Kota Tua, The Old City in Jakarta

Kota Tua, Jakarta is an area of Dutch colonization inheritance which was well-known as Batavia in the 17th century. At Kota Tua area you can see old buildings with architecture style influenced by the Dutch or European architecture style, Chinese and even some of them with combination of Dutch and Chinese architecture. Some of the old buildings at Kota Tua area occupied as museums by the governor of DKI Jakarta. Kota Tua is one of a very interesting place or area to visit when you travel to Jakarta since it’s a center of historical tourism object in Jakarta.
Interesting places or tourism objects you could see at Kota Tua, Jakarta are including Jakarta History Museum (which is also called as Fatahillah Museum), Wayang Museum, Fine Art and Ceramic Museum, Bank Mandiri Museum, Bank Indonesia Museum, Jakarta Kota Station (is also called Beos), Maritime Museum (Museum Bahari), Sunda Kelapa Harbor, Kota Intan Bridge, Syahbandar Tower, Batavia Café, Batavia Hotel and other old buildings.
History
 Kota Tua, Jakarta, was the pioneer of the current Jakarta City. It was started from a small port at the mouth of Ciliwung River in about centuries ago. The port city was then developed became a busy international trading center. Journals from European journalists in the 16th century said that there’s a city, named Kalapa (Kelapa in Sundanese called kalapa, means coconut), seemed as the main port for a Hindu Kingdom named Sunda, with a capital of Pajajaran, located near to the current location of Bogor. Portuguese was the first fleet from Europe that came to the Kalapa Port.
Kalapa, the port city was then attacked by Demak Kingdom, a kingdom in Kalapa neighborhood, under the leadership of Fatahillah. Kalapa Port was successfully conquered on 22nd June 1527 and since then the name was changed from Sunda Kalapa to Jayakarta, which means city of glory or victory. The date of 22nd June 1527 was then celebrated as the birthday of Jakarta City.
The Dutch came and taken away Jayakarta in the end of 16th century under the leadership of Jan Pieterszoon Coen. The Dutch changed the name of Jayakarta became Batavia and constructed buildings with the architecture style as they had in their country. In the Japanese colonization time from 1942 to 1945, the name of Batavia was changed to Jakarta (Jayakarta).
Other Interesting Places Near to Kota Tua - Jakarta
Glodok area which is the China Town of Jakarta is about 1-2 km away from Kota Tua. Jaya Ancol Dreamland Park which has several amusement arenas such as Dunia Fantasy, SeaWorld Indonesia and Gelanggang Samudera is located at about 3 to 5 km away from Kota Tua.

Tips
1. If you’re a lover of historical tourism and is or interested in visiting Jakarta then Kota Tua is one of the object you must visit in Jakarta.

2. If you plan to visit other tourism objects at Kota Tua area by walk, it’s recommended to start your visit there since morning to avoid the stinging heat of the sun. You may need to wear a cover for your head like hat or umbrella and wear comfortable footwear. Besides by walk, you can also try to ride bicycle ojek to go along Kota Tua.

3. When you visit Kota Tua Jakarta in the morning, you may better go around the Kota Tua area first then continue by visiting the museums in the area at noon time.

4. You can visit Kota Tua Jakarta by riding personal vehicle or taxi. You can also alternatively ride Trans Jakarta Busway from the first corridor, which routed from Blok M to Kota. If you ride the TransJakarta Busway, you can get off at Kota Station which is where busway from the first corridor ended. Kota Station is part of Kota Tua area. Info:

Syahbandar Tower at Pasar Ikan Jakarta

Syahbandar Tower is located at the side of Jakarta Gulf Beach, next to the Maritime Museum and Sunda Kelapa Harbor. The current building of Maritime Museum was previously occupied as VOC’s (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie) spicy warehouse. VOC was a Dutch company which managed the trading activities on both sea and land for the interest of Nederland. Nederland constructed Syahbandar Tower to guide the traffic of ships that was coming for spicy trading at Sunda Kelapa Harbor.
History
Nederland Indies government constructed Syahbandar Tower in 1839 to support the spicy trading and delivery activities from Sunda Kelapa Harbor which was know as Batavia City at that time. The building of Syahbandar Tower had a width of 32 meters (4x8 meters) and height of 12 meters, and the yard was equipped with several cannons which faced to the west and east side.  For the trading administration before the delivery of spicy to countries in Europe, Nederland Indies government constructed another two buildings facing the Syahbandar Tower.
Other Interesting Places Near to Syahbandar Tower
Other interesting places near Syahbandar Tower are including Sunda Kelapa Harbor, Maritime Museum, Jakarta History Museum, Wayang Museum, Fine Art and Ceramic Museum, Bank Mandiri Museum, Bank Indonesia Museum, Jakarta Kota Station, Kota Intan Bridge, Batavia Café, Batavia Hotel, and other old buildings. Glodok area which is like the China Town of Jakarta is only 3-4 km away from Syahbandar Tower. You can also find Jaya Ancol Dreamland Park with many amusement facilities like Dunia Fantasy, SeaWorld Indonesia, and Gelanggang Samudera in just 3-5 km away from Syahbandar Tower.

Tips
1.  If you’re a history lover and is visiting or in Jakarta City at the moment, then you may find Syahbandar Tower at Kota Tua Jakarta as an interesting object. Syahbandar Tower is located next to Maritime Museum and Sunda Kelapa Harbor.

2.  Since the age of Syahbandar Tower has reached more than a hundred years and the construction was made of wood, it then makes the tower start to be decayed. It’s suggested to be really careful when you step on the stairs of Syahbandar Tower and avoid stepping on the stairs in group.

3. You can visit Syahbandar Tower by personal vehicle or taxi. Alternatively you can ride TransJakarta Busway from the first corridor with route from Blok M to Kota Tua. Kota Station is the last station from the first corridor of TransJakarta Busway. Syahbandar Tower is about 3km away from Kota Station. To reach Syahbandar Tower from Kota Station you can ride bicycle ojek, bajaj, taxi or even by walk.

 To see the pictures of Syahbandar Tower.... Info: