My wife is not so interested in traveling. But it's a different story when it comes to our grandson of three years old coming along together with us. And now is the best time for appreciating the beauty of Autumn leaves changing their colors in Oirase, the mountain stream flowing out of the lake Towada. So why not to make three days’ trip to the Towada-Hakkoda region of the Towada-Hachimantai National Park from 22nd to 24th Oct., 2016, together with our eldest son's family? The national park is situated in the far northern part of the main island of Japanese Archipelago and boasts of serene lakes, vast forest of colorful Japanese Beech and Betula ermanii, and live volcanoes, thus providing visitors with nice hiking treks and a lot of superb hot springs, Onsen, The below is a view from Jyougakura (城ヶ倉) on the way to Mt. Hakkoda from the lake Towada.
A view from Jyougakura (城ヶ倉)
Since the Tohoku Shinkansen, the new bullet train line connecting Tokyo with Aomori 674 km (419 miles) distant opened in 2010, Tohok, the northern part of Japanese main island has become so easy to access for those living in the big metropolitan cities of Tokyo and its neghborhood. We got on the bullet train Hayabusa N o.3 at 7:42 am at JR Ueno station and reached to Hachinohe station at 10:31am, where our youngest son also joined us. He departed Tokyo last mid night on a long distance coach which is much cheaper than the bullet train although he is a very rich bachelor working in one of the top camera makers in Japan. On the way, the Hayabusa stopped at Morioka station for about 6 minutes in order to disconnect another bullet train Komachi going for Akita. Vice versa, when Hayabusa goes back to Tokyo from Aomori, it connects Komachi coming from Akita at this station. Every Japanese kids love to see this train connecting & disconnecting. My elder son quickly carried our grandson on his back to the front carriage of Hayabusa to let him see this actually happening while the train was stopping at Morioka. We were happy to see him so excited.
Komachi disconnected from Hayabusa at Morioka
From Hachinohe station we were heading for Lake Towada on a rent-a-car. This mysterious Lake is a caldera lake formed by the volcanic activities that began approximately 200,000 years ago, with the surface area of 61 km and the maximum depth of 327 meters. The lake is also well known for two decades efforts by Wainai Sadayuki to introduce princess trout (kokanee) into it, who had made it for the first time in 1903. Before that there was no fish in the lake. I was reminded of his great success which I learned in my elementary school days more than half a century ago. We got on the cruising boat at Yasumiya and enjoyed colorful Autumn leaves on the shore from the boat, which consist mainly of Erman’s birch and Siebold’s beech.
Lake Towada
After cruising, we drove up to Yachi Onsen, Yachi Hot Springs situated on the mountain's breast with the altitude of 782 meters above the sea level, where there was only one mountain Inn with hot spring that we were going to stay for two nights. It gives us a supreme happy feeling to take a bath in a hot spring and taste a dish prepared from edible wild plants and the lake's fish with Sake after a day's hiking. The mountain inn was quite and well harmonized with its surrounding natural environments.
Yachi Hot Springs (谷地温泉)
On the 2nd day, we went to Mt. Hakkoda for a small hiking with 3 year old grandson. Mt. Hakkoda actually refers to a mountain range with more than 10 peaks centered around the main highest peak of 1584 meters, Mt. Odake. We took a gondola of the aerial ropeway at the foot of Mt. Tamoyachidake which carried us to its summit station in about 10 minutes. It was severe cold with the temperature of minus 2 degrees and the trekking path muddy due to the melting snow of last night. So our eldest son was obliged to carry his son all the way on his back and we decided to take a short round trip of hiking trail. But the view was so magnificent that I realized Autumn deepening steadly in Mt. Hakkoda with leaves color changing from the peaks to the foots over the vast forests. Mt. Hakkoda is poised for winter coming.
Mt. Hakkoda (八甲田山)
As we ended up earlier with hiking around the summit station than our original plan, we looked for an alternative hiking trail which all of us would be able to enjoy hiking in a more comfortable way with the warmer temperature. So we decided to go to Tasirotai Marsh. This marsh is the largest in Mt. Hakkoda range and was originally the caldera lake formed by the volcanic activities of Mt. Hakkoda which ocurred 2 million years ago. The caldera has turned gradually into a marsh over long period of time. The marsh is abundant in beautiful wild flowers which are spectacular especially during June to August, and provides a good hiking trail which starts from the small turquoise blue pond. Hikers can walk easily on a path paved with planks over the marsh. Our grandson had never asked his dad to carry him on his back and was excited to try to find his favorite insects on the way. The marsh was quite, sunny, and giving us the pleasure of family hiking.
Tasirotai Marsh (田代平湿原)
On the final day of our trip, we visited Oirase stream on the way back to Hachinohe JR station. Probably Oirase is the most popular tourist destination in the Towada-Hakkoda region, so the place is very crowded especially on Saturday and Sunday with visitors coming from various countries including China, South Korea, and other Asean countries. That's why we came here on Monday 24th Oct. when we returned to Tokyo,
The Oirase stream runs through a mountain valley approximately 14 km long with its source in Lake Towada. With the clarity of the water, the incessantly changing flow over mossy rocks under forests of giant trees, and many waterfalls, those create the scenic beauty to its landscape. The path along the stream also parallels the car road on which public bus go periodically, so the visitors of any ages can start walking from anywhere in the course of 14 km distance in total and switch to getting on a bus if he or she feels tired in walking. We parked our rent-a-car at two points and enjoyed walking each for less than 45 minutes, so short time partly because it started to rain.
Oirase mountain stream (奥入瀬)
Trieste is an Italian city bordered with Slovenia, and it has been a multicultural and disputed area among the three nations, Italy, Austria, and Slovenia. Most recently it was under control of Yugoslavia militant regime led by Titto just for 40 days at the end of WW2. It had been flourishing as an important Mediterranean seaport of the Austrian Habsburg Dynasty from 1382 until 1918 following WW1.
When I planned to visit Slovenia, I first examined the possible route to enter into it from Venice through Trieste as there is no direct flight connecting Japan with Slovenia. But finally I decided to drop in Trieste during the return trip to Japan. After hiking in the mountainous region of Kamnik and Bohinj, I thought it would be nice to see blue Mediterranean sea and that a train trip from Bohinj to Trieste would be also attractive.
Train trip from Bohinj to Trieste
On July 28 after enjoying 6 days’ hiking in Bohinj, I took a train early in the morning which departed Bohinjska Bistrica at 6:50 am for Sežana. The train ran through small and peaceful villages in the mountainous regions, stopping at every stations and crossing the bridge over the Soča River until reaching to Nova Gorica on the border with Italy, where I needed to wait for around one hour. The station was rather big, but a very quite with a few passengers occasionally seen walking on the platform like an old man accompanied by his dog or a bicyclist passing by while I was sitting on the bench.
Villa Opicina's tram car
I got off the train at Sežana and tried to find a bus or taxi to go to Villa Opicina in Italian territory just located in the middle between Sežana and Trieste, but I spent more than one hour until catching a taxi, which carried me to the inn in Villa Opicina for less than 15 minutes. There was no boarder check on the entry into Italy, which made me realize the EU's freedom of movement of people. The place is located a little bit far from Trieste, but it is nice to ride on tram cars for going to and from Trieste.
Castello di San Guito
The Castle stands on the hill of San Giusto, which was built in 1468 by Friedrich II of Habsburg on the remains of previous Venetian fortresses on the site and had been extended to strengthen its defense until 1636 under the Austrian rule. I started to walk from the last stop of the tram in Trieste and reached the top of the castle in an hour, which offered me a magnificent view of this seaport.
Roman Theatre
At the foot of San Giusto Hill, the Roman Theatre was lying. But it took me almost one hour to find the way to access to it from the castle, as there were no signposts on the roads and nobody spoke English that I met on the street. This theatre was built between I and II century A.C. and accommodated around 6,000 spectators at the time, who could also enjoy magnificent sunsets during the performances as the sea was very close to the theatre.
Castello di Miramare
On the next day, I was determined to visit Miramare Castle. A friend of mine who was working in Italy had advised me to go there from the city center on cycling. So at first I was strolling along the seafront near the Piazza Unità d'Italia to try to find an rental-bicycle shop. But as I was watching the blue Adriatic Sea, I got a more splendid idea to approach the castle on a boat. I rushed in a tourist info center located near the square and got a time schedule for boats going to it.
Summer breeze made me feel fine on the deck under the sun, while I was watching white yachts sailing far out at sea and red roofed houses scattered on the green hills in the distance. The boat was gradually approaching the Miramare.
Getting off the boat at the port, I lost my way to the castle although it stood very close to me. There were no signposts on the way and I asked several people how I could get there. They were all friendly but I could not understand their Italian. Finally I met an intelligent attractive lady who spoke fluently English and brought me back to the right direction. She was working for ICTP (The International Centre for Theoretical Physics) at Trieste, one of the Mecca for advanced study of physics, and knew many Japanese researcher. I was flattered by her remark that Japanese researchers were one of the best in the world.
Although the Miramare puts the castle on its name, but actually it looked like a villa for Emperor Maximilian I and his wife, Charlotte of Belgium. I was impressed among others by the beautifully arranged layout of gardens in contrast to sea, which reminded me of the hope and intelligence of the 19th century's Habsburg emperor.
The interior showed the another aspect of this dynasty glory.
(The end of my summer trip to Slovenia 2016, thanks!)
In Slovenia all the roads seem to lead to Ljubljana. So if you want to move from one place to another, you may probably find it easier to go to first to Ljubljana and then take a bus to your next destination. That's why I came here three times, but two of which were just for transit. I waited for a bus at Ljubljana when going to Bohinj from Kamnik as well as returning to the airport from Trieste. Excluding those transits, I made only one half-day tour around Ljubljana, an old capital of Slovenia while I was in the country. But it was a really precious moment for me, because I was so fortunate to be guided by two attractive young lady and gentleman.
Ljubljana Station
Our rendezvous was at the entrance of the Ljubljana station building where there was a clock. Getting off the train from Kamnik, I was quite upset as I could find no gate in the station to get out and had difficulty to find a way to the meeting place. The capital's station was very quite with so few station staff, which was quite a contrast to Tokyo's busy stations.
I met Maja and Žiga there for the first time, who had a special interest in Japanese culture and dedicated themselves to disseminate it among Slovenian through their Genki Center, the Japanese related center for education and culture. Maja was a founder, while Žiga was an expert on Japanese tea ceremony.
PREŠERNOV SQUARE
We walked toward the central square, Prešernov trg, which linked the new city with the Old Town. At the square I first noticed the statue of France Prešeren (1800–49) , a Slovenia’s great poet, looking gently toward a terracotta figure taking a peep from a window on the 2nd floor of the opposite side building (refer to the photos below) over the square. She is said to be his Beatrice named as Julija Primiča. On the northern side of the square, there stood the 17th-century salmon-pink Franciscan Church of the Annunciation.
Just south of the statue is the Triple Bridge (Tromostovje) which was built as a single connection in 1842 with the two sides added in 1931. We crossed over the Ljubljanica River to enter into the Old Town to explore the joyful open-air markets. There used to be a fisher market and butcher market around here.
Ljubljana Castle
Then we rode up to the Ljubljana Castle by funicular.
This castle was constructed in the 15th century by the Hapsburg to defend against Turkish invasions, which were the most frequent in the 15th and 16th century. In 1809 Napoleon brought freedom and nationalism to the citizens of Ljubljana, which triggered the civil war with the Habsburg. After the French left, the Habsburg had used the castle for jails until the end of the Second World War. Until 1963, political opponents of Ljubljana had been confined in a cell of the castle. In the 1970s the renovation began and today the castle is a popular tourist site.
We entered the watchtower which was located on the southwestern side of the castle courtyard, and climbed to the top through a double wrought-iron staircase. Sweat beaded on my forehead, but the views from the top was worth an effort.
Wine Tasting
Back to the Funicular starting point on Krekov trg near the Ljubljana Puppet Theatre, we strolled along the Old Town streets and I felt some pleasant and romantic atmosphere at every corner that this town had to offer. They took me to "Sushi mama", a Japanese Susi-bar for dinner and we all enjoyed delicious Susi dishes together with Japanese sake. This was my first and last Japanese dishes to eat while I was traveling for two weeks in Europe. Next we moved on to the special beer shop "Zapopent.si", as they knew that I was brewing home beer and interested in different kinds of beer. Maja gave me a bottle of Brown Ale as souvenir, which I carried all the way back to Japan and tasted at home. Next we moved to the nearby Wine Bar& shop Movia for wine tasting.
Movia wine comes from the Movia estate in Goriška Brda, the borderland between Slovenia and Italy, 13 km to the northwest of Nova Gorica. The Goriška Brda is one of the most important wine-growing areas in Slovenia where they say that a combination of a Mediterranean climate and the vicinity of Alpine peaks creates the most preferable conditions for the production of dry wine. Although I don't know much about wine, but I can say that it was the best wine tasting ever in my life. We talked a lot over glasses of wine until midnight. I was impressed especially by the following remarks; the one was that Slovenian work so hard as much as they care about their family. I felt that this more balanced mindset was also important to the modernized Japanese society, which had been eroded excessively by technology and commercialism. And as just one month ago UK voted to leave EU on national referendum, I was interested in how they felt about Slovenia being a membership country of EU. What surprised me was this view that Slovenia had struggled to develop its unique strength in industries under the pressures from its neighboring powerhouses.
Beautiful old Ljubljana, delicious wine and pleasant talks, I had a very happy moment. Thanks so much!
(To be continued; the next is "Trieste" )
