Yogyakarta: the gateway to Borobudur

The Kraton, the sultan's palace still inhabited by the royal family, opens some of its halls to the public between traditional Javanese dances and royal collections.

Just steps away, the Taman Sari, a former 18th-century royal pool and garden complex, still preserves water basins once reserved for the sultan's concubines, between underground passages and observation towers.

In the early morning, it's worth reaching Borobudur, the world's largest Buddhist temple, built in the ninth century with over two thousand relief panels carved.

In the afternoon, the Prambanan Temple, the highest Hindu complex in Indonesia, rises with its pointed spires towards the sky.

Borobudur was abandoned and buried under volcanic ash and vegetation for centuries, only rediscovered in the early nineteenth century under British colonial administration.

The Sultan of Yogyakarta retains a politically recognized role to this day under the Indonesian constitution, a unique exception in an otherwise republican nation.