Takayama

We exchanged our vouchers for our Japan Rail passes and boarded the Shinkansen bullet train to Takayama. Aside from obviously being very fast, the train journey was beautiful and our first look at the Japanese countryside.
We chose Takayama after reading about its old fashioned style and picturesque location in the Japanese Alps and we weren't disappointed at all. The town is lovely and full of old wooden buildings. We enjoyed exploring the streets and markets and visited a couple of sake breweries where we could do some tasting of traditional Japanese booze (we couldn't actually see the process as it is made in winter time). We also followed a walking route which goes around the outskirts of town in the hills where there are lots of temples, shrines and a big graveyard. Several posters warn you that bears have been spotted lately around the mountains, perhaps it's not so bad after all that we didn't have time for a hike.
We tried a few new foods in Takayama; Hida beef, steamed dumplings, rice ball skewers with soy and Hida beef croquettes.
To save money we stayed in a dorm which had a capsule style feeling, only here there were wooden "boxes" to sleep in, quite cosy actually!Read more