My first impression about Lawang Sewu was mystic and horror. Since some of mystic television programs were taken there. Actually, I am not really curious about such place, but going a new place is interesting to me. I already had heard about Lawang Sewu since I was in school, but I never had a chance to go there. Although, I had visited Semarang a couple time.

            I thought it was a good opportunity that suddenly I had to extend my Karimunjawa trip and stayed a night at Semarang (Read the full reason here). I was with my two partners in crime. We decided to stayed in a hostel near Simpang Lima, the middle town. Therefore, it was easier for us to do city tour.

            Except Lawang Sewu, we planned to visit Gereja Bledug and Pagoda Watugong. Semarang was famous of the old building from Nederland heritage. We will do a little Semarang City tour.

            After the struggle for coming there, we finally found our hostel. We cleaned ourselves quickly and start our city tour. We had already visited the Pagoda (read here), then we would like to go to Lawang Sewu. From our hostel, we just walked to Lawang Sewu.

             The building was really magnificent. It was in the corner of the street and really eye-catching. Since we visited in the afternoon, I did not feel afraid at all. I just amazed with the architecture.

Actually the doors were not exactly a thousand (“lawang” meant door and “sewu” meant a thousand in Javanese). The doors were many and the windows were wide and tall, so it looked like doors. Perhaps, that was why it was called “Lawang Sewu”.

There was a train (or locomotive) in the yard. No wonder because this building was for train office in the Dutch Era. If you wanted to know the history of the building, you can paid the guide. He or she will explain to you what do you want to know about.

If you dare enough, tried to visit the basement area. You should pay more, but it was included guide service. Just in case you can not find the exit. The basement was the mysterious area because when Japanese took over, it became prison. Many people died there. However, many people still wanted to visit. We were not that brave, so we escaped in the name of the expensiveness. Hahaha.

It was still wonderful without the basement visit. There were many spots which could be your photo background. No wonder it also one of pre wedding spots favorite.

After exploring Lawang Sewu, we continued to Gereja Bleduk (Bleduk Church). We decided to ride becak because there was no public car to go there. Ride becak while sight seeing was relaxing. I like how wind blew us just like a warm greeting from Semarang.

It was not far (for us, perhaps for the becak driver). Suddenly, we arrived at the church. From outside, the church was looked unique building. The roof looked like a red dome. Unfortunately, it was closed. Therefore, we can not see inside.

However, mostly buildings in this streets were old and antique. Even the function was changed into office, restaurant, or just a house, they kept the old architecture. It felt that I was back into ancient time. I just loved it!

Therefore, we decided to walk to enjoy the environment. We took some pictures to freeze the moment. A couple just did the pre wedding session with Gereja Bledug as the background. Good choice!

We walked until the end of the street, then we took a public car to go to Simpang Lima square. People said it was famous. And the important is, many cheap food stall. Yes, we were hungry! 

When we arrived, the sky was almost dark. Since none of us familier with the food in this city, we just picked something that we never tried. And we chose Tahu Gimbal. Many food staller sold this menu, so we just pick randomly. Fortunately, it was delicious since we were hungry. It just perfect to close our little city tour.

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