Hi LGs,
On a cold night of 25th Jan’19 by 12am , we (myself and my friend) started our journey to Amritsar by bus. After 7.5 hrs , we reached the majestic Amritsar city Bus station. 2 hours for refreshments in few hotels costs around 500 - 600 INR. Riskshaw and Auto drivers will approach you with such kind of offers. We boarded rickshaw to an hotel for refreshments.
Hotel staff recommended us to visit Harmindar Sahib Templel ( aka GOLDEN TEMPLE ) as early as possible to avoid huge crowd. Because it was an public holiday (70th Republic Day of India). After refreshments we vacated the hotel and reached Golden temple thru the busy streets of amritsar by 9am. You dont have worry about your baggages. you will find Baggage locker facility and Shoe/slipper storage facilitynear to clock tower . Everything is free of cost. Wheel chair assistance facility is also available near the clock tower.
Entering Gurudwara, your eyes will catch the Magnificiant Golden Temple in the center of the sarovar ( Holy Pond). We took a round and entered thru Dharshani Deori . It was crowded and we were moving very slow. Finally we had Dharshan in Harmandir Sahib .
It is an two storey block, you can go till top of the Golden temple. Definitely you will be feel the positive vibrations when you are inside Harmandir sahib. We leaving you will get karrah Prasad . Kindly get prasad in cupped hands. i loved the prasad of Harmandir sahib. It was delicious. It is a halwa made from wheat, ghee and sugar, known as ‘Karrah’.
Then we left Golden temple and reached Jallianwala Bagh Memorial , which is 2 mins walkable distance from north side clock tower. Thisi is one of the important place of Indian Independence History. Entry is free for Jallianwala Bagh. you can find the history of Jallianwala bagh here. It was crowded too. we could see the bullet marks and martyr well in the memorial. Museum displays the information and artifacts related to the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre.
Later we went to Visit Maharaja Ranjit Singh Statue at Fawwara chowk ,which is 2 mins walk from Jallianwala bagh memorial. The statue was majestic . It was made of marbels and black stone. And the final spot our journey was Attari-wagah Border to witness the Beating Retreat Ceremony. It was be very special because, it was 70th Republic Day of India. I have browsed and found the Hop on Hop Off Bus tour facility by Punjab Tourism. I have booked the tickets in online . Different packages are available, i have choosen the wagah border package and paid 250 INR per person. The bus will parked near to Fawwara chowk.
This is an double decker bus. Booking can be done at the center and online. We started to Wagah border , which is 32km from Amritsar. Beautiful greeny views in the sides of journey. We finally reached Wagah border. We kept all our belongings in the bus. Moblies , cameras and wallets are allowed inside the wagah border. After security checks we entered into the BSF Lounge . Huge crowd was found at BSF lounge. We were lucky to get a good spot with wonderful view.
Cultural events were started and school children were making perforamces. Then Actor Varun Dhawan did an special performance.
Uri Actor vicky kaushal and actress yami gautam did an special entry into the BSF lounge. Whole crowd was cheering. Then the much awaited Beating Retreat ceremony was started. This ceremony takes place every evening immediately before sunset at the Wagah border, which as part of the Grand Trunk Road was the only road link between these two countries before the opening of the Aman setu in kashmir in 1999. The ceremony starts with a blustering parade by the soldiers from both sides, and ends up in the perfectly coordinated lowering of the two nations’ flags.
We boarded bus and came back to Amristar again. We decided to have a look of Golden temple in evening. We deposited our bags and shoes in counters and entered into Golden temple. The view was very lovely. Dont ever miss to visit Golden temple in evening with lights.
Then we reached Amristar railway station to catch our train to Delhi , which was prebooked earlier. We boarded train and reached delhi next morning.
One day trip to Amritsar was an memorable event in my life.
Photos Album : Click here
For Videos : Search “70th Republic Day Celebration at Wagah Border” in youtube
#letsguide #travel #India #attariwagahborder #beatingretreatceremony #amritsar
