Exclusively offering timlo, taste and authenticity is of no questions. Taken its name from its initial founder the deceased Sastrohardono, the restaurant has been inherited to his following generation. Sastrohardono started his business back in 1952 as a sidewalk stall. Now his children operate his business in a permanent restaurant, still within the same vicinity of Pasar Gede. 

Timlo is a dish in hot chicken broth of simple recipe that includes garlic, nutmeg seed, pepper and shallot. The ingredients include chicken liver, chicken meat, egg, and a kind of sausage. But Solonese sausage is nothing similar to sausages we used to know. Solonese sausage is minced chicken or beef wrapped in thin skin made of flour. Instead of s stick looks more like a pillow.

Visitors flood into the restaurant as soon is it is opened early in the morning. During the “busy” time waiting in queue for hours is expectable. The restaurant normally closes around lunchtime when everything is sold out. Those who want to avoid the queue or come after lunchtime can catch its other outlet in Penumping that opens until 10 at night. Funny enough that even the other outlet is supplied from the same kitchen, people prefers to baked themselves queueing at Pasar Gede instead.

Unfortunately the park seems to be dedicated only to local residents of Solo as it is quite hard to find to visitors who do not know the city very well. The small gate to Taman Balekambang is somehow hidden somewhere close to the – also historically famous – Manahan Stadium. Entrance is free of charge. All you need to pay is parking fee if you come with your own ride. Parkung space is rather limited though.

As almost anything else in Solo, Taman Balekambang also retains a long historic path. The park is built by Kanjeng Gusti Adipati Mangkunegoro VII back in October 26th, 1921, as a token of his love to his two daughters, BRA Partini and BRA Partinah. For his eldest daughter, Partini who loved water, he built a water garden. A pavilion located right on one side of the pool seems to be floating from a distance makes up the name of the park, Balekambang, which literally means floating pavilion. For his younger daughter who loved green surrounding he built a city forest.

Welcoming you to the park is soaring trees, most of which are hundred years old, some of which are rare species, and soothing breeze that gives a completely different feeling from the rest of the city. Elegantly sitting with a hand-fan under the shade is statue of Partinah, and standing with tradititional “kebaya” costume in the middle of a water pond is statue of Partini.

At another pond rests Batu Kodok, home to a meteorite relocated from a location where the central transportation terminal of the city is currently located. Legend says that the stone was used to be a meditation place of the King of Mataram, Panembahan Senopati, and therefore relocation took significant supranatural effort. Sharing the same pond, a frog statu is also said to be relocated from the same place.

For art performances Taman Balekambang has both open stage and indoor theatre. Especially on weekends visitor can enjoy various traditional performances including ketoprak, one of the most traditional heritage in Solo and its adjacent cultural centre of Yogjakarta.

Back in 2008 the city government of Solo revitalized the park and add more facilities including outbound activities, theatre, benches, the park even have deers freely wandering around the park.

The history of Laweyan is even longer than the city of Solo itself. Back to the age of an ancient kingdom named Pajang in the 14th century, Laweyan was the center of textile business. The name itself came from the Javanese word lawe, which literally means spun cotton yarn. Traditional batik production came to Laweyan through the hands of Kyai Ageng Henis, a religion preacher who also taught batik production technique to local residents.

Entering Lalan Sidoluhur houses along both sides are mostly huge and also serve as batik showroom priced from as low as a few bucks to more than a grand. There you can also see batik production which is processed in traditional way inherited along generations. Interested to get your hands on? You can take short course of batik production process.

Further along the street is getting narrower, squeezed among soaring concrete fence of gigantic house built by rich batik merchants. Centuries ago, batik merchants were extremely wealthy and with their wealth they expressed their social status by building huge house. Passed across generations, most of those business remain in operation. Entering batik showroom here you will get an additional tour of beautiful palace that perfectly combine Javanese ancient architecture with strong influence of European, Chinese, and Islamic elements.

So infamous Candi Sukuh is, even those living in Solo or Jogja, nearest townships to the site, may not know where it is. Located in quite a remote area on the slope of Mount Lawu about 1,000 meters above the sea level, you are advised to get yourself a four-wheel-drive vehicle with more than 2.0 liters of diesel engine. If you are taking public transport, the journey is even more challenging. From Solo, take a bus to Tawangmangu at Tirtonadi Bus Terminal. Stop at Karang Pandan, a half way before the final destination. Then continue your journey with a small minivan toward Kemuning where you will have to further by hiring an “ojek”, motorbike taxi.

The whole complex of Candi Sukuh sits on a terraced piece of land. The main gate located at the front side is decorated with carved reliefs. Up at the second terrace you can find reliefs with completely naked humans. Something a bit unusual especially knowing that it is something forbidden in eastern cultural customs. Even more unusual as temple is obviously a religious site. There are also a formation of “lingga” and “yoni”, representation of male and female genitals.

Approaching the main temple on the third terrace there is a stone tower erects on a stone stage. Again, the stage presents erotic reliefs. On one side of the tower is a relief believed to be woman’s uterus with a couple of human beings inside, each represents good and evil. Right in front of the main temple is a “perwara” along with a headless figure of Gupala.

Another interesting aspect of Candi Sukuh is its unique architectural style compared to other similar sites found in the region. Whilst most others were built in a form that symbolize Mount Meru, Candi Sukuh has simple trapezoidal form. Known to be built back in the 15th century before the fall of Majapahit Kingdom, Candi Sukuh shares similar form to Mayan pyramid in Central America.

Is there any connections in between? Among various theories says that Candi Sukuh was built when the glory of Hindu started to fade away in Java and therefore the concept returned back to the megalithic age before arrival of Hindu. Another theory says that Candi Sukuh built as a part of exploration of “tirta amerta”, water of life, as described in Indian Mahabharata manuscript. According to this particular theory, Candi Sukuh was built in the form of Mount Mandaragiri, but the topmost tip was taken as a tool to search for the water of life.

Despite of the mysteries that remains unsolved, a visit to Candi Sukuh gives both refreshing mountain atmosphere as well as exploration of the remains of the last ancient temple built in Java.

In effort to maintain or even improve popularity of batik both nationwide as well as worldwide, Solo Batik Carnival is conducted every year since 2008. The latest event was organized by Solo Center Point Foundation in collaboration with the city government of Surakarta, the official name of Solo.

Inspired by Jember Fashion Carnival which incorporates street fashion parade, designed as a community-based carnival Solo Batik Carnival is aimed to become an international event. No wonder that the two events are conceptually similar with one intrinsic distinction, Solo Batik Carnival makes it mandatory to use batik as the main material for the costumes.

It is not an even for fun as it is aimed to present high quality fashion exhibition. Before participating in the carnival all participants have to enroll into a months long fashion design course. The designed costumes will then have to be made and then worn by the participants in carnival that takes place along the main street of Solo, Jalan Slamet Riyadi that ends at the mayor office.

Initially Solo Batik Carnival was conducted in daylight. But since the fourth year the schedule was shifted to be started in the evening. Magnificently luxurious batik material creatively set into beautiful fashion creations look glorious under colorful floodlights, making the event even more appealing. Floods of attendees are coming not only from Solo and surrounding areas but also from other cities and provinces. To make it easier for both participants and attracted attendees to mark their schedule, starting from 2009 Solo Batik Carnival has a fix schedule, every June.

Each year the event brought a uniquely different theme, Masks, Flower of the Universe, Miraculous Legend, and so forth, which then translated into the costume designs. Combination of classic batik patterns with contemporary modern motives dressed up with various accessories like tiaras and beads makes the event getting more colorful every year.

To expand its exposure last year a delegation of Solo Batik Carnival was sent to participate Chingay Festival in Singapore, which receive wide public appreciation.

The history noted that during the colonial age, Pasar Klewer is a train stopover station. Crowd of passengers attracted merchants to offer various goods, the area surrounding the train station then grew into a marketplace known Pasar Slompretan. The name “slompratan” – in Javanese mean trumpet – comes from the train horn which to people ears sounded like trumpet. As time went by Pasar Slompretan hosted more and more batik merchants. Batik supply was carried by laborers on their shoulder, leaving exceeding textile waving around, a condition which in Javanese expressed as “berkleweran”. Decades later the former name Pasar Slompretan faded away and people prefer to call it Pasar Klewer instead.

Back in 1970 the government refurbished the market into an ample two story building that hosted more than 2000 kiosks. Corridors and stairways were wide to impose even more spaciousness.

Traversing along crisscrossing corridor from one block to another we can find various kinds of batik. In addition to fabric there are also ready-made clothes from traditional Javanese costume called “kebaya” to daily clothing for kids. More than native batik of Solo, there are also batik types from other areas each with unique distinction like batik from Pekalongan, Banyumas, Madura, and Yogyakarta.

From cotton stamped batik costs a few bucks to silk hand-painted batik costs more than a grand can be brought back home at a fraction of price at boutiques and shops with one condition, you have to posses top bargaining skill. Here at Pasar Klewer, bargaining is an art. If you buy plenty then the merchant will make it a bulk order with unbelievable wholesaler discount.

On the upper floor are various kind of textile, making Pasar Klewer not only a huge batik marketplace but also textile of any kinds. Here at the second floor you can also find tailors who can magically change the raw fabric you bought into beautiful clothes in a blink of your eyes.