Autumn in Japan : Kanazawa to Shirakawa-gō to Takayama

Breakfast included curry …

We set off to 7-Eleven to buy our lunch - mandarin and whipped cream sandwiches today! Nothing like a change (especially from egg)!

We continued on through the station area: aiming for the Castle gardens which we’d rushed through on our previous visit here.

We happened upon Omicho Market, a well-known bustling food market in Kanazawa - aka ‘the kitchen of Kanazawa’. I had this on ‘my list’ so this was a real bonus!

This in fact is where we had dinner on the Culture Day public holiday back on 3 November after we visited Kenrokuen Gardens. Then, that night, the market was virtually closed apart from a few restaurants.

This morning the stalls were being set up as we walked through: seafood galore. This is a much more genuine market than where we had lunch yesterday and the food looked so fresh and good quality - BIG oysters.

We walked on and reached the pretty Castle gardens.

A brisk walk back for our check-out AND got a good coffee enroute at the station in a boulangerie (!).

Piano at the station …

Walked 5 kms.

The expressway cuts through the mountains via a series of long dark tunnels including the Hida Tunnel that is almost 11 kms long.

We visit Shirakawa-gō, a small, traditional village showcasing a building style known as gasshō-zukuri (more than 250 years old). This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and consequently full of tourists.

There are beautiful farmhouses with steeply pitched roofs because of the snow in winter. The peak of nearby Mt Hakusan is at 2,702 m. Cool here at the village (500 m).

The autumn colours were sensational!

Walked 9 kms.

Then to Takayama known for its beautifully preserved historic old town (Furui-machi-nami) with wooden Edo-period buildings: dark wooden merchant houses, sake breweries and traditional shops.

It is tiny place (although it has a population of 85,000) popular with tourists - in fact, it is Tourist Central!

Cooler here: over 650 m above sea level.

We had a packet of mameita to stave off the hunger (MF-san having had his morning sleep on the bus and left the lunch in his backpack onboard …).

We wandered about. Did a sake tasting: my favourite was the Daiginjo Kanakoori: fragrant and mellow - rice polishing ratio 50%, alcohol 17 deg, sake deg +4 (whatever all that means) … followed by a very nice coffee at a local roaster.

Then back to the bus for a short drive to our hotel in Takayama.

Walked 11.8 kms

Into an onsen (yay!) and a very quick Happy Hour (10 minutes!) before heading back downtown for dinner of Hida beef (for which the town is renown) at a lovely (French!) steakhouse where the food is crafted by a chef who trained at a three-star restaurant and personally sources the ingredients.

Glass of Italian nebbiolo - wearing the jacket Carmel made and is the ONLY thing in my luggage not worn - until tonight!