Today we had a Kobe day trip planned. We got a reservation to a fancy Kobe beef restaurant at 14:00, and so we went off to Kobe at around 10:30.
We arrived at around 11:00, and while in the train, I made a tiny iternary for us. Since we still had 3 hours before our reservation, I’ve decided that we should check out the ropeway into the mountains.
When we got out from the station, the first thing you see is that half of the city seems to be under construction and renovations. There’s so many cranes and half-built structures. The train station exit had the most liminal corridor of my life.
In order to enter the ropeway, we had to take an elevator for some reason, and only then be able to walk there. There were so many odd platforms that didn’t make much sense.
The ropeway was cool. We got to see the city from above, and during the ascend you can also see the dam for a few seconds.
When you get up to the mountain, you are transported into a victorian garden, full of flowers and classical music. It was a little silly to see - is this how Japanese people imagine Europe to be, lol. It would certainly be better if it was like that though.
We went into a cafe that had an incredible view on Kobe. I got strawberry tea. Since our reservation was coming soon, unfortunately, we didn’t order any desserts. They looked really amazing though, so I kinda regret not getting any.
The reception of the cafe was really old-school, still writing everything manually. It was interesting, but a bit annoying, as it took a long time just to pay for our drinks.
After this, unfortunately we had to pretty much skip everything else the garden had. This place definitely has enough content for like 4-6 hours, but we just rushed and got out quickly, as our reservation would be coming in 30 minutes. I tried moving it for a hour later, but they didn’t reply.
We ended up entering perfectly at 14:00.
It was really good. Not as good as the restaurant in Skytree, but much better than Eel restaurant. The only thing, is that Kobe beef wasn’t as unique as I thought it would be, I guess. Maybe we just got a worse chunk, but it wasn’t as buttery as people were saying it should be. We didn’t go to the bestest place we could’ve possibly gone to, to save our wallets, so maybe. This is gonna be our last fancy meal in Japan.
We went to the Suma beach. It was kind of confusing to figure out how to get there, as Google maps doesn’t work properly in Kobe for some reason. Some stranger came to us and told where to go just as we figured out the correct direction. That wouldn’t ever happen in Tokyo though!
This is the first time I’ve ever been to an ocean. I’ve never even been to a sea for that matter, so it’s kinda amusing that the first huge water body I saw is ocean, so far away from where I’m from. The water was cold-ish, but not too cold. Just early-summer water temperature. There were a few people swimming here and there.
I talked to family and got a crepe with ice cream. And just listened to the AIR soundtrack and chilled for hours. It was nice…
We had a view on the bridge to Shikoku (actually the intermittent island that leads to it) from our pier, far away. When the sun has set behind the hill, it became much colder quickly, so we’ve got up and left.
Suma station has such a different vibe from others. It’s beachy!
We had to go through a billion construction sites once again to get to our transfer station. There are 2 Sannomiya stations for some reason…?
When we got home, we finally ate at a sushi restaurant I’ve noted on the first day in Osaka. It was good, although we were tired.
