Hakodate, Day Two

Continuing on from my last post, day two in Hakodate found us going to Goryokaku. The entrance into Goryokaku can be seen above (you have to cross a bridge to enter the structure proper, and you can take boats around the moat, how cool is that?). But wait, what is Goryokaku, you say? Well... I'll just let this next picture explain for me. (Click to embiggen, as always.)

Yay! So, basically, it's a really old fort (a pentagon shaped fort, no less!), that's now a really pretty park/tourist attraction. At the entrance of the park, you can see the 3D statue map below.

At least, I believe that's what it used to look like. Not all the parapets and buildings are still standing. Most of the parapets and walls that remain look like the picture below; still there, but overgrown, weathered, and no longer battle-ready.

Of course, with structures well over a hundred years old, this is easily forgiven. The Magistrate's Office, mentioned in the previous plaque, is still standing however, and in great shape; although, to be fair, it was probably rebuilt/restored heavily at some point.

Apparently, the Magistrate lived in style... You could actually go into the building and walk around if you wanted to, but as it required taking off our shoes, Aaron and I didn't go in; we wore inconvenient, non-Japan friendly shoes that day, unfortunately. Lots of other people did go in, though, and hang out on the amazing back porch like some sort of Japanese samurai lord, as you can see in the picture below.

Even without going into the main building, there was still plenty to see. There were auxiliary buildings that were storage buildings and such (long, long ago) that had been turned into museums. As you were allowed into those with your shoes on, Aaron and I were able to go in and look at all the various historical artifacts on display. Also, gawk at the cannons in front of the building...

We also just walked around the grounds, which were very park-like in their prettiness. What was not park-like, however, was how many archelogical dig sites there were, scattered about. Apparently, researchers are still working on cataloguing the park, and are slowly going through different sections searching for historical artifacts. It was actually really cool to see, as were the giant trees in the picture below.

I have no idea what kind of trees they are, but they were everywhere, and they look like giant bonsai trees. Which I'm not complaining about.

After the park, we wandered out to the building pictured above. It's right on the edge of Goryokaku, and going all the way up to the observation deck gives you a magnificent view of the whole star-shaped fort. Beyond the observation deck, there are a bunch of restaurants and souvenir shops inside, along with a decorated lounge where you can rest your feet.

There were two really awesome things in this place: one was delicious ice cream, and the second was delicious curry. The ice cream was delicious because it uses Hokkaido milk, from Hokkaido cows, which are famous for their delciousness. Just the milk, though; the most delicious beef in the country is still considered to be the venerable Kobe beef. Aaron and I shared a mixed vanilla and chocolate soft-serve cone, and man do I wish I wasn't so stuffed from the curry; I wanted to eat that ice cream all day.

The curry was impossible not to gorge on, unfortunately. Hakodate is renowned for its seafood because, well, it's a port town, but it's also renowned for its curry. You see, all those Dutch traders that came in, along with other foreigners eventually, were all caught up with this delicious Indian food known as curry. The traders shared some with the people in Hakodate, they thought it was awesome too, and they started making tons of it for both themselves and the foreigners that suddenly were living in their little town. There's a curry restaurant in Hakodate that has been in business for almost a 150 years, and we were lucky enough to eat at one of their branch restaurants. It was so good.... and probably the only thing that could have made me fill up too much to enjoy the ice cream later. Curses.

Hakodate was definitely a blast, and a wonderful way to spend a three day weekend. I hope we have the chance to go there again. If you're ever up in Hokkaido for any reason, do yourself a favor and check out Hakodate; it really is awesome.