After a short plane ride we landed in a place I had never heard of before: Denpasar. It is located on the island of Bali and serves as its international airport. It is a gateway to Indonesia. After all of the paperwork the Israeli passport holders had to do in preparation, we were a bit concerned as to how much bureaucracy we would meet. Answer: NONE. We showed our passports and proceeded to baggage claim. From there we walked a might distance (at least a kilometer, most likely two) to the domestic terminal for our flight to Surabaya. There actually were complimentary shuttles, but we walked.
Arriving in Surabaya, I had no idea what to expect- certainly not a beautiful hotel- spotlessly clean with gigantic, well-appointed rooms. Surabaya is on the eastern end of the island of Java, the same island where the capital, Jakarta is located. However the distance between the two is 662 kilometers (411 miles). Our tour did not take us to Jakarta.
Surabaya was the location of the only official synagogue in Indonesia. The synagogue was built in 1948 and demolished in 2013. On its site stands a 17-story hotel.
What brought us to Surabaya was the chance to see Mount Bromo, one of many active volcanos- this one able to be reached by horse and climbing steps. On our way, we stopped in a typical Javanese Indonesian village.
Mount Bromo is beautiful!
We traveled to the Mount Bromo area by jeep since the approach is across a long stretch of sand- which we accessed on horseback.
Then we climbed about 200 steps- on uneven rocks covered with ash from a recent eruption (2 weeks before!) Getting to the top was a real accomplishment!
Walking down was no easier…
By the time we returned to the hotel we were exhausted. But we were looking forward to our next day’s flight to Yogyakarta
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