Yogyakarta is a fabulous city to stay in. Its got lots to see, palaces, markets, and world famous temples a day trip away.

It was very hot and humid while we were there and we made the mistake of staying somewhere with no air conditioning but having our own little jungle ( complete with creepy crawly wildlife) straight outside our room made up for it. We could sit on wooden chairs on a little patio for hours undisturbed but only feet away from hotel facilities. Within a few minutes walk we had the best ice cream shop ever and a range of restaurants and bars. We settled on the Beatles bar as our local for the week and a small cafe nearby for bargain food. JP even found a very dodgy looking but apparently reputable massage parlour just round the corner.

The Kraton

 

 

The Kraton is an eighteenth century royal complex. Originally built by prince Mangkubumi who became the first sultan of Yogykarta. Part of it is still used by the current reigning sultan. Its fabulous pavillions are still used for dance and gamelan ( bronze percussion) music performances. You can just watch whichever is going on while you are there, we watched a beautiful dance.

The Water Palace

 

 

Taman Sari water Palace was a private garden for the Sultan with his own bathing pools. Nowadays people wander around and it seems a popular wedding photo venue although the bride and groom stayed at opposite ends of the pool all the time we were there.

Shopping

 

Time to hit the shops. There are lots of them all very busy. To keep us going we went into Dunkin Donuts, take care, what looks like a strawberry jam  doughnut is – well I don’t know –  but it’s something very red and  unknown to European taste buds!