Madura locates in the east of Surabaya City in East Jawa and well known as “Salt City” because they produce tons of salt here. Madura divide into 4 area which are Bangkalan, Pamekasan, Sumenep, Sampang. Bangkalan are the nearest area from Surabaya. If you want to visit Madura Island, you can go to Surabaya city. From Surabaya, you have 2 option, whether you want to go by car/motorcycle from Suramadu Bridges or you can go by ship (you can go to Tanjung Perak harbor crossing Ketapang harbor in Madura Island).
Sambilangan Lighthouse
Our first destination is a place called Sambilangan lighthouse, in the west area of Bangkalan.
According to the history, the lighthouse it self were build since Dutch colonialism in 1879 by Z.M Willem III. This lighthouse navigate Dutch ship form Java sea to Surabaya. Sambilangan light house has 90m feet high (16 floor). To go to the top of building, you can use stair inside the lighthouse . In some floor, they have a window so if you feel tired, you can take a rest and enjoy the scenery from those window. On top of the building, you can see Surabaya city. Another special thing from this place is their history value and the strength of the building. The building were made from the metal that connected to each other. The floor also made from the metal, so when the wind blows, the building feels like shaking, especially on the top side. Sambilangan lighthouse still use until now. If you like to take a picture, the best moment to capture beautiful scenery are around 3-5 pm. You can see beautiful sunset from the lighthouse. If you want to go inside building, you can pay maximum IDR 3000/person and rent parking lot around IDR 2000- 3000/car.
Siring Kemuning
The second destination is beautiful and natural beach named Siring Kemuning. It takes 2 hours for me to go to Siring kemuning by motorbike. I see this beautiful beach had a white sand and also fisherman along the beach. The fisherman itself sometimes fishing from their boat using a net. If you are lucky enough, you can see Surabaya from this beach.
Since this place are not well known, so only a few visitor come to this place, even in weekend. Ussualy visitor come from Surabaya and local youth. There’s 2 or 3 local people sell food and drinks such as rujak cingur and coconut water. You can buy coconut and drink from the coconut only for IDR 7000 and pay the parking line for IDR 2000-3000.
Madura Island is a cheap place to visit. If you are international tourist and want to visit Madura, you can ask local guide from Surabaya to guide you because only a few Madura people who can speak English very well.
/// Written by Shanti Yanuarini, Indonesia
