Jepara by night is a quiet city with, as a friend had warned me, “nothing to do”. We went for a stroll to get our bearings. Despite our best efforts we had been unable to find a map of the city online and the hotel had only one copy. Asking for directions along the way, we found our way to the alun-alun, an open grassy area that provides a central focus in many Javanese towns. We were expecting to see foodstalls lining the streets but there were only small groups of people hanging out. Disappointed, we continued walking, taking a circular route back towards the hotel.

Suddenly we saw a row of pointed white tent tops. Ah-ha at last, some night life! We approached and realised that it was a permanent shelter for many small foodstalls. Many foods were available, including bakso (meatball soup), sop kaki kambing (goat’s foot soup), seafood, fried rice and satay. We ate siomay, a mixed platter of potato, tofu, cabbage, a sort of fish dumpling and egg with a slightly spicy sauce, and krupuk kulit (cow’s skin cooked until it is light and crunchy). We drank es gempol and es rumput laut, both consisting of a milky liquid with ice and then either rice balls (gempol) or seaweed (rumput laut).

Then we continued our walk, past stalls selling clothes and shoes. Turning left, passing the market building with many outdoor stalls open into the night, I enjoyed the sensation of the blend of music blaring from VCD stalls on both sides of the street, the mix gradually changing as I moved further along the road.

The next day we had our hotel breakfast and headed out by becak (cycle rickshaw) to the Kartini Museum (entry Rp.3000), on the northern edge of the alun-alun. Raden Ajeng Kartini (1879-1905) is remembered as a major figure in the Indonesian women’s emancipation movement. She was the daughter of the Bupati (Regent) of Jepara and therefore lived here. She married in 1904 and tragically died during childbirth a year later. Her son, however, survived and she has living descendants until the present day. The museum features interesting collections of furniture from her house, letters written by her, and many photographs and pictures of Kartini and her family along with information in Indonesian. Also displayed are artefacts from the Jepara area, including items from Hindu temples and the enormous skeleton of an Ikan Joko Tuwa (old joko fish) caught in 1989 in Karimunjawa and said to be a kind of whale.

Bust of R A Kartini at the museum

Leaving the museum, we turned left, then left again, walking up a hill to the old Benteng VOC or Fort. This was used by the Dutch East India Company during the colonial period. Nowadays only a stone wall and a couple of turrets remain, but the area has been done up as a small park. From this vantage point we could see out to sea and across the city. Having climbed the hill in the midday sun the sea breeze was a welcome relief and we relaxed for a while. There was also a young-looking fruit garden and a Taman Makam Pahlawan or hero’s graveyard on the hilltop. Off to the side of this central area was a graveyard where it is said there are some Dutch graves. We didn’t feel like searching for them, so we wandered back down the hill and went to find some lunch.

View from the Fort

Later in the afternoon we walked to Pantai Kartini (Kartini Beach). It was further from the hotel than we expected but eventually we arrived and saw the enormous turtle which we’d seen in photos. The area has been done up as a place for visitors, though many people we saw were obviously locals. There were many small foodstalls and over-priced ice cream vendors. The giant turtle was closed when we arrived, so we couldn’t go inside.

The giant turtle at Pantai Kartini

There is no actual beach with sand; the shoreline has been built up with steps or rocks that lead down to the sea. Unfortunately there was lots of rubbish in the water and it looked dirty. However, this didn’t put off all the local kids from swimming and splashing around. The water was very calm, with barely a visible wave, and we could see fishermen standing up quite far out to sea so it must have been shallow. We walked out on a kind of walkway with small pavilions and sat down to watch the sun set over the sea, beautiful and red.

Sunset over the Java Sea