Yes it was yet another late awaking but we were on our way out of Kyoto by about 11 or so. It was a quick train ride down to Himeji which is the city famous for having the castle most worth seeing in all of Japan. On the way though the train runs along the ocean and we went right past the longest Suspension Bridge in the world just outside Kobe. The bridge is called the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge and holds the title with its 1991m main span. Its 710m longer than the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Apparently this record might be short lived as the Italians are planning a suspension bridge to Sicily that is 3.7km in total. However that been said the Japanese are also looking into bridges with main spans of 2400m. Anyways back to the main topic of the entry...
The castle itself stands out strong as it towers over the city from the north end. It is nicknamed "The White Heron" because of its white plaster walls. The structure is wood but the plaster is used as a fireproofing material, which could be one of the reasons it is still around today since it was built in 1583. There was a fort there as early as 1333 but the structure that stands today wasn't fully built until 1583.
We paid our entry fee and then spent at least an hour walking around the gardens, common areas, and smaller buildings before even attempting to go inside the main building. Inside was a little bare but it did have cases of artefacts and drawings that where interesting to see. By far my favourite was the 2 sets of armour up on display.
After about another hour inside the castle we made our way into the town for some Kebabs and a walk through some of the tourist shops. We were also on the lookout for a Starbucks coffee but sadly we found none...
On the way back we stopped off in a city called Kobe which had a excellent harbour and arcade which are lit very tastefully and makes the harbour a great place to be at night. Also it has a star bucks....very important. We spent a good hour and a half just walking around the harbour and playing many arcade games. One of which was a baseball pitching game which happens to be the sport of choice in Japan...
By now it was getting late so we made our way back again to Kyoto for a few drinks and our last night in Southern Japan….well sort of.
1 comment:
Nice pic of Kobe man! I still think we could have done better at the balancing game there. I'll have to go back and give it another whirl!
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