Day 12: Hakodate Harbour Area and Boat Trip, Utility Pole
Day 12: Hakodate Harbour Area and Boat Trip, Utility Pole
28 October 2018
Sunday in Hakodate and the weather much much better! Decided to have a (small) lie in and then go check out the market and Red Brick Warehouses again, this time not in horizontal rain.
After another excellent breakfast (seriously - well impressed) we had the usual tram journey into town and then before we did anything else we headed straight for the station to book tickets to Nikko. All the Shinkansen up here seem to be reserved seats only and anyway since we were going to be on the train for quite a while this time, seats weren't optional even if there were unreserved cars available. Didn't fancy a repeat of Hiroshima last year.
Tickets well and truly got, we headed happily across the square and to the market again. To be fair, everything in town is much better when everyone isn't soaked to the skin and you can actually walk around without wellies and dressed as Captain Ahab's Long-Lost Twin. Poked about for about 40 minutes until we'd seen even kind of fish imaginable live, canned, skinned, preserved in brine, dried etc etc. We bought some dried vacuum packed fish and crab meat as a treat for the cats which, later note, they adored. Until day three when they started throwing it up as it had evidently gone off because we'd left the packs opened in the utility room. Doh!
All "fished" out we ambled through the back streets and then walked up towards the Red Brick Warehouses along the harbour front. Definitely much much better in the sun than the rain!
Although we were going to go shopping, Tracey spotted that there were sightseeing boat trips around the harbour and bay. We like a boat trip we do. Ok, actually in the UK I'm not sure we'd have bothered. But here in Japan - absolutely - let's have it!
We rocked up to the ticket booth just in time to get tickets for the next trip so ten minutes and about £30 later we were being cast-off (that's a technical term we hardened sea-dogs use. You're welcome) and heading out into Hakodate Bay on the Blue Moon.
Note the almost perfectly triangular mountain in the distance. It looked like how kids draw mountains but in real life. We had no clue what it was called and, although I did ask the lady at the ticket booth when we got back, I didn't write it down becuase I'm stupid. Anyone with any clue - feel free to weigh in here...
Back on dry land half an hour later there was mooching around the Warehouses to pick up some bits and pieces, followed by Starbucks. Because of course there was.
It's interesting that you can tell whether a Satarbucks in Japan is in a foreign tourist area by the adverts for their specials (or at least during Halloween anyway). Since this one was slap bang in the middle of Hakodate's tourist central the signs for the seasonal shakes say "Halloween Witch" and "Halloween Princess" in English, but in Hirosaki it was ハロウィーンウィッチ and ハロウィーンプリンセス.
Ok, so I thought it was interesting...
Restored by the caffeine, more investigatiion of the bay area and shops then ensued, including discovering the mythical "English Curry" in one of the massive souvenir food halls.
What on earth is English Curry?
No, seriously, what is it, because I don't know whether to be intrigued or more than slightly afraid.
The shops exhausted, we looked for inspiration on what to do next on the tourist map across the street. And found to my delight and Tracey's ...something other than delight...that we were near "Japan's oldest concrete utility pole". Who knew that such a thing existed in Hakodate? So of course we had to go see it.
Occasionally I thought I heard muffled grumbling from Tracey but I'm sure it was actually just the enthusiam bubbling uncontrollably to the surface.
Slight echoes of trying to find the Miura Anjin memorial last year but at least this time it wasn't miles away and unmarked on any map. And we did pop into a very nice homewares shop to buy more souvenirs and a Christmas Santa decoration.
Leaving the lovely shop before we ran up something similar to the Third World Debt we sleuthed about a bit more but still couldn't find the fabled pole. So if you get lost who do you ask? A very helpful nearby policeman that's who. He knew exactly where it was and insisted in taking us most of the way personaly. Yes it did look like we were being arrested but still, very friendly and helpful. And at least we got there in end, much to Tracey's "delight".
After all this excitement and considering that the weather was still ok, we decided to walk back to the hotel rather than getting the tram this time. Because we are terminally nosey and wanted to see what we were missing every day on the journey into town. Google maps said it was quite a long walk (for once it was accurate!) so we stopped at Pronto near the station first for a coffee, beer and some soufflés before the trek. Never actualy had a soufflé before and now I know what i've been mising. Very nice thank you.
While we were nomming our food, Uisuki and Daiou made yet more friends so once again, all good.
So, was the long walk back (3 miles; for God's sake why do we do this) worth all the effort?
Honestly? Probably not.
Once you've walked past the restaurants in the immediate area, there's not much between the Eki Mae and the Goryoukaku areas. Just a very VERY long walk and lots of closed shops, most of which don't look like they are opening again any time soon. We did see some nice bronze statues (there's lots in Hakodate) representing Spring and Autumn but despite spending ten determined minutes stubbornly trying to find the Summer and Winter ones, all the rest seemed unrelated. Maybe we were just being stupid or blind. I certainly wouldn't bet against it.
Feet rather sore, we got back (eventually)and relaxed at the hotel before packing for the journey to Nikko tomorrow. There may have been some sake. Ok, there was sake. Quite a bit of it. We'd earned it after all.
Once we were all sorted it was still a bit early for tea so we went for a quick constitutional back to Goryokaku Tower to see it up close in the dark. On the way, as we had walked past it several times a day, we checked out the Muji store near the hotel to see if it was more reasonably priced than the one in Covent Garden.
No. No it isn't.
Still, the place is a proper destination store. Incredibly interesting, beautifully themed, stocks just about anything you could need for your home (including all the white goods) and the stationery is to die for (according to Tracey anyway).
It's all very well "working up an appetite" and the tower was very pretty all lit up and everything, but my feet were bloody sore by this time so we backtracked in fairly short order and onto last night's place for ramen as it was so good last time. The chef was much friendlier from the off, asked about Uisuki and Daiou and even had his photo taken with them! Lots of effusive thanks (in my usual enthusiastic but rubbish Japanese) and promises to try and replicate his spicey ramen when we get home.
And so to bed EARLY as feet destroyed. Turns out we walked 8 miles.
Lord above why?
Overview
Hotel
Food
- Excellent Hotel Breakfast
- Starbucks Coffee
- Coffee, Beer and Soufflés
- Much Sake
- Beer, Grapefruit Sours and Ramen
Overview
Food
- Excellent Hotel Breakfast
- Starbucks Coffee
- Coffee, Beer and Soufflés
- Much Sake
- Beer, Grapefruit Sours and Ramen