Day 16 -- Hakodate

We took a shuttle to the center of town and went to the morning market. Aisles and aisles of fresh fish, crabs, and squid, which is a big specialty here. Some are alive, but also a lot of dried fish. Generally overwhelming and unbelievably expensive. (2 crabs $50, a large peach $5, a melon $30). From there we walked to the area where several huge brick warehouses from the late 1800s were converted to a shopping and restaurant zone. Then, we walked up the hill to the foot of the Hakodate mountain to an area called Motomachi, which is where a lot of old colonial buildings are located. We strolled this lovely area and visited a Russian Orthodox church, the old British consulate and some old government buildings. We then took a tram across town to the Goryokaku fort. It is an impressive pentagonal structure with a moat all around it. It was a place where the last battle of the shogunate took place in 1869 and ended the feudal period. The park around the fort has thousands of cherry trees and it’s supposed to be spectacular during the cherry blossom season. From the fort we walked to a department store where Bo bought a Japanese style bathing suit. We got back to the ship at 4 and rested until 5:30 dinner. We were scheduled to take a tour at 6:15 for the night view of Hakodate, which is considered one of top 3 night views in all of Japan. It is so spectacular because Hakodate is located on an isthmus. The English language tour was booked so we signed up for a Japanese language tour, which also happened to be $20 per person cheaper. The bus took us to the base of the “ropeway” which we would call an aerial tramway. The place was mobbed, but our tour guide somehow maneuvered her way inside and we were one of the first groups to get in. A 5 minute ride to the top of Mt Hokadate yielded a spectacular view of the city. The top was even more crowded than the bottom, but we had an hour so we finally got to all the best view points. The tour guide was great again getting us all down without a wait. She didn’t speak a word of English, and even though we did not understand a word of what she was saying, she managed to communicate the essentials.