This time the ryokan included a breakfast, it was pretty convenient not having to look for food in the morning. Japanese-style breakfasts seems to be pretty large and filling, featuring rice, fish, miso soup and fruits for desert.
After the breakfast we walked to Kanazawa Castle, which was within a 5-minute walking distance from the hotel
. The castle is just a copy though (the original burned down in 1881), so we did not waste too much time exploring it, but rather headed across the castle's grounds to the real gem of Kanazawa: Kenroku-en garden. The garden is one of Japan's "three most beautiful landscape gardens" and it even considered to be the best of the three. We have explored every corner and every walkway of the garden, and I can definitely say that it is indeed amazingly beautiful, thoughtful and creative. The garden features a variety of trees (sculpted pines, blooming sakuras, plums, etc.), several waterfalls of different height, streams, ponds, various bridges, a few tea ceremony houses, interesting rocks, moss, huge carps, Japan's oldest fountain, hills and small mountains, snack shops - pretty much anything you might wish for in a garden! It is designed in such a way that every part of it is slightly different, so it never gets boring. First you admire sakura blossoms, then watch carp sticking their heads out of a pond, then follow a shining stream to a small cheerful waterfall, cross the stream by stepping on stones, enjoy small rolling hills covered with gentle moss, climb a miniature mountain, admire a giant ancient tree, and so on for hours.
After thoroughly enjoying the wonderful garden, we walked out of it and immediately encountered a busy public area with stalls and many people walking between them
. I wanted to find out what was going on, and we found ourselves in the middle of a fun flee market. They were selling some very interesting stuff as Kanazawa is known for its artisans. We saw glassware and pottery, wooden items, handmade shoes, custom cuckoo clocks and a ton of food. They we also showing an old Soviet stop-motion cartoon about a mitten that turned into a puppy in a special tent. There was a ton of kids running around and engaged at crafts tables. I've found a tea cup of rare beauty (from this collection) that immediately caught my eye and I just had to buy it without regards to the price!
Then we walked to a nearby modern art museum called 21st Century Museum. The building itself is a work of modern art: a glass circle surrounding a mess of rectangular galleries, some of which are open to public free of charge. Some of the works we saw were Leandro Erlich's "Swimming Pool", a pool where people appear to be underwater and James Turrell's "Blue Planet Sky", a room with a square opening in the ceiling. Even the elevator in the building was like a work of art.
After the museum we had some lunch at a funky youthful place called "Full of Beans". Across from the restaurant we found a place selling a unique local specialty: melonpan with ice cream. It was actually in the news last month and Jerry found an article about that stuff last night. The combination of warm bun with crunchy crust and soft cold ice cream was pretty good and made me want to try more melonpan from different cities
.
After lunch we walked to Nagamachi Samurai District, where samurai used to reside with teir families and servants during Japan's feudal period. The area maintains historic feels with its narrow streets, earthen walls, gateways and water canals. We visited Shinise Kinenkan Museum, a restored pharmacy building that portrayed the life of a wealthy merchant family; peeked inside of Nomura house, a restored samurai residence; then checked out a site of another samurai house, not yet restored.
Finally, we walked to Myoryo-ji temple, also known as Ninja temple because of its deceptive defences: trip doors, secret rooms and hidden tunnels. However, the temple was already closed, so we only took a look from outside. Not far from the temple was another interesting area of Kanazawa: Nishi Chaya District. Kanazawa is the only city except Kyoto that still has a tradition of training geisha, and here they entertain in one of the three chaya (tea house) districts. Most tea houses were closed already, but we walked around and even encountered several geishas, who were much more approachable than Kyoto's and even let me take a photo of them.
Then we took a bus to the train station, where we reserved tickets for tomorrow's trains to Gero and had some okonomiyaki at a nearby shopping centre. Then we walked back to the hotel.
Kanazawa: city of the park
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Kanazawa, Chubu, Japan
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Comments

2025-02-17
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Julia P
2014-04-12
Those teacups look gorgeous. Glad you're having a good time!