Journey With Rachael : Old City Banten, Indonesia

Banten Lama is a ruined palace with some old tombs and cannons to show for its hundreds of year history. Banten was one of the greatest city of Southeast Asia, with 1000 junks(ship) from China to buy Bantenese pepper every year. Sultan of Banten get to control the strategic and valuable Sunda Strait. Unfortunately, all come to an end with the arrival of European explorer and colonizers. Dutch had flatted most of the Old Benten on the 17th century.

It was a one day trip to Banten Lama with Prili and her colleagues during my visit to Indonesia. The weather was incredibly hot in the middle of the day, I suggest to make your trip early in the morning. And carry your hat or an umbrella along with you. Our First destination was to Benteng Surosowan. Benteng means fortress. The fortress was huge in square shape, the wall was still intact.

After lunch at the local restaurant, we headed to Situs Istana Keraton Kaibon.( Istana means palace.) This palace was located beside a river. It was spacious and huge. We could still able to see the shape of some parts of the fortress. We spent most of our time here to take photograph and enjoy the view.

Our last stop of the day was Benteng Spellwijk. We met the caretaker of the fortress. He brought us ti a room in front compound of the fortress. We walk in an alley to get into the room. It is very dark inside, fortunately there's an opening on the ceiling of, to allow the sunlight enter the alley. He explained to us the river was big in the past, so the ship able to reach the fortress from the ocean. It explains why this fortress is big.