Solo Gateways and Street Food Market
After the last four days had been really exhausting, the day today simply had to be more relaxed, slow and easy-going…
White Gateway of the Palace Area in Solo on Java, Indonesia
While the last days had required getting up between 4 and 5am, travelling 12 hours a day or hiking on volcanoes and walking around, now it was great to not having a schedule and being able to take care of such exciting things as laundry. The little homestay in Solo, surrounded by a small garden, was the perfect place for that and so it wasn’t until lunch time that I finally felt ready to leave the fenced-in complex. Naturally the great open-air street food market became my first destination and since the food was so tasty, I ended up spending over two hours sampling various dishes from different stalls…
Only after it was absolutely impossible to eat anything more, I managed to make my way to the 1745 established royal palace called Kraton Surakarta. But unfortunately it appeared that I had spent too much time enjoying the delicious food and so I found this palace closed down for the day. Luckily there was a second palace in Solo, Istana Mangkunegaran, established 1757 and still partially inhabited by the aristocratic family. But by the time I finally arrived there, it was closed already as well…
Local Street Food Market in Solo on Java, Indonesia
Slightly disappointed about the much too early closing times in Solo, I simply used the day to walk around and explore the area around the palace. While the palace itself was enclosed by white walls, the surrounding area as well turned out to be a maze of white walls and gateways. It seemed that everything must have been once part of the extensive palace complex, providing living quarters for employees of the court and stables for the royal horses. Nowadays behind those gateways lay small courtyards with tiny micro cosmoses of houses and small businesses…
While it was fun to just wander around and explore as many of the white wall gateways as possible, eventually I rather focused my attention on the street food again. There happened to be street vendors everywhere, making fantastic little pancakes with coconut and chocolate or banana. They were simply delicious and so was the food on the lively street food market as well again in the evening. Even if the palace visits had not worked out today, at least the food was amazing and there even happened to be another fashion show. This time it was Batik themed, displaying busy local patterns and helping to make this the perfect ending of a nice day in Solo…
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