Takayama - day 2

After breakfast we caught a local bus to the Hida folk village, about 10 minutes away from Takayama. The village is very much in the style of St Fagans or Beamish with a range of buildings that have been transported from where they were originally built.

The buildings are all typical of the region but differ subtly in construction and look depending on where they were originally. For example, buildings with a much stronger roof because of the amount of snow that it would need to bear in the winter.

The weather was much better today and with the sun out we spent a pleasant couple of hours wandering around before getting the bus back in to town.

After a quick refreshment stop we next walked through the town and spent some time walking along the Higashiyama trail along the hillside where there is a row of about 13 temples and shrines. This brought us to Shiroyama park, a wooded area in higher ground where the old Takayama castle used to be. We stopped here and had a snack and a beer in the sun.

Back in to town for a look around the craft shops. Takayama is famous for is craft including woodworkers. At 4pm we had a tour of a local sake brewery and learnt how sake is made, along with trying a few samples of different sake.

After the tour we headed to the craft beer bar that we had been to the previous day before deciding that an early dinner might be easier given the problems that we had the last night in finding a place.

We found a local steak place and had a delicious set meal including appetisers, bread, soup and Hida steak (the local speciality beef).

After this we walked back to the hotel for an evening of cards in the rooftop lounge.Read more