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.
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| Driving over the Biwako Ohashi Bridge |
After nearly 2 hours we finally reached our first checkpoint for the day,
Hikone Castle!
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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~
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| 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~
