TIBET'S POTALA PALACE

                       The World's Highest Palace

            The first thing anyone arriving in Lhasa, Tibet notices is the Potala Palace, which dominates the Lhasa skyline. The extraordinary 13 story Palace, one of the grandest monuments in Asia and the world, towers over one of the world’s highest cities. Stretching 400-meters east to west and 350-meters north to south, it would be hard to miss! It stretches 400-feet toward the sky on top of the red hill and is 1000-feet above the valley floor. It definitely dominates the city. At an altitude of 12,359-feet it is the highest ancient palace in the world. The name translates into Buddha of Mercy.

            Built in the 17^th century it boasts 10,000 chapels, a labyrinth of mysterious dungeons and 1000 rooms, including the Red Palace, where the Dalai Lama once lived. It took 7000 workers and 1500 artists/craftsmen more than 50 years to build the adjoining Red and White Palaces that are known as the Potala Palace.

            A small bus drove us up the hill to the 5^th level of the palace. From there we walked up one level at a time until we eventually reached the top. There were not too many stairs and the climbs were not too steep.

            The palace has a complicated  layout of halls, chapels, libraries, small galleries, and winding passageways on several levels. The Great West Hall, the largest at 7800 square feet, is surrounded by three chapels. I thought the inside of the palace was dark, dank and dingy even  though it houses a stunning array of treasures including bright brocades, religious scrolls, murals, gold and jeweled-encrusted tombs, 200,000statues and hundreds of Buddhas. The Palace was designated a UNESCO site in 1994. Some restoration was in progress.

            The Red Palace is painted red to symbolize stateliness   and power. The White Palace  represents peace and serenity. The building was started by the 5^th Dalia Lama in 1645 and only two parts of the construction remain that date to the 7^th century.

            We spotted 3-4 of the ten resident cats of the palace that are kept to keep a rat population under control.

Sweeping views of the city below could be seen from various vantage points. It was a clear sunny day and at the very top of the world we were surprised to see how large the city actually is. At ground level it seemed smaller.

Top of the world was a perfect place for a group photo. We lined our cameras on a bench for our guide to take the pictures. We were the focus of many Chinese also visiting the temple and it was fun to see so many of them line up to take pictures of us. It was a new experience to be an attraction. But there was no way an American group could blend in to that society.

A walk down many many steps returned us to street level. However, for the most part the steps were not very steep and pretty easy to navigate.