Sacred cities soothe the soul

Spiritual places have the power to seep into your bones somehow, regardless of the faith or feeling you might bring to them, writes Sarah Baxter.

Dawn was breaking over the ancient city, granting its golden benediction on the time-worn stone. Kashi – ‘‘the luminous one’’ or ‘‘city of the light’’, now best known as Varanasi – was starting to stir. We moved quietly, just the gentle plish of oars on water as the boatman rowed us along the Mother Ganga.

A flock of birds swooped over the rooftops as bells began to chime for early morning rituals. On the ghats – the flights of steps leading down to the river – figures began to move: bathing, stretching, lost in prayer.

The serene scene, with its bells and birds, temple tops and warming sunrise glow snuck in. There was a sense of a place greater than the sum of its colourful, crumbling parts. The centuries of worship practised at this, Hinduism’s most sacred city, seemed scored into the slabs, resounding down the alleyways, soaked into the river itself.

But spiritual places can do that. They have the power to seep in somehow, regardless of the faith or feeling you might bring to them. Indeed, ‘‘spiritual’’ means different things to different people.

For some, it’s joining the hordes at Lourdes to pray and bathe in the French town-turned-pilgrim metropolis, gaining comfort from the presence of thousands of like-minded souls. For others it’s the opposite; it’s escaping the crowds somewhere such as Canada’s peaceful Haida Gwaii archipelago, where First Nations mythology is rooted in the moss and the trees, and Mother Nature is the miracle.

You might find your own salvation or contentedness at either extreme. Despite the current rise of ‘‘wellness’’ holidays offering mindfulness, meditation and a gazillion types of we’ll-sort-you-out spas, the greatest balm may be found in simply sitting amid the spinifex grass to watch Uluru blaze red at sunset or taking a pew at Cordoba’s Mezquita and being hypnotised by the arched interior’s divine grace.

Religious travel is certainly enriching for many. To seek out others who share your beliefs, in a location central to your faith, can be a once-ina-lifetime high. But even if you have no faith at all, there is something soothing about experiencing the faith of others. It’s essential to remain respectful when visiting spiritual places – you may need to cover your head, uncover your head, make an offering, leave no trace.

But, assuming you obey any rules, watching devotees interact with their sacred tombs, pagodas, waterfalls or grottoes can not only give you a

ISTOCK Varanasi is often considered Hinduism’s most sacred city.

KEVIN FRAYER Kashi - ‘‘the luminous one’’ or ‘‘city of the light’’, is now best known as Varanasi.

ISTOCK There’s a sense here of a place greater than the sum of its colourful, crumbling parts.

GETTY IMAGES The centuries of worship practised at Varanasi are scored into the slabs.