Day 4
The plan for today was to make our way from Kyoto to Gero Onsen. A straight drive would have been 3.5 hours but I chose a detour for our route which will bring us to Hikone Castle and Nagahama city.
Along the way we made our way across the Biwako Ohashi Bridge. Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in the whole of Japan. On this cloudy day we even saw a rainbow as we drove along the East coast side of the lake towards Hikone Castle and Nagahama City.
 |
| Driving over the Biwako Ohashi Bridge |
After nearly 2 hours we finally reached our first checkpoint for the day,
Hikone Castle!
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| Add caption |
Though not as glamorous or popular as Kumamoto or Himeji castle, Hikone Castle is actually one of 5 castles to be designated as a national treasure and one of
12 original castles still standing. It is located beside Lake Biwako and took all of 20 years to build! Given its awkward location, I figured this was the only chance I would get to visit this castle, and I'm glad I made the trip! It's a charming little castle and it simply blows my mind to think how people in those days manage a 20-year construction project! LOL~
 |
| The streets of Nagahama |
After the castle visit, we made our way to Nagahama city for some lunch. We checked Trip Advisor and the #1 restaurant in the area was
Yokaro. By the time we reached the restaurant there was already a small queue in front of the restaurant... I guess #1 ranking does bring in the crowds~
This shop is supposed to be famous for their Mackerel Sou-men (cold noodle). After queueing for 30-minutes, we ordered a few of their set meals to share in this cold afternoon~ ( ^ ^;)
The verdict? Its different and its a local delicacy but the fish was a bit too dry for my liking. Not going to travel hundreds of miles to come back for this though~ After the meal we walked around the town a bit and started to hunt the food stands along the shopping street. I love all these local snacks which can't really be found in Singapore.
After filling our tummies, we continued onwards to Gero Onsen. It was another 2.5 hours away and we needed to be there before dinner. More importantly it was Autumn-Winter period so the sun would set earlier so it would be safer to reach before it turned dark.
 |
| Welcome to Gero Onsen! |
On this day I booked the hotel
Kusakabe Armeria
I was attracted to this hotel for 3 reasons, Price, Onsen and the
Dinner~ Dinner was buffet but the stay package I booked came with a serving of A4-ranked Hida beef~ There were also crab legs, Brazilian Churrasco and sashimi~ not to mention free-flow drinks including alcoholic beverages~
 |
| All-you-can-eat crab legs! |
 |
| One serving each for us~ It was Yummy! |
The other thing that caught my attention was the
outdoor onsen~ We went once at night and once in the following morning~ Below was a grab from their website on the view in the evening~
 |
| This the picture I took in the morning when there was no one~ :p |
On the next morning, after a nice soak and a very filling buffet breakfast, we checked-out and continued on our way~ Next destination - Takayama!
See the rest of the trip below:
No comments:
Post a Comment