chose not to do that, it was a long and squashed line, no photography of any kind is allowed inside the temple itself, and you move through quickly, so for me I felt that as there was no significance as I wasn’t Sikh I wouldn’t do it. It’s more interesting I think from the outside.

You have to be careful with photography as well, selfie sticks are not allowed. Outside the temple are many places where you can leave valuables and belongings. You also need to have your head covered and they hand out free bandanas for non-Sikh visitors. The temple complex has a museum which is mostly portraits of important people to Sikhs, former rulers and the like. The whole place is kinda electric with so many people passing through, and it’s a genuinely beautiful place to visit.

In the wide square outside the entrance you will find steps leading down to a place under the square. This a sort of museum/experience where you get taken from room to room seeing audio-visual displays which talk about Sikhism and the temple. It’s not a bad way to learn a bit more about the religion.

The streets are all paved in the centre and it’s actually a little touristy to be fair. You’ll find the impressive statue to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and the poignant monument to the martyrs of Jallianwala Bagh – a massacre that occurred in Amritsar in 1919 when the British opened fire on peaceful protesters.

Amritsar being SO close to the border is a significant place in regards to the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan. The stories of the horrors of this event, when the British took 2 weeks to quickly draw a line and say ‘This is India and this is Pakistan’ are told in the Amritsar Partition Museum. It’s a must-visit if you are in the region to understand the history of Punjab in particular. The mad scramble for Hindus to return to India and Muslims to go to Pakistan before the border was official fuelled conflict between the religions which had previously existed together mostly in peace, and well… it’s a sad chapter of world history brought about by the partition. Various figures have the number of dead anywhere between 200,000 and 2 million, 10 – 20 million people displaced.

Eating in Amritsar is a treat for vegetarians, less so for carnivores such as myself. In fact, in the middle of town you can ONLY find vegetarian/vegan restaurants including perhaps the only vegetarian McDonald’s in the entire world! (anyone else know of another?) If you are like me in struggling with hot spicy food, well Amritsar is going to again be difficult.

But all in all we are talking about a pleasant place to visit, impressively looked after today with two really important places to visit. If you are planning a trip to India, Amritsar could be a bit out of the way. I was super happy though that the Howrah-Amritsar Express (train) exists. It takes around 2 days, maybe slightly less and goes from Kolkata in the east to Amritsar in the north-west, via Varanasi where I also stopped. It meant I could travel from east to north-west India without stopping to change in Delhi, in fact I didn’t really go anywhere near Delhi, which is not my favourite Indian city.

Thanks for popping by today! Take care wherever you are in the world and – May the Journey Never End!