Gunung (Mount) Lawu, a 3,265m dormant volcano and one of the holiest mountains in Java, became a Hindu stronghold after the eastern Javanese Majapahit kingdom fell to Islam – most Hindus went east to Bali, but a number went west to the slopes of Lawu, and several of the villages here are still populated by Javanese Hindus.

In the village of Berjo, some fifty kilometres east of Solo and almost a thousand meters up the volcanic slopes, is one of Indonesia’s most unusual and striking temples, Candi Sukuh. It is one of the latest known non-Islamic buildings in the country, built in the dying days of the Majapahit kingdom during the fifteenth century. This unique temple, while undoubtedly Hindu, appears to combine Buddhist, Hindu and animist symbolism, and its main feature is a large, stepped, truncated pyramid that is strangely Mayan in appearance. In the gateway to the first terrace lies a stone lingam and yoni over which all visitors had to pass. Further up are some remarkable bas reliefs, carvings of animals and cult objects, a headless man holding his erect penis, enormous turtles with flat backs looking every bit like sacrificial altars. In the cool, swirling mist it is a wonderful, evocative, atmospheric spot on the edge of a plateau, and definitely not on the general tourist trail.