Island Hopping Indonesia - Audley Travel

Island Hopping Indonesia : Group TourMonday08 October, 2012Saraswati Borobudur,YogyakartaPrambanan, JavaCycle ride to Prambanangroup excursion with lunch in a local restaurantPlease pack up your luggage this morning as it will be taken to your next hotelwhile you enjoy the day.Take a leisurely cycle ride through the beautiful central Javanese countryside andsleepy villages. After an early start you will begin by stopping at Gunung Merapi,'Always on Fire', where from the Kaliadem village you will hopefully enjoy amagnificent view of this very active volcano and see the ravines which the moltenstreams of lava created.After this your guide will get you geared up on your bikes (helmets and waterprovided). As you pass through the various villages and countryside you will haveplenty of opportunities to stop for photos and your guide will also be able to showyou the locals engaging in various activities such as tobacco harvesting, rice farmingand snake fruit plantations. You will also stop at various small temples that areregularly unearthed in the area and you can see the original carvings which maydate back as far as the 8th century.Once you have reached the plains at the bottom of Merapi you will reach CandiPlaosan, just a short distance from Prambanan. Candi Plaosan was not only one ofthe last major Buddhist temples to be constructed before Hinduism and then Islambecame the dominant religions but it was also the largest in scope. Because of itssomewhat isolated location, this temple complex has not received the same level ofinterest that has befallen central Java's more famous temples of Borobudur andPrambanan. However, those willing to venture a bit off the beaten path will find avisit to Candi Plaosan to be well worth the effort. The complex itself is made up of174 small buildings, 116 are stupas and 58 are shrines. Many of the buildings haveinscriptions dating from the 9th century and the detailed reliefs, restored in 2010,are incredible to see.The huge Prambanan complex was built in the middle of the 9th century, about 50years after the construction of Borobudur. Unfortunately there is very little earlyhistory about the complex but it is thought to have been constructed tocommemorate the return of a Hindu dynasty to Java. It is thought that during thelatter stages of construction a powerful earthquake or volcanic eruption struckcentral Java causing many deaths. This was believed to be a message from the Godsand Prambanan was quickly abandoned as the population fled to east Java. Similar toBorobudur the temple complex lay buried in layers of ash and it was only in 1811that a surveyor in the service of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, came upon thetemples by chance. Despite their rediscovery Prambanan remained neglected fordecades until reconstruction was started in earnest in the 1930s. In 1991 thetemple complex was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site and now most ofthe temples within the inner compound have been restored however work remainson going following an earthquake in 2006.Although there are 237 temples in the Prambanan site the inner compoundcontains the most beautiful and best restored. The relief panels found on thesetemples are of incredible detail and the 47 metre high Shiva temple in the centralcompound is a real master of construction. Shiva is known as the Destroyer andinside the temple are several chambers containing statues of Shiva and other HinduGods related to Shiva. Either side of the Shiva temple are two other templesdedicated to Brahma the Creator and Vishnu the Keeper.Please note the route is largely downhill so a high level of physical fitness is notrequired, however these small roads can have heavy traffic so keep your wits aboutyou, your guide will be with you all the time and your vehicle will be following.Lunch will be taken near Prambanan itself.16 Itinerary in detail