Solo
Yogyakarta'S Older Rival, Created When The Dutch Split The Mataram Sultanate In 1755; A City Of Two Royal Courts, The Largest Batik Market In Indonesia, And A Quieter Claim To Javanese Refinement · Solo, Central Java
IN 1755 THE DUTCH SPLIT THE MATARAM SULTANATE IN TWO, and the two halves - Surakarta and Yogyakarta - have been rivals ever since. Everyone goes to Yogyakarta. SOLO IS THE OTHER ONE, and it considers itself the more refined of the pair: quieter, more conservative, less interested in explaining itself to visitors, and with TWO ROYAL COURTS rather than one - the KASUNANAN palace and the smaller, more elegant MANGKUNEGARAN. It is the centre of Javanese BATIK: PASAR KLEWER is the largest batik market in the country, and KAMPUNG BATIK LAWEYAN is the old producing quarter where the work is still done in family compounds. GAMELAN AND WAYANG ARE PERFORMED SERIOUSLY HERE rather than for an audience. It is also cheaper than Yogyakarta, less crowded, and largely skipped - which is the argument for going. It is also forty-five minutes from Sangiran and an hour and a half from Yogyakarta, and almost nobody combines the three.
Surakarta, Central Java, Solo, Central Java, Indonesia
SOLO IS A CITY AND IS ALWAYS OPEN. THE KASUNANAN AND MANGKUNEGARAN PALACES keep museum hours, generally mornings into the early afternoon, AND CLOSE FOR ROYAL CEREMONIES - both are working courts. PASAR KLEWER runs from morning through the afternoon and is at its most intense in the morning. KAMPUNG BATIK LAWEYAN AND KAMPUNG BATIK KAUMAN are residential quarters rather than sites: workshops open on their own terms and welcome visitors who ask. GAMELAN AND WAYANG PERFORMANCES run at the palaces and at RADYA PUSTAKA and the arts centre on published schedules - ask locally, since these are not aimed at visitors. SOLO HAS TRAINS FROM JAKARTA AND SURABAYA and an airport; it is about an hour and a half from Yogyakarta and forty-five minutes from Sangiran.