This excursion is best done starting from the east of Bali, for instance from a hotel in Candi Dasa. From Candi Dasa you first drive through Amlapura, one of the major cities of Bali, where you might stop to visit the Puri Kanginan Palace that was the home of the royal family of the Kings of Karangasem until 1966. It is beautiful group of buildings, and you can look through the windows into the sleeping room of the Raja or catch a glimpse of the set of furniture he received as a gift from the Queen of the Netherlands.    Puri Kanginan in Amlapura  From Amlapura you drive north to Tirtta Gangga, which is a water garden with springs and ponds, and also a big pool where you can swim, if you like to. On the way to Tirtta Gangga you come along a vast expanse of rice terraces. The mountain sides are literally carved with rise fields as far as the eye can see. Lotos Pond in Tirtta Gangga  If you are lucky you will also be able to see the majestic volcano Mount Agung , but most of the time it is hiding in the clouds. Take a walk in the gardens and enjoy the murmur of the springs and the lotos flowers in the ponds or sit somewhere and take in the view of the rice terraces in the valley below and the sea in the far distance. It is a very lovely and tranquil site. Especially in the early morning, Tirtta Gangga has an almost magical atmosphere. Ancestor Shrine in Pura Besakih From Tirtta Gangga you have to drive back to Amlapura and then go through Bebendem and Selat to Rendang from where you can take the road to Besakih and up to the Pura Besakih temple. From the road you have spectacular views of the southeast of Bali. Pura Besakih is the most sacred of all Balinese temples. To be exact, it is a complex of about 30 sanctuaries. Most of them are open only to worshippers, but you can walk around them and look at the statues and the carvings in the split gates just as well from outside. Pura Besakih is built on the foot of Mount Agung that is towering over it but the mountain can only very rarely be seen through the clouds.

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