Central Java – in 5 photos

Temples, volcanoes and cobbled streets in Java's cultural heartland

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Central Java – in 5 photos

Temples, volcanoes and cobbled streets in Java's cultural heartland

Dear NE One

Running across the slim waist of the world’s most populated island* is the Indonesian province of Central Java. In name it is quite ordinary – dull in fact – but to spend time among the verdant, volcanic hills and historic city streets of Central Java is to delve deep into the history and traditions of a people whose intricate cultural roots reach back into the Bronze Age.

*Java – which is just slightly larger than Greece, is home to 153 million people. Greece, by comparison, has a population of just 10.4 million.

Down south, where Central Java touches the Indian Ocean, the province wraps itself around the Special Region of Yogyakarta, a city (often conveniently called simply ‘Jogja’) and surrounds that have, for centuries, been ruled by a sultan. Revered as a cultural powerhouse where classical arts and batik traditions still thrive, Jogja is also the gateway to Borobudur and Prambanan, two of Southeast Asia’s most extraordinary temples.

From the coastline on the Indian Ocean (realm of the legendary Queen of the South Sea), Central Java stretches 130km up to the historic port city of Semarang, where the waters of the Java Sea were once plied by spice traders, pirates and merchants. The landscape in-between is strikingly diverse. From the dramatic karstic hills of Yogyakarta’s Gunungkidul regency in the south, where underground rivers tumble through yawning cave systems, to the towering volcanic mountains dominated by Gunung Merapi, to the hillsides of manicured tea plantations and the patiently-tended paddies of rice, this land is made for wandering.