YOGYAKARTA

MIDDLE JAVA

Yogyakarta is Indonesia in miniature. Whwn visitors come to inhale the air of Yogya, they feel like they have lived. Yogya has been describe “Javas cultural heart” the “Soul city of Java” or “Planted in the fertile heartland of Central Java, (it is) the cradle of the great Javanese empires… the centre of Indonesia’s grand culturak traditions… the capital of ancient kingdoms, medieval empires and modern revolution and an enjoy mélange of style and moods.

Whatever Yogyakarta is or aims to be, this fascinating city with its surrounding jungles, rice fields and mountains lies in the heart of Indonesia’s most important ancient empires. In Yogyakarta itself you can visit the impressive Sultants’s Palace (the Kraton) under the watchful, but friendly eyes, of a hundred palace guards in their traditional and distinctive uniforms. You can tour its bustling markets and avenues and purchase arts and craft created by Java’s finest craftsmen and painters. Once you’ve seen enough of modern Java, you can then head for the countryside and marvel at some of ancient Asia’s grandest wonders-the great 8th to 10th century Hindu and Buddhist temples of Prambanan, Borobudur and their subsidiary candies (temple) and shrines that dot the Javanese countryside.

Yogya is a place where nothing is leaved until it is experienced.