Started the day with a visit to the Morning Market with more than 280 stalls selling lots of great looking seafood, fruits and vegetables. The strawberries looked fabulous, but then at about $8.00 US for a small carton, they should!
Next it was up to the Goryokaku Tower and Fort, they say it is “a symbol of the unfulfilled dreams from the twilight of the shogunate years”. The fort was built in 1864 to defend itself from the “Black Ships” (foreign ships). At the top of the Tower, opened in 2006, one gets a view of the remaining fort complex and surrounding areas. Strolled the grounds here and visited the reconstructed Magistrate’s Office, the center for the shogunate government and administration. Even by today’s standards it is quite large and all of the rooms were multi-purpose.
Headed over to the Mt. Hakodate Ropeway for some even more spectacular views.
Before heading back to the ship made a quick stop at the Hakodate Museum of Northern People housed in the former Bank of Japan to see the exhibits of artifacts of the native Ainu or Aleut people.
When the sun starts setting here the temperatures really drop – need to get back to the ship while there is still a little light.
No comments:
Post a Comment