With Hiroshima, Miyajima and Okunoshima completed, the second half of our trip was going eastwards with Kyoto as our next destination. In between we stopped at Himeji to visit the famous Himeji Castle. And we were in luck, as Himeji Castle had just finished its renovation a few days before we visited – thus we were able to go inside the actual castle itself!
We departed Hiroshima early in the morning, taking the 6:13 Hikari 460 directly to Himeji, which was scheduled to arrive at 7:53. That’s a nice 1 hour 40 minutes to catch our sleep. Upon arrival at Himeji station we were in luck, as we found three empty big lockers to store our luggages. Coming early definitely has its advantages!
Getting to the castle itself was real simple: just walk straight through the main street from the station exit, probably five blocks. You could probably see the castle in the background if the day was clear.
The castle grounds were vast, you need to cross the moat into the main gate, and from there on it was still a few more gates before you enter the real castle area.
After a few minutes of climbing we finally were able to get inside the castle. You will be asked to take your shoes off and they will provide you plastic bags for you to carry them. It’s worth to note that this castle is 6 stories high, and some of the stairs are quite steep and slippery, so you might want to take your socks off as well. Here’s a few shots taken inside the castle:
We only spent a few hours in Himeji, because we planned to stop in Kobe to have lunch, and then reach Kyoto in the afternoon. Thus we walked back to the train station through the shop street that was parallel to the main street. Just in time to catch the 11:54 Sakura 544 train to Shin-Kobe!
We arrived in Kobe at 12:11pm, I found online a restaurant selling Kobe beef set lunch that is the nearest to the Shin-Kobe station: the Wakkoqu Kobe. However because we didn’t make reservation beforehand, we just go down early and queue outside the door before the restaurant was open (channeling the kiasu Singaporean spirit! lol). Restaurant was open at 12:30pm and we managed to secure 3 seats. I did not take much photos because I’m too immersed in the chef cooking the set meal in front of our eyes. Nevertheless, this is the photo of the appetizer.
On the next post I will continue the series with our Kyoto adventures, so stay tuned!
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