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Kobe was the site of a major earthquake a few years back, but has recovered very well, and was our favorite city this trip. It has a very international feel (we had paella and sherry, for example!), and has wonderful hiking trails up into the hills above the city. We start off on the shinkansen and then have a shot of the shinkansen station at the northern edge of town, which shows an attention to architecture that was typical of Kobe.  Now we're at a shrine a few blocks from the ocean. The level of detail and craftsmanship in the construction of these shrines always amazes me.      These beer bottles were lined up on the counter at a brewery we visited, in a large artists' gallery space in Kobe. The beer there was quite yummy (and not limited to light ales like most Japanese beer), and the same building housed a paper-maker (pictured here) as well as many other artisans. Very neat. All of this is just a few blocks from a mosque (photographed here) and a synagogue (which we didn't see, as it was a bit off our route), again illustrating how international Kobe is!     Various sights in Kobe...     Now we're going hiking in the hills above Kobe. They have a huge network of trails, pictured here on a map that is directly behind the shinkansen station. We hiked only a small portion of this map, and spent all day doing it, and had a fantastic time. There are occasional bathrooms on the trail, and little shrines and temples scattered around, and critters...       There is a cable car that runs from near the shinkansen station up into the hills, to a large garden/park area that contains a big greenhouse, among other things. Rather reminiscent of Golden Gate Park. The last photo here is taken from the front panel of the machine that sold us the cable car tickets we used to come back down.        Now we're at Kobe harbor, which has a few beautiful buildings and a small amusement park, and was a nice place to wander. We took a harbor cruise at sunset; the photos of blue glowing things are bioluminescence in the wake of our boat — the first time I've ever seen that, I believe!         On the day we left Kobe, we did a day trip to Himeji, a town to the west a bit which is known principally for the castle that overlooks the town. These photos are all from the castle, except the melon-bun sign, which was just outside (and the melon buns were delicious, for what that's worth, but not as mysterious as the sign suggested). You can do a full tour of the inside of the castle, which is well worth the time. The diorama was of the princess who lived in that side building, playing a game with her handmaiden. The square hole is for shooting arrows out of.           Part 3: Kyoto |
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