#Kōbe

Our last day in Kōbe started with a harbour cruise. After that we checked out the Sōrakuen landscape garden, where the first signs of autumn colours were already showing.

But the highlight of the day was visiting the Nunobiki Herb Gardens. We walked to a waterfall first, before hopping on the cable car to the upper viewing platform. As luck would have it, a little German Christmas market opened up there today, with wooden figures from the Ore Mountains, mulled wine, and currywurst hotdogs. After that we sniffed our way around the attached herb garden, before heading back to the viewing platform after sunset to admire Kōbe by night.

A magical day, and it’s hard for us to say goodbye to Kōbe tomorrow. But we’re off to our next stop: Ōsaka.

The actual city centre of Kōbe lies between Osaka Bay and the Rokkō mountain ridge. What could be better than checking out the whole region from way up high? That’s exactly what we did today.

First, we took the funicular up Rokkō. From there, we hopped on a bus to an observation deck on Mount Maya. The panoramic view from up there over the greater Kōbe and Ōsaka area is just mind-blowing and hard to put into words. Only then do you really realise what massive metropolises these cities actually are.

After a quick detour to Maya-san Tenjō-ji, we took a cable car and another funicular back down into the city. After sunset, we snapped a few nice shots of Meriken Park and the Earthquake Museum.

Today was another travel day. We left Fukuoka and took the Shinkansen to Kōbe. There we checked out Meriken Park and visited the observation deck of the 108-metre-high Port Tower, the city’s landmark.

Tomorrow we’re doing a day trip to a place that’s been on our wishlist for a long time and that you might not immediately associate with Japan.

A day trip to Kōbe (cut short because of the rain). We checked out the waterfront Meriken Park with its Earthquake Memorial, which commemorates the Great Kōbe earthquake from 1995. Right next to the shopping street is Kōbe’s Chinatown, Nankinmachi, full of tasty food stalls that even serve the famous Kōbe beef. In the Kitano-chō neighbourhood, there are loads of Western-style houses where, for an entry fee, you can be whisked away to Europe or America for a little bit.