Shrines in Koyasan and a half day in Osaka - Japan at Cherry Blossom 2023 - 12
27.03.2023 - Shrines in Koyasan and a half day in Osaka
Weather: partly cloudy
Walking distance: 23.5 km
We are both awake before the alarm clock rings. Instead of going to the offered meditation session, I go out to photograph for an hour. It's 6:15am and a bit fresh but not raining anymore. Best of all, I hardly see anyone and the temples are all empty. I start with a temple just across the street (Danjo Garan [↗]) and spend much more time here than expected as the grounds are larger than they appear from the street. I continue walking to the center of the village, looking here and there what is inside.
After some 45 minutes, I turn around to be in time for breakfast. I'm not the guy for Asian breakfasts, but I want to give it a try. So I eat what looks appealing to me and then go to Family Mart around the corner and grab a morning coffee 😉.
The way back to Osaka [↗] is of course as bothersome as the way to Koyasan was. Finally, we arrive in Osaka and have to change from the train to the metro there. While our guide buys tickets, most of us storm a bakery. I buy a nut pastry and some puff pastry with chocolate. Both for about 2 EUR each and really tasty.
At the hotel, the rooms are not ready yet. First information was an hour, then 20 minutes and as I'm back from the nearby 7/11 with a cup of coffee, they are already handing out the keys. So I drink my coffee to the pastry now in my room after all.
I change clothes as it's much warmer here than in the mountains and rearrange a few things as I now have my suitcase back, but then I'm ready to go.
The first area to explore is Umeda with its Sky Building [↗]. This is a skyscraper with a so-called observatory. In fact, it's a rooftop viewing area. The building has a quite interesting architecture. I'm usually hesitant to go to such lookouts, especially during daytime, but here the architecture with the escalator to reach the top seems to be worth the time and price.
You pay at the top after taking the elevator and escalator. After getting the ticket from a vending machine, you go up one floor to an indoor area where you can also get a coffee or something to eat. One level further up is than the outside viewing area, where you can take photos without standing behind a window or glass wall. Unfortunately, it's a bit foggy, but of course, the weather is much better than the days before.
From here I walk over to Osaka station to go to the castle [↗] or at least nearby. It's still some 30 minutes to walk. When I arrive the sun is right behind the castle, so I start to walk around it. Again the weather is not exactly my friend. At the beginning it was partly cloudy now it's getting heavily overcasted.
Just outside the castle grounds is a food festival with various booths, and at one of them I buy a meat skewer.
The temple I originally wanted to visit will be closed soon, so I change my plans and go a little earlier to Shinsekai [↗]. This is an entertainment district with arcades, shopping streets, the Tsutenkaku Tower [↗], and especially restaurants with nice neon signs. I'm there at blue hour, which helps to keep the contrast under control, even if it's not a must for these motifs. Surprisingly, the sky colors up nicely, even though the weather at the castle was anything but promising.
Finally, I want to return to Umeda and see what the area and especially the Sky Building looks like at night.
Coincidentally, I completed that way the Circle Line. The nice side effect is that I don't have to pay anything for transportation thanks to the Rail Pass. The Circle Line is operated by Japan Rail, which also operates the Shinkansen and other trains. The other metro lines here in Osaka are maintained by different companies and you have to pay for them individually. It's more or less the same as in Tokyo.
The area near the Sky Building is a bit disappointing at night. Neither the area nor the Sky Building is illuminated in a fashionable way. So I take some pictures here and from the bridge on the way to the hotel and call it a day.
