This port is one of the cities where we end one segment of the World Cruise and start another segment. We are losing a number of people who boarded in San Francisco, Sydney and Brisbane. On the other hand, we are gaining 800 to 900 people from Japan. This is scheduled as a short segment, starts in Kobe and ends seven days later in Kobe. A large number boarding today will depart at the end of this segment.
We booked a ship’s tour today, Mt. Rokko and a Sake Brewery Museum. The city of Kobe lies between the sea and a ridge of mountains, Mt Rokko being the highest of these mountains. Our bus take up the mountain to the funicular station were we caught the rail car that took us the rest of the way up the mountain. At the top station, we looked out over the city, checked out the snack bar before our bus caught up with us. The bus then took us up the last 300 meters to the top of the mountain. At the top were more snack and souvenir shops plus more places to look out over the city. I would love to add pictures of the city to this blog, however it was a very hazy day. We could just barely make out our ship in the harbor. The trip down by bus was beautiful as we passed many expensive homes, hotels and high end shops.
Back in the city, we went to the Sake Brewery Museum to view how sake was made in the old days. Before we got into the museum, we spotted a row of old and new wooden barrel and tubs. All made out of wooden staves and wooden hoops. We were later to find out these tubs were the traditional method of storing sake. There is even a ceremony and celebration for opening the tubs on special occasions. One such occasion was held in the Queen’s Room of our ship.
Back to the Museum, a short video on sake making, displays of old tubs, iron vats, tools, a large rice press to squeeze out the fermented rice water and drums to age the sake. After all this, we finally got to actually taste the sake in the sales area. There were various styles and flavors of sake and plum wine fortified with sake. After a lot of sampling and some buying, our bus took us back to the ship.
Sandra and I had lunch in the Lido and then left the ship for some serious shopping. A shuttle bus was provided for the trip into town. In town, the shuttle pickup point was right in front of the major department store and across the street from China Town and a major covered shopping street. Sandra and I covered a lot of ground in a couple of hours. Finally, after our feet gave out, we returned by shuttle to the ship.
There should be more to this day, but after dinner, we skipped the entertainment and went to bed. The ship left port at about eight in the evening for a two days run to Kagoshima, Japan.
 |
| Kobe Harbor from our balcony |
 |
| From the Mt Rokko observation deck |
 |
| Sake Tubs |
 |
| Wooden Vat |
 |
| Rice in traditional bales |
 |
| An old well in front of the museum |
 |
| Iron vat wrapped with rope |
No comments:
Post a Comment