Upon reaching Kobe, I ventured my way through the streets to the attraction I marked in Google Maps. First stop is the nice and small Ikuta Shrine not too far from the train station.
Thereafter, I walked towards the Meriken Park area to have a glimse of the Kobe Tower.
After a short break, I went to Kobe Harbourland via subway, which is the shopping district of Kobe. However, I only walked around in the streets instead of doing any shopping.
Next, I decided to take the subway to Shinnagata Station to have a look at the Tetsujin 28 Go Statue. Apparently, there is a Three Kingdoms Garden that is in the area but I couldn't exactly find it.
Since it was already past lunchtime, I took the subway to go in search of the famous Kobe A1 teppanyaki restaurant. After much effort, I found the restaurant but realised the restaurant's lunch hours are already over. However, they have another branch about 10 minutes walk down the streets. I went to the other branch and was delighted to find that they are still open for late lunch.
After lunch, I had the idea of visiting Mount Rokko and maybe even Arima Onsen. I took the train to Rokko-michi followed by bus 16 to the cable car station. After waiting for about 20 minutes, I took the cable car up the mountain and there was quite a nice view and cool weather along the way. It's even more enjoyable that there are no windows in the cable car.
At the summit, it's nice and cool at 16°C though rather misty as well. With the thick mist, there wasn't much of a view from the observatory.
I took the one and only bus at the cable car station to go to the music box museum. I reached the place at about 3:50pm and was dissappointed that the last entry is at 3:30pm. I walked to the nearby botanical garden and the last entry is at 4pm. Feeling a little dissappointed in the wasted trip, I went in search of the bus stop to go to the other cable car station which operates the cable car to arima onsen. When I reached the cable car station, I was told that the cable car is not operating (either ended for the day, or not operating on that day). After all the wasted efforts, I went my way back to downtown Kobe.
At the train station, I decided to look for dinner somewhere nearby before going back to Osaka. I was outside a restaurant serving sashimi and grilled food and was looking at the menu while thinking whether to have my dinner there. After seeing the very attractive price of ¥980 for 8 types of sashimi, it was just too hard to resist the temptation. Other than the sashimi set, I also ordered my favourite asari soup, grilled chicken and grilled clams.
After the sumptuous dinner, I took the train back to Osaka. Upon reaching the hotel, I decided to change up and go to the Spa World that is just 5 to 10 minutes walk away. It's my first onsen/sento experience in Japan and I was just awed at the size and furnishing of the place. It's also nice to enjoy the outdoor pools (rotenburo) in the nice cool (but not cold) weather. For the month of May, men have to go to the 6th floor for the asian-themed onsen. They have regular hot baths of varying temperatures, cold baths, some baths with special attributes due to use of minerals or jacuzzi. They also have dry sauna, steam sauna and salt sauna. There are also massage/scrube services and also a cafe in the gender-specific floors. I didn't explore the common pools on another floor though. The existing promotion is ¥1,000 for the entrance fee and it seems that they have been running this promotion for the longest time.
For more photos from Kobe, check out here.
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