Saturday, March 25, 2023
We woke up to cloudy skies but pleasant temperatures. The Nautica is docked in Kobe, a town near Osaka (Japan’s third largest city) and about a two-hour drive to Kyoto. We had time to conduct more explorations of the ship because our land excursions didn’t depart until 12:30. We had avoided the outside upper deck areas because of rain but bravely ventured there now in fairer weather. We were awarded with a nice view of Kobe and discovered the shuffleboard court, the mini-golf course, and corn hole pit. We also viewed the blue track, swimming pool, and hot tubs from above. We ate an early lunch of ahi tuna sandwiches with fries at Waves, an outdoor grill on Deck 9 near the pool. Then we were handed our laminated bus passes, walked through passport control, and boarded Bus 2 as scheduled.
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View of Kobe from the Nautica |
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Corn hole, Mini-golf and Shuffleboard (around the corner) |
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Track, Swimming Pool and Hot Tubs |
Our guide for the day was Taku, a young Japanese man with excellent English, good organizational skills and a sense of humor. In other words, he was a great guide. We rode from Kobe to the impressive Osaka Castle. The original castle was built in 1583 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi but the current castle (version 3) is a reconstruction finished in 1931. The site was crowded because it was the weekend during cherry-flowering season. Taku herded us up a lengthy winding walkway and through the gateway to the castle. From that point, we were on our own to meet back at a designated area and time. Jane and I waited in line to take the elevator to floor 5 and then climbed stairs to the top, eighth floor. We walked around the balcony viewing the castle grounds and Osaka below. There was interesting documentation on each floor as we descended but it was too crowded to view it especially during our restricted time allotment. So, we emerged from the castle and enjoyed walking around the beautiful gardens before connecting with our group for the walk back to the bus.
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Gateway to Osaka Castle |
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Osaka Castle |
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A Golden Fish to bring Water – It was working |
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Osaka Castle from the Gardens |
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Flowering Cherry Trees in the Gardens |
We then bused to Shitennoji Temple. Jane had been practicing creative pronunciations of this moniker, none correct. Prince Shotoku built the original temple in the late sixth century. Its grounds contain a five-story pagoda as well as a treasure house containing mandalas and Buddha statues. We were not allowed to enter either. The current reconstruction is number seven but the temple compound layout has remained the same over the centuries. After a brief stroll around the grounds with commentary from Taku, we boarded the bus and headed back to Kobe.
I'm sure Jane was channeling our dad with her spot-on Japanese pronunciations!
Haha. She learned from the master. – John