Day 10 of the trip, I’m leaving Shirakawa-go and hoping back on the Takayama-Kanazawa bus to Kanazawa !
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A day in Kanazawa
Arriving at ten, I went to the pokemon center (it’s located in a building right next to the station), they have a kimono dressed pikachu there. First special pikachu of the trip! I left my bag and new pikachu in a coin locker at the mall and headed to the castle !
After crossing Omicho market, I walked to the castle, visited the park a bit, you can get good pictures and a good view, and it’s free! The castle’s area is linked to the Kenrokuen by bridges. I went to the park to see the famous architecture Karasaki pine trees, with the structure protecting them from the snow. I walked around a bit, I was surprised with the amount of tourists as I didn’t think their would be that many people at that time of the year. Later on, I went to a small shrine behind the park where they were preparing for a matsuri. There were small tori ways and one was to attach omikuji. then I took the stairs up to the museum area, there are a few different museums like the prefectural history museum, prefectural museum of art or the National crafts museum. By the way, with an entry to the kenrokuen gardens, you can take a set and get a discount for any museum.
The national crafts museum is closed on tuesdays so I couldn’t go but the museum of traditional arts and crafts was open, had just a few visitors and was really interesting to learn more about centuries of traditional arts and crafts. You can also take part in different workshops like Kaganui or Kanazawa gold leaf.
You just have to ask the staff at the boutique/reception about it as mentioned during the exhibition.
Then I visited two other shrines hidden in the park and, wanting to try Kanazawa style curry, I went to the famous Champion’s Curry restaurant, in Omicho market. It was really good although too much for me, I had a hard time finishing it… (They have different portion sizes).
For a digestive walk, I went to Higashi Chaya’s area, with its edo-style houses and its Okiya. Kanazawa being famous for its gold leaf art (there is a gold leaf museum in this area too), I had to try at least once the gold leaf covered ice cream! So I went to Hakuichi, there are signs reminding you that you can’t eat-walk, so they have 2 resting areas to let you eat you ice cream. It was sakura season so I was lucky and got a cute sakura ice cream. So the golden leaf part is not that good, there this metal taste but it was something to try as I had never had golden leaf wrapped food before. Even though it was nice, there were many tourists and I read that it might be better to go to Nishi Chaya, it is less crowded and you’ll find interesting museums.
After finishing the ice cream, I decided to walk to the ninja temple (Ninjadera) ! There are many temples and shrines in the surrounding streets, the temple itself looks classic from the outside, I didn’t get in because it was out of budget for the day in Kanazawa and I was a bit late (almost closing time ~4-4:30p.m.).
Therefore I just wandered around, took a bus to the station to pick up my stuff and went to the hotel (Kanazawa Musashimachi capsule hotel, 2560yen/night).
It was a capsule hotel, I was a bit surprised by the rooms as I was expecting long corridors with small beds etc. The beds were actually very spacious compared to some hostels I’ve been to. I was in a girls only floor that you enter with a badge-key. There is a locker room to leave your stuff, a small room to work or eat, a bathroom with everything you need, and a big room with all the capsule beds. At the reception they give you a bag with towels and pajamas.
What to do/ see?
- Kenrokuen gardens
- Higashi chaya/ Nishi chaya/ Kazue-machi
- Omicho market
- Nomura samurai residence
- Oyama Jinja
- Craft museum
- Rakugan shop
- Nishi Chaya Shiryokan museum
- Gold leaf museum
How to get there?
From Shirakawa-go/ Takayama :
- Bus : Takayama-Shirakawago/Kanazawa line, 1h40, 2800yen
From Matsumoto :
- Train : JR Shinano to Nagano, then Shinkansen to Kanazawa, 2h20, ~12750yen
From Kyoto :
- Bus : Kintetsu company, 4h20~, 3700-4700yen
That is the end of my day in Kanazawa, next and last stop : Kyoto!
Travel & Cake 
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