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It was a big question for us where to go during the long weekend. I think we visited the majority of “long weekend” types of destinations, so our bucket list for the short vacations was rather empty. Likely, it was a notable place where we haven’t been - Yogyakarta. The number one attraction is Borobudur, an enormously huge, beautiful Buddhist temple. I knew Yogyakarta is on mountainous terrain, so it should have hiking, breathtaking scenery, etc. Thus, we quickly decided to dedicate our Labor Day weekend to exploring this destination.

The first day

Our first day was almost eaten by the flight and transportation to the hotel, so I’m not going to dive deep into it. Particularly, I don’t remember much, except the beautiful view from the hotel room:

Also, on the way to the hotel, we learned from a taxi driver that Yogyakarta is still a monarchy and a ruler, a member of a royal family, appointed by a president. That’s a very unusual government structure, and I never heard about anything similar before.

On the contrary, the second day was pretty packed. We started from the main adventure - Borobudur. Before heading to the temple, we decided to visit one of the Yogyakarta hills with an astonishing view of the temple - Punthuk Setumbu. It was quite a special experience to contemplate how completely pitch dark the horizon was uncovered by the morning Sun. It’s like a distant puppeteer slowly pulling down a theatrical curtain, and a viewer enjoys an exceptional masterpiece - a hilly, arched valley wrapped up by clouds like a giant blanket.

The attraction point of this still life was a gem of the area - Borobudur. Obviously, the place is a bit touristy. In the morning, there is a reasonable crowd (surprisingly, with plenty of Russian tourists), photo spots, and food places, but it really can’t shadow the beauty of the view.

After the observation deck, we went straight to the cherry on top of the Yogokarta’s pie - Borobudur. The temple is beautiful from both inside and outside. I really enjoy its appearance, architecture, and surroundings.

Also, I very much enjoyed the engraving of the temple walls - stories of the previous Buddha lives. The design is completely unique and intricate.

After the Borobudur temple, we had a little bit of sorrowful fun. We headed down to Gunung Merapi. You probably wonder why it’s fun. The place is far in the mountains, so there is a unique chance to ride 4x4s in the area. Why sorrow? The area has a village that has been affected by a nearby volcano eruption. The majority of the houses were destroyed, cattle burned alive by lava & volcanic ash, and people who hadn’t been able to run away. I enjoyed the 4x4 ride, but I still have an image of the ruined houses in my head.

Lastly, we visited another religious complex - Prambanan Temple and its vicinity. Surprisingly, it’s quite comparable to Borobudur, but not that famous. This complex is quite huge and, obviously, beautiful. Unfortunately, we were quite tired, so we didn’t have the energy to fully explore this place, but I would strongly recommend spending more time in this area.

The second day

On the second day, we decided to explore the city center and the imperial palace. Even though the city center was within walking distance from our hotel, we took a cab as the city streets aren’t tailored for pedestrians. After a short ride, we headed towards Taman Sari, a former royal garden of the Sultanate of Yogyakarta. The place is a little bit rundown, but there is some beauty in it.

In general, the city centre has a small, pedestrian area, so it’s quite fun walking around and enjoying the architecture. Each tourist attraction has a bunch of guides offering their services, and usually, I’m not a big fan of guided tours, but there was a second time when I didn’t regret joining the tour (the first one was a Machu Picchu). The guide brought us through the only locally known way across the district and showed us the ruins of one of the royal buildings, which was completely stunning.

Lastly, that day we decided to check out the emperor’s palace. The place is great but rather empty. It has plenty of interesting exhibits, but it doesn’t really feel holistic or complete. Because of that, we didn’t really spend too much time there and covered the place pretty quickly.

On the last day, we hadn’t done much but decided to check on the local batik craftsman. Our hired driver recommended a local master, so we went straight to his workshop. The place is rather unnoticeable, so I wouldn’t go there without a recommendation. The place’s name is Kabul Painting Gallery (Kabul is the artist’s name). During our visit, the place was rather empty, so the artist personally walked us through the gallery and showed us different batiks. Eventually, we picked a magnificent, colorful image of Borobudur: