Kanazawa

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From Matsumoto we travelled by train to Kanazawa. My first impressions of Kanazawa were that it was larger and more cosmopolitan than Matsumoto and the relatively tiny Takayama. It felt as if we were leaving 'rural Japan' and returning to the more urban side, the epitome of which was Tokyo. That said, Kanazawa was rich with cultural treasures of old Japan. We stayed at a Ryokan called Sumiyoshiya, complete with communal Onsen again were nice, and fortunately, always quiet. The Ryokan offered breakfast and dinner although we never actually tried either, the scars still fresh from our previous Ryokan culinary purgatory. We picked up a great, and very cheap sushi lunch from the fish market, and ate it in the castle park, and spent the afternoon walking through the old Samurai district, which has a number of samurai homes with beautiful gardens which are well worth a visit.



Following an early morning bath, we picked up some breakfast from a seven eleven and ate it in the Kenroku-en. This top attraction of Kanazawa is ranked as one of the great gardens of the Edo period. We had noted from lonely planet that the tranquil ambience of this place is frequently short lifted given the coach loads of tourists who arrive not long after opening time. Luckily we had managed to get there at seven, and enjoyed our breakfast and had a brief wander before the buses appeared at around eight fifteen. I would definitely advise making the effort to arrive early.



In the afternoon we strolled through the picturesque streets of the old Geisha district which were packed with sketching school children. As the area produces 99% of Japans gold leaf, which is used to decorate anything and everything from chopsticks to clothes and food, we visited the nearby gold leaf museum to learn the tricks of the trade. We were led to believe that there is a shop next door to the museum, but its actually a couple of blocks away, and was worth popping in as we were given complementary green tea complete with gold leaves, and they also have a mini gold leaf factory which you can go in. After another short stroll around the ancient streets,the desire for air-conditioning returned, so we disappeared inside a tea house in the Geisha district for some iced tea and ice cream served with traditional Japanese sweets.

In the early evening I returned to Kanazawa Castle Park for a run. I was limited to doing laps of a 1km circuit but its a quiet and attractive spot and as I've mentioned in a previous post, finding places to run in Japan hasn't been easy.

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