“Indonesia Heritage Walk is a walking tour that will turn Kota Tua into leading heritage tourist site in Jakarta. The tour is free for foreign tourists,” said the ministry's Archipelago Tourism marketing Development deputy Esthy Reko Astuti, adding that the program would be fully delivered in English.

“The free tour for foreign tourists will be available for three months. Afterwards, we will start selling it as a tour package,” added the ministry’s deputy for Thousand Islands and Kota Tua, Dodi Riadi.

Read also: Jakpost guide to Kota Tua

The program is a collaborative work between the ministry, Kota Tua local community, South East Asia Tourist Guide Association (SEATGA) and PT Bituris Wisata Indonesia.

The tour starts with a movie screening at the Mandiri Museum, which focuses on the Portuguese and Dutch’s journey to Indonesia in order to find spices. The participants will then tour around the museum that used to be the Nederlandsche Handel Maatschappaij (NHM) building, a trade unions formed after the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC).

Afterwards, they are going to visit Kalibesar that is currently being revitalized. Surrounded by old office buildings, this river used to be the distribution channel from the Sunda Kelapa Port. 

The participants will get to take a break at the Aroma Nusantara Coffee Shop to enjoy an array of Indonesian coffees such as Aceh Gayo and Papua.

They will then head to Taman Fatahillah to watch and learn Cakrabuana pencak silat and gendang rampak performances. 

The tour ends with a cooking demo of sayur babanci, a traditional dish from Betawi that is cooked using 21 different kinds of spices. (kes)

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