Greetings to everybodyl! I continue my story about wonderful Bali. This time we will go to the famous Bratan lake. A mystical, religious, unusual place.
This lake was formed after a volcanic eruption, and at the moment it is one of the largest sources of fresh water at Bali.
The locals use the water of this lake to irrigate rice fields, and the lake is very important to them.
But the lake is also known for the fact that there is Pura Ulun Danu temple on it, which was built in the 17th century in honor of the goddess Dewi Danu. She is the patroness of this lake. The temple stands on both land and water, and includes several pagodas.
The Ulun Danu Temple is an example of a classical Hindu temple. It has 11 tiers. This is the maximum possible number of tiers, by which you can understand how important this temple is for Bali.
The temple itself is dedicated to the god Shiva and his wife Parvati. The water in this lake is considered sacred. Local priests draw water from this lake to conduct religious rites. They say that if a person enters this lake at sunrise, he will get health and youth.
Next to the 11-tier temple, you can see a 3-tier temple called Lingga Petak.
All other buildings of the temple complex are surrounded by luxurious greenery. The harmony of nature and architecture is simply amazing.
Not far from Lake Bratan there is a beautiful botanical garden. This garden was founded by the Scientific Institute of Indonesia.
Rare plants are preserved here and the plant world is explored.
Here you can meet birds and animals. Many of them are very sociable.
On the way back we stopped at the market to buy some fruit. How exotic they are! As exotic as the entire flora of Indonesia.
To be continued.