Visit to Prambanan Temple

The ruined part of Prambanan temple

On next day after we arrived at Jogyakarta, I managed to take my whole family to visit Prambanan temple.

Prambanan temple is a magnificent hindu temple, located in Prambanan city which is about 1.5 - 2 hours drive from Solo (Surakarta) city in Central of Java or is about 20-30minutes drive from Jogyakarta, Indonesia. Prambanan is a border city between Central of Java province and Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (Jogyakarta, for short, is a special region (province) lead by a King (Sultan) not by a governor).

Prambanan temple is very famous for its love story between a very powerful man named, Bandung Bondowoso and a very beautiful princess named, Roro Jonggrang who is cursed to be one of the stupa by Bandung because she has tricked him. This love story has become a legend over the years. This famous love story which is called Ramayana, is brought to live on the open air-stage on the west side of the Prambanan temple every full moon from May - October. The Ramayana is an act using traditional javanese costumes and language. The actors and actresses will dance gracefully and sing the traditional javanese rhymes. It's a show worth to see when you visit Prambanan temple.

There is another famous story about Prambanan that is if you go to visit this temple with your boyfriend/girlfriend, you will break-up with your bf/gf after your visit to this temple because of the curse that is made by Bandung Bondowoso for he does not like to see unmarried couple. But if you are a married couple, then you will be fine.
When we visited Prambanan, we tried to arrive there at around 3pm so that it wouldn't be too hot when we walked around the Prambanan temple area which is quite large. It is advisable to wear a cap/hat/ an umbrella, otherwise you can get headache. The ticket price is 8,000rupiah and it is open from 6am - 6pm (7 days).
Not far from Prambanan temple area, there is another temple area called Candi Sewu (Sewu temple). Candi Sewu is a buddhist temple. About 3 km south of Prambanan temple, there is a magnificent archeology site called, Ratu Boko. These 2 areas closed to Prambanan temple are worth to see.

Please don't forget that you also have to visit the Borobudur temple in Magelang (about 1hour-drive from Jogyakarta). Borobudur is one of the 7 wonders in the world and this would be my next post.

So, when you visit Jogyakarta, please make sure you allocate your time schedule properly to avoid missing the opportunity of witnessing the grandeur of these temples.
Oh, by the way, before you go to Prambanan, it is better to check on the internet first and get as much as information about it. You can always google it and you'll get the websites right in front of your eyes in no time.