Maybe for some ordinary people who like to adventure or explore, the city of Solo as a city of culture only has tourist destinations such as the Surakarta Hadiningrat Palace and the Mangkunegaran Palace, but not me. I feel that the city of Solo is a city that is as special as the city of Yogyakarta, or is it even that the city of Solo is far more special?

One morning in September, I arrived in Bengawan City at three o’clock in the morning at Solo Balapan Station. For me, a millennial traveler, I already know where to go this morning. Yep, 5 minutes from Solo Balapan Station, I arrived at Gudeg Cakar Bu Kasno in the Margoyudan area. This early morning culinary sensation turned out to be quite crowded, even at three this morning I still had to queue.

It turns out that Gudeg Cakar Bu Kasno Margoyudan has been around since the 1970s, and is only open from one in the morning until around seven in the morning. In contrast to gudeg in the city of Yogyakarta, which has a dominant sweet taste, Gudeg Cakar Bu Kasno Margoyudan has a quite savory sensation. One serving of Nasi Gudeg Cakar is priced at twenty thousand rupiahs. Interesting enough to enjoy the sensation of eating in the early hours of the morning.

After from Gudeg Cakar Bu Kasno Margoyudan, I continued my journey to the Surakarta Grand Mosque to stop briefly to fulfill my obligations as a Muslim. This blue-dominated building is located west of Solo’s North Alun-Alun, not far from the Pasar Klewer complex which is also the largest batik market in Southeast Asia.

It’s six o’clock in the morning, time to look for breakfast! Even though I had eaten warm claws this morning, it seems that my stomach can’t resist a special breakfast dish that only exists in Solo, Nasi Liwet!

Even though there are many versions of Nasi Liwet Solo in Indonesia, Nasi Liwet in Solo still has an authentic and distinctive taste. It’s not complete if you don’t enjoy Nasi Liwet Solo in Solo City. Tasty rice combined with chayote, then added with shredded chicken and boiled eggs and sprinkled with areh add to the delicacy of Nasi Liwet Solo.

The hustle and bustle of the Klewer Market traders began to be felt, activity began to awaken. I explored the Klewer Market stalls one by one. One of the things I like about Klewer Market is that batik is not only being traded, the traders are also friendly. One step I walked was greeted with a lively tone of voice

“Come on, beautiful lady, what are you looking for, can you stop by first?”

You can’t help but smile, it’s only natural which woman doesn’t like being called beautiful? Ha ha ha

Wandering around Klewer Market was enough to make me go shopping crazy. Apart from getting some batik outfits, batik tote bags, I also got mandala cloth which turned out to be really cheap!

Psstt… The key is one, don’t hesitate to bid on the price until you get a cheap price deal, okay! Ha ha ha

Without realizing it, my watch started showing 10.00, I immediately rushed out of Klewer Market and immediately looked for transportation to the Sriwedari area. And just right, when I was leaving Pasar Klewer, a blue bus with a picture of a Punakawan puppet character passed in front of me. Batik Solo Trans is the name! To ride Batik Solo Trans, it is enough to pay a ticket of four thousand five hundred rupiah for the public.

Oh yes, today I have an appointment with my friend to meet at a place, Tumuurun Private Museum. If anyone is not too familiar, the Tumurun Private Museum is a private museum which contains the private collection belonging to the Lukminto family who are the owners of the Sritex textile factory. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to come to the Tumurun Private Museum, because even though entry tickets are not being sold, the Tumurun Private Museum requires a reservation through their website.

I was quite amazed when I entered and toured the Tumurun Private Museum, because apart from being magnificent and luxurious, there are many cool collections of works of art. For you lovers of works of art, you really have to come to the Tumurun Private Museum!

After we were quite satisfied walking around, my friend and I walked 10 meters from the Tumuurun Private Museum location to fill our stomachs because it was already lunch time. And voilaa.. we stopped at a place to eat which from a distance already knew what menu it was serving because of the smoke and smell it produced, yep Pak Manto’s Goat Sate.

Apart from selling goat satay, Pak Manto’s Goat Sate Eating Warung also provides a variety of processed goats, from tongseng, tengkleng, to goat gule. My favorite, if you go to Solo, you really have to try the buntel satay and tengkleng mutton hihihi.

After filling my stomach full, then my friend took me to go to the hotel where I was staying. And again I found a hidden gem in the middle of Solo, a hotel with a classic Javanese feel that is really unique and really feels the vibes of being in Solo.

The hotel is named Roemahkoe Heritage Hotel. A hotel located in Laweyan, which is close to Kampung Batik Laweyan, one of the largest batik producing villages in Indonesia.

This Roemahkoe Heritage Hotel has a Classical Javanese nuance with a palace-style feel and is definitely very instagrammable. Just entering and enjoying the room alone, I felt like I was the daughter of a Solo noble, hihihi. And it turns out that there is an interesting fact, that the Roemahkoe Heritage Hotel belongs to Mrs. Nina Akbar Tanjung, the wife of Mr. Akbar Tanjung!

Apart from feeling like a princess, the Roemahkoe Heritage Hotel has taught me a lot, that in fact there are still many foreign tourists who are also proud of the original Indonesian culture, especially Javanese culture, because most of the people who stay at the Roemahkoe Heritage Hotel are foreign tourists. Huhu, isn’t this Indonesia really cool, so I’m even more proud!

I decided to take a short break, because tonight my friend invited me to watch an interesting show at the Mangkunegaran Palace. Hmm, that’s pretty interesting too.

Pukul 19.00 temanku menjemputku untuk menuju ke Prangwedanan Pura Mangkunegaran. Malam ini sedang berlangsung pertunjukan International Mask Festival, sebuah pertunjukan seni topeng dengan menghadirkan seniman-seniman baik lokal maupun internasional.

Kami pun kemudian masuk ke dalam venue acara, kupikir acara ini berbayar, dan ternyata gratis! Wow sungguh mengejutkan, karena sekelas event Internasional yang diadakan di sekitar wilayah Keraton Mangkunegaran, dan tidak dipungut biaya masuk sama sekali, bahkan kami mendapat topeng dari panitianya!  Sungguh luar biasa memang Kota Solo ini, gimana nggak jatuh cinta?

Acara Internasional Mask Festival berlangsung selama dua hari, dan besok merupakan hari terakhir. Beragam seniman tampil untuk menyajikan karya seninya. Bahkan beberapa wisatawan mancanegara yang ku lihat di hotel pun sepertinya mereka turut datang juga ke acara ini. Seketika hatiku meleleh, begitu terkesan dan terkesimanya wisatawan mancanegara dengan kebudayaan kita, namun kita sendiri yang memilikinya belum secinta itu dengan kebudayaan Indonesia. Kalau bukan kita yang mencintai kebudayaannya, lantas siapa lagi? Jangan sampai baru menyesal jika sudah diklaim dan diaku oleh negara lain sebagai budayanya.

After watching the International Mask Festival performance, before being escorted to the hotel, my friend and I headed to an angkringan along Jalan Slamet Riyadi. Angkringan or if in Solo it is usually called wedangan/ HIK is quite crowded. Not only gentlemen, but quite a number of young people also came to spend time joking, telling stories, or even just enjoying their dinner.

Wedangan serves a variety of appetizing foods and drinks, especially for me who likes to eat, it’s crazy when I have it!

Starting from piles of packages of milkfish rice, stir-fried rice, anchovy chili rice, rica-rica rice, to even fried rice! The choice of side dishes is also complete, a variety of satay or here call it ‘sundukan’, fried foods, and snacks are available.

The price is also quite cheap, starting from five hundred rupiahs to five thousand rupiahs. Cheap enough right? Indeed, the city of Solo is full of culinary delights!

Oh yeah, there’s something I haven’t told you yet. At the wedangan, apart from selling a variety of foods, there are two drink menus that amazed me, namely wedang teh kampul and wedang ginger kencur Jeruk (JKJ).

In fact, Wedang Kampul tea is almost the same as other sweet teas, but the difference is that the tea contains slices of orange without being squeezed, like lemon tea, but not lemon tea.

Second, wedang ginger kencur Jeruk (JKJ) is the most unique in my opinion. Yep, the combination of ginger, kencur and oranges makes for a drink that is both refreshing and warm to the stomach. Psst.. it is said that wedang JKJ is a secret drink from singers to maintain their stamina and sound quality. Very unique right!

After having had our fill of dinner at Wedangan, my friend and I walked around the city of Solo for a while. Enjoying the breeze of Solo City at night, quiet but there are still activities and people passing by. Don’t forget we crossed the Gatot Subroto Singosaren area. During the day, this area is a shopping area, but when night falls, this area turns into a bustling area of ​​young people who are perpetuating themselves in front of the shop doors.

Yups, throughout the Gatot Subroto Singosaren area, unique murals are drawn, ranging from the theme of the artist Nike Ardilla to President Joko Widodo, the mural depicting Gesang the keroncong maestro, to the mural depicting a bride wearing Solo paes, which was used as a film background. There is also a former Manten starring artist Atiqah Hasiholan.

Not only the murals that are the main attraction of the Gatot Subroto Singosaren area at night, various coffee shops are also lined up and become a place for Solo young people to hang out.

Good morning! This morning I decided to have breakfast at the hotel with a special Roemahkoe Heritage Hotel menu, Nasi Jemblung and Lodoh Pindang. That said, these two menus were the favorite menus of the old Solo kings, you know!

Nasi Jemblung is a menu dish made from beef tongue and then cooked like a stew and served with white rice. In the middle of this white rice is formed like a ring with beef tongue stew in the middle. Served on a banana leaf and complemented by rambak crackers, sliced ​​cucumber, chili paste and tomato as a side dish.

The lodoh pindang menu itself is a menu dish with a sauce such as lodeh vegetables topped with temulawak which contains one boiled egg, sliced ​​beef, carrots, cabbage, peas, chayote, whole bird’s eye chilies and sprinkled with chopped soybeans on top.

These two traditional menus are quite delicious and unique, but it’s a shame they are almost extinct due to eroding by the times, even though there is actually a distinct sensation when enjoying these two menus. It’s like we were transported to the old days of the Kings of the Palace, you know. Very unique right!

After breakfast, I walked for about ten minutes to Kampung Batik Laweyan to visit the batik house owned by my father’s friend, Pakde Hadi. From the hotel it is quite close to the address given by Pakde Hadi, not too far.

It turns out that Pakde Hadi has a batik house showroom as well as opening batik making training for tourists. I didn’t want to waste the opportunity to directly follow directions from a guide on how to make hand-drawn batik. It’s quite fun, but I can’t deny that it turns out that making batik requires extra precision and patience!

After going through a long process, my batik is finally done! It’s great to be involved in making your own Batik creations. I promise to display my work in the room.

After making batik, my friend picked me up to go to the Triwindu Antique Market to accompany me to look for antique jar decorations ordered by my mother.

Setelah melalui perjalanan yang cukup padat, akhirnya kami sampai ke Pasar Antik Triwindu. Pasar Antik Triwindu ini rupanya lumayan dekat dengan lokasi Keraton Mangkunegaran, tempat aku semalam menyaksikan pertunjukan International Mask Festival.

Pasar Antik Triwindu memiliki bangunan yang cukup luas dengan aksen depan bergaya Jawa, dan diatasnya terdapat hiasan wayang kulit. Dan lagi-lagi seperti menemukan hidden gems, aku menemukan surganya tempat pecinta barang-barang antik. Mulai dari tahun paling tua yaitu bahkan sebelum masehi, hingga tahun 90-an.  Benar-benar surganya pecinta barang-barang antik!

Setelah berhasil mendapat pesanan mamaku, aku dan temanku bergegas menuju ke sebuah restoran dengan sajian menu utama, es krim. Namanya Es Krim Tentrem. Konon katanya, Es Krim Tentrem ini sudah buka sejak tahun 1953. Cukup legendaris sekali ya!

Tentrem Ice Cream serves a variety of ice cream menus with a variety of flavors and shapes and colors that are tempting for all to taste. In addition to the delicious taste, the various ice cream menus that are served also have a beautiful appearance and are attractive for photos. It’s a shame it feels to be enjoyed.

Fasting to enjoy ice cream, we immediately looked for a place for lunch. It’s incomplete if you don’t enjoy the Straits in Solo. This one food menu is indeed unique and very identical to the city of Solo.

Apart from being fresh, in my opinion, straits can only be found in Solo. Even if other cities sell menus with the same name Selat, the taste is not as authentic as if enjoyed in the city of Solo.

We stopped at a famous food stall in a small narrow alley, the Mbak Lies Strait.

This food stall is very unique, because it presents a warung atmosphere filled with antique and unique furniture such as jars, plates, ceramics, wall hangings to other antique items which are perfect for uploading on Instagram. In addition to the unique atmosphere of the stall, the waiters are no less unique. They wear Javanese and Dutch clothing which changes every day.

Setelah kenyang menikmati Selat, aku dan temanku kemudian menuju ke sebuah tempat bersejarah namun sangat aestetik dan Instagramable. Lagi-lagi Instagramable ya! Hahahaha memang aku sebagai seorang milenial travelers harus banget cari tempat wisata yang selain memiliki filosofi sejarah juga harus Instagramable dong!

Yap kami tiba di sebuah tempat yang tidak jauh dari patung Slamet Riyadi, namanya Gedung Djoeang ’45 dengan bangunan bergaya Eropa yang memiliki dominasi warna putih, minimalis. Konon kabarnya Gedung Djoeang ’45 ini merupakan bekas kantin para tentara Belanda dan berdiri sudah sejak tahun 1880. Cukup lama juga ya!

Gedung Djoeang ’45 ini merupakan tempat wisata baru di Kota Solo, karena sebelumnya merupakan sebuah gedung yang sudah kosong sejak lama namun di revitalisasi oleh Pemerintah Kota Surakarta.

Untuk harga tiketnya sendiri gratis, namun para pengunjung yang akan memasuki Gedung Djoeang ’45 ini masuk melalui pintu bangunan yang jadi satu dengan sebuah toko yang menjual es krim gelato.

Satisfied with walking around the Djoeang ’45 Building, I did not realize that it was already evening. Tonight my friends and I are going back on a culinary tour again. Yippies! If yesterday we had been to Wedangan or HIK, then tonight I will try a typical Solo culinary called satay kere.

Eits, even though it’s called satay, this kere satay is different from chicken satay and goat satay! Kere satay is made from beef innards and tempeh gembus. In ancient times, satay kere was a food processed by the creativity of the Indonesian people when they saw the Dutch colonials eating satay with meat, then the natives did not run out of ideas to process the innards of wasted cows into a culinary dish that is no less delicious called Sate Kere.

Psst… reportedly satay kere is also one of President Joko Widodo’s favorite culinary delights when he returns to Solo!

Full of enjoying satay kere, we also had time to go around the city of Solo at night. Instead of using a personal motorbike, we tried the sensation of riding a pedicab at night. What a great taste!

I had time to think, if the era is getting more modern like this, traditional public transportation such as rickshaws will increasingly be eroded and will eventually become extinct. So how about the life of the pedicab drivers? So how will they support their children, wives and families?

Ah, I hope that in the future there will be a special policy from the Surakarta City Government to promote pedicabs so they don’t become extinct and eroded by the times, so that pedicab drivers can still prosper in the midst of city modernization. Hopefully…

Today is my last day in Solo City. My train will depart from Balapan Station at two in the afternoon. Before enjoying my last moments in the city of Solo before returning to my hometown, I took time to enjoy breakfast at a soto stall in the Gading area. This soto shop is very unique because it is served not using a bowl, but using a plate. It’s no wonder that this soto shop is called a driver (soto plate).

Apart from being unique because of the place where it is served, soto platter is also unique because the waiters answer each other to convey the customer’s order. Like,

“One plate of soup, one hot tea” with a distinctive tone. How unique!

Filled with eating soup, I took the time to pass by Alun-Alun Kidul Keraton Surakarta to just see a buffalo called a Caucasian buffalo named Kiai Slamet. It is called a Caucasian buffalo because the pet buffaloes of the Surakarta Palace are albino, or have a color pigment disorder on the skin, causing their skin to be white like Caucasians. Hihi so funny huh!

Oh yes, these Caucasian buffaloes are released to be paraded around the city of Solo at certain times such as the 1st Night of Muharram or the Javanese say 1st Night of Sura. On the 1st night of Sura, many people still have assumptions and myths about the sacredness of the Caucasian buffalo, so they also follow the buffalo walking, scrambling to touch the body of the Caucasian buffalo, even so sacred, there are those who scavenge the dirt that comes out of the Caucasian buffalo’s body to take home and is believed to be a bearer of blessings.

Before heading to Balapan Station, I stopped briefly at Pasar Gede to taste the freshness of Es Dawet Telasih and Es Gempol Pleret which they said were really delicious. Hmm, culinary in the market? How do you feel about it?

And it turns out when I got there, wow far from my expectations! Super crowded to the point that you have to take a queue. But it’s really that good!

Es Dawet Telasih is a mixture of coconut milk sauce filled with cendol, palm sugar, sliced ​​jackfruit, marrow porridge and black sticky rice.

Meanwhile Gempol Pleret Ice contains gempol and pleret made from rice flour. Gempol has a savory taste with white round shapes. While the pleret tastes a bit sweet because of the mixture of palm sugar and its long, flat shape. The two doughs made from rice flour are combined with the savory coconut milk. The taste will be more perfect with the addition of liquid Javanese sugar.

A walk in Pasar Gede is incomplete if you don’t buy some souvenirs as souvenirs. Various snacks are served, such as sweet peeps, peanut ampyang, to various processed chips.

But there is one thing that made me interested in exploring Pasar Gede, again I seemed to find hidden gems when exploring Pasar Gede on the second floor.

Various kinds of food vendors ranging from western food, Chinese food, to coffee shops are presented above. What is the sensation of enjoying food in the middle of a market? In fact, said a salesperson, when night falls many young people from Solo are now starting to make Pasar Gede the second floor their new hangout place. Wow quite interesting to visit on another occasion!

I then walked towards the Batik Solo Trans bus stop to immediately head to Balapan Station. It’s so hard to leave the city of Solo. Three days in Solo City I’m not satisfied to explore it. There are still many things that I need to learn more, there are still many places that I need to visit again. Hopefully one day the universe will bring me back to this Bengawan city. A city that not only has culture, but also stories and endless culinary delights. The city that taught me simplicity, the friendliness of its local residents, to memories that might have awakened for three days here. See you next time, Solo City!

This is the best place I’ve ever been to

The air reminds me of happiness

The one I love is in this city

The smell always calls me to come home

Life feels so light when I’m here

Release my fatigue in the arms of the City of Solo

You are a silent witness to my sweat and tears

Never sleep until I don’t feel it

Your simple silence makes me fall in love

S’then want to go back to Solo

The road of life keeps me going

Flowing far and wide like the Bengawan Solo

But you taught me to be wise

Be humble and enjoy the grace of the Almighty

Life feels so light when I’m here

Release my fatigue in the arms of the City of Solo

You are a silent witness to my sweat and tears

I never sleep until I don’t feel sad

Your simplicity makes me fall in love

You are a silent witness to my sweat and tears

Never sleep until I don’t feel it

Your simple silence makes me fall in love

Always wanted to go back to Solo

(Elizabeth Sudira – Miss Solo)