Just so you're not confused… The city's name was spelled Yogyakarta for many years. But because it is pronounced Jog' ja kar' ta, people recently began writing it the way it's spoken. Now you'll see both spellings in addition to our nickname, Yogya or Jogja.

They all refer to the cultural heart of Java.

Its this unique blend of the Sultan's traditional court culture and modern lifestyles - of students from all over Indonesia and foreigners from across the globe - that make this city such a vibrant place to live and visit.

Both Paramita Tours & Travel and ViaVia Jogja take pride and a great deal of pleasure in sharing the hidden treasures of Jogja and the surrounding region of Central Java to visitors from all over the world.

They each have a wide range of tours, special courses and programs to meet the diverse interests of their guests. In fact when you visit their websites, you'll see how easy it is to create your own tour package to suit your interests and time schedule. Both companies also have Overland Tours through East Java either from Bali to Jogja or from Jogja to Bali.

For pricing and further information visit their websites at: www.paramitatours.com and www.viaviajogja.com

Here are their suggestions for a 5-Day Jogyakarta / Central Java Tour from a cultural and spiritual perspective.

VIAVIA JOGJA

Discover the intriguing mixture of old and new that makes up Jogyakarta through ViaVia's tours and courses. Multilingual local young people, trained by ViaVia, will share a wide range of information on daily life, on history and on social issues. We hope to widen people's horizons and encourage an interactive exchange with local people and their culture.

After your tour is finished for the day, come relax in our popular café where travelers and locals, both Indonesians and foreigners, meet over healthy food and drinks from our world kitchen menu. Enjoy our changing art exhibitions and don't forget to stop by for Friday night Jazz.

Day 1
Morning: Village Tour Start your journey of discovery with a tour to one of the hundreds of small agricultural and home industry villages surrounding the city. Cycling through sugarcane and rice fields, you'll leave the busy city traffic behind. People's welcome smiles are genuine and our relationships built up over many years are real. That's what community based tourism is all about.

Afternoon: Religion Tour What makes Indonesia so magical to travelers and people who live here is the vast and visible variety of cultures, languages, peoples and religions.

This tour offers you a unique opportunity to gain an understanding of Indonesia's religious diversity expressed officially through Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism. In addition, underlying the official religions there are ancient Javanese beliefs known as Kejawen, which are very much alive today.

The information provided by your guide will make you better equipped to understand what you see around you here in Indonesia. Interacting and discussing these ideas with your guide and others in the group will broaden your perspectives on people and cultures different from your own.

Day 2 - Borobudur
buddha-borodudur Join us via small village roads and thus beautiful scenery to Borobudur, the most outstanding Buddhist temple in South-East Asia. Built between 778 and 850 AD, Borobudur is one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The 1,460 reliefs carved in stone slabs that cover the balustrade illustrate Buddha's life and teachings. A total of 504 statues of Buddha line the walkways of nine terraces. On the upper, open terraces are more than 70 stupas, each containing a sitting statue of Buddha. On the top, underneath the great stupa, alone under the sky, surrounded by the green plains far below, the sensation is one of total tranquility and serenity.

Day 3 - Prambanan and Hidden Temples Tour
About 17 km away from Jogja, you'll visit one of the highlights of Java, the Prambanan temple complex. The main temples, constructed in the middle of the 9th century, are an excellent example of Hindu art, with carved reliefs telling the Ramayana story.

The outlying temples are mostly unvisited, although some of them are small hidden and forgotten jewels in beautiful surroundings. Your guide will take you to our selection of favorite sites and share with you the history of gods and demons.

City Tour - Your Choice
Walk with us in the late afternoon into the evening and discover Jogja in a whole new way!
Alun - Alun Walk
Discover more about life within the walls of the city palace as the sun sets. Chill out while playing a mystical game and ask all you ever wanted to know over a tea and a local snack.
Katamso Walk
Look at one of the main streets through different eyes. We walk through Jalan Katamso, which offers an enormous variety of social, cultural, architectural, and historical stories.
Kali Code Walk
Walk along the Code (Cho-day) River and see one of Jogja's vibrant and most populated neighborhoods. Learn more about the way people live and work and spend their free time.

Day 4 - Candi Ceto and Candi Sukuh Tour
The erotic temples Candi Ceto and Candi Sukuh are an archeological mystery. Beautifully set on the slopes of the mountain Gunung Lawu, they remind us of the ruins of ancient Mexico. Their stunning location, overlooking the Solo river valley with its lake and terraces, provides for an excellent walking trip. Java Hiking

We start from ViaVia by private mini-bus through Solo to Candi Ceto. After visiting this temple we are ready for a three hour walk through a mountainous area, enjoying stupendous views and cool forests, to Candi Sukuh.

Day 5 - Jamu and Massage
The Javanese have a long tradition of herbal medicines and tonics, called jamu. Many people prepare their own jamu at home, using secret family-recipes. Approximately 150 different plants are used not including sweeteners and spices. You'll go to a market specialized in jamu, visit a home industry and finally try to make your own jamu in the traditional way. We focus on massage-oils and cleansing facemasks.

Another very famous way of curing people from tiredness and a variety of minor ailments is massage. Within this trip you'll get a typical Javanese massage of about half an hour.

For further information, prices and details on our tours, please visit us at www.viaviajogja.com
ViaVia Jogja, Jl. Prawirotaman 30, Jogyakarta, Tel: +62 (0)274 386557 / +62 (0)274 372 874

Paramita Tours & Travel

Paramita Tours & Travel would like to awaken your appreciation for the ancient Javanese arts and culture, the deeply devoted vivid traditions as well as everyday life by:

Traveling in individual and small group tours
Staying overnight in hotels steeped in traditional Javanese atmosphere
Getting to know the ancient culture through our professional multilingual tour guides and having enough quiet time to absorb your experiences
Meeting local Javanese people and exchanging ideas with the help of your tour guide
Getting to know a different culture, traditions and moral beliefs
Experiencing and learning to understand everyday life

Here is a suggested itinerary for a 5-day exploration of Jogyakarta and Central Java seen from a cultural-spiritual perspective. This is a special package we've created for readers of BaliSpirit.com. When you look at our website, you'll see many more special interest tours, courses and further details on our programs. www.paramitatours.com

Day 1 - Yoga in the cool hills of Losari Coffee Plantation Resort & Spa From the Jogja airport you'll head straight for the cooler hill climate at Losari Coffee Plantation Resort & Spa about an hour's drive on the way to Semarang. Spread over a 22 hectare coffee plantation, the 26 guesthouses are individually designed in traditional Javanese architectural style and tastefully appointed with antiques and contemporary art. You'll enjoy spectacular sunrises and sunsets from the wide verandas overlooking eight volcanoes in the highlands of Central Java.

Your first yoga session, combining Ashtanga and Iyengar Yoga, takes place in the peaceful garden near the fish ponds.

You can experience a wide variety of traditional spa treatments practiced for centuries in Javanese Royal Palaces. Afterwards, soak your cares away in the HAMAM, an authentic Turkish bath. Taste traditional Javanese herbal medicines and tonics prepared for you in the Aren Palm Grove. A fitness center, tennis courts and children's club all complete the luxurious atmosphere of Losari Coffee Plantation Resort & Spa.

Day 2 - Begin the day with an early morning yoga session.
Rice Field Afterwards discover the fascinating world of coffee production. Walk through the coffee plantation, see the process, and have a coffee break on the tour.

Check out, and drive to the famous 1,100 year-old Buddhist Temple, BOROBUDUR. You'll discover for yourself why it's known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Feel its history and magic through the ancient carved pictorial stone reliefs guiding the viewer through the Buddha's teachings, leading to nirvana or enlightenment. Your tour guide will give you insight into the meanings of the temple, its reliefs and the statues of Buddha.

Afterwards you drive to the fascinating city of Jogyakarta where you check into Jogja Village Inn, a small family-style boutique hotel, with traditional Javanese ambiance. This is truly a tranquil garden oasis with saltwater swimming pool, yet close to restaurants and shops nearby.

Day 3 - Imogiri and a meeting with the Queen of the Southern Sea
Early in the morning you'll drive along fertile rice fields to the little village of Imogiri. Walking through a Eucalyptus forest you'll reach the impressive sacred burial site of the Sultans of Solo and Yogyakarta, situated high on a hill overlooking the lush valleys below. In respect of this sacred place, traditional Javanese clothes, which can be rented, must be worn. Buy flower offerings for the graves and get ready for the Hindu-Islamic opening ceremony. This peaceful complex is only open to the public on Sundays and Mondays from 10 am to 1 pm. Fridays from 1 to 4 pm.

On your way to Parangtritis, a black sandy beach on the wild, roaring Indian Ocean you can also walk for about an hour along hills overlooking spectacular views out to the ocean. These beaches are full of mysticism and many Javanese still believe in the power of Nyai Roro Kidul, the Queen of the Southern Sea. Many people come to seek her advice, bringing offerings to ask for blessings and guidance.

You'll meet the caretaker of the graveyard of the founder of the second Mataram Kingdom, the first Sultan of Yogyakarta, Panembahan Senopati, who originally met the Queen of the South here.

Enjoy the sunset on the horizon of the Indian Ocean. Afterwards, you'll join in a ceremony with the guard as you make your own offerings to the Queen with fragrant incense and flower petals cast into the waves.

(If your schedule does not fit with days Imogiri is open, you have a choice of a Village Handicraft Tour, or Jogja City Tour in the morning)

Day 4 - Candi Boko and Breath/Movement Meditation
Your day starts early watching the sunrise at Candi Ratu Boko (King Boko's Palace) high on a hill overlooking the entire Jogja area. If you're lucky the magnificent Mt. Merapi volcano will come out of its hiding place behind the mist and clouds for a stunning view.

The Javanese culture is a very old master. Combining deep breathing with specific movements of the Anugrah Agung Meditation practice brings both a sense of relaxed calm and revitalized energy.

After the mediation, you can explore the ancient ruins of the palace complex and go for a 45-minute walk to the Barong temple situated on a hill. Then walk through the ricefields to Candi Banyunibo, originally part of a much larger Buddhist site, now completely restored.

Evening: Wayang Kulit Shadow Puppet Performance
Immerse yourself in a world of gods and demons, kings and princesses as you watch the dalang, or puppet master, weave stories from the Ramayana or Mahabharata legends. Wayang kulit are intricately carved two-dimensional leather puppets which, when held up to the light, cast shadows on a screen behind them. From tiny villages to the sultan's palace, wayang tales hold a special place in the heart of every Javanese.

Day 5 - Jamu, Javanese traditional herbal medicine
From the flu to stuffy nose, headaches to low energy, relieving cramps to body beauty scrubs, relief is as near as the local herbalist or Jamu seller. As in traditional societies around the world, it is women who pass on the healing prescriptions found in herbs, plants, roots, barks, fungi, and minerals.

You'll have a look at the process of making this still very common traditional Javanese medicine. Watch the women grinding the leaves and roots into a liquid you can drink directly. Or, take some powder or dried leaves with you to heal yourself at home.

Contact us through: Paramita Tours & Travel Lobby Hotel Jogyakarta Plaza
Jl. Affandi Complex Columbo Jogyakarta 55281
Tel: +62 (0)274 551500, 584222, ext. 464
info[at]paramitatours.com or paratour[at]telkom.net replace [at] with @
www.paramitatours.com

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