Thursday 19 February
We woke up this morning to 3 cms of snow which gave the town a wintery look. Breakfast was exquisitely presented.
Our plan had been to head over to Mount Aso but it seems that due to an eruption not to long ago access has been restricted so instead we thought we would head to Aso town and see what it had in store. The trusty SatNav wanted to take us on a toll road over the top of the plateau but unfortunately due to the snow this route was only accessible with snow chains ! That was the one thing we did not pack.
We did make it through the snow and sleet via a roundabout route and found our way to the Aso GeoPark Information Centre where we were told although the crater was closed you could get to within 3 kms.
But first lunch. After a few false starts - are there no vegetarians in Japan - we say a small hand-painted sign 'Sakura Cafe 400m’. We did find a small cafe although it now seemed to be called ‘Olmo Coppia’. It was run by two Japanese housewives who created wonderful vegetation dishes in a renovated old house. How anyone finds it I have no idea as it was down a tiny lane and at Yen 1200 for the full meal not sure how anyone makes a living.
We woke up this morning to 3 cms of snow which gave the town a wintery look. Breakfast was exquisitely presented.
Our plan had been to head over to Mount Aso but it seems that due to an eruption not to long ago access has been restricted so instead we thought we would head to Aso town and see what it had in store. The trusty SatNav wanted to take us on a toll road over the top of the plateau but unfortunately due to the snow this route was only accessible with snow chains ! That was the one thing we did not pack.
We did make it through the snow and sleet via a roundabout route and found our way to the Aso GeoPark Information Centre where we were told although the crater was closed you could get to within 3 kms.
But first lunch. After a few false starts - are there no vegetarians in Japan - we say a small hand-painted sign 'Sakura Cafe 400m’. We did find a small cafe although it now seemed to be called ‘Olmo Coppia’. It was run by two Japanese housewives who created wonderful vegetation dishes in a renovated old house. How anyone finds it I have no idea as it was down a tiny lane and at Yen 1200 for the full meal not sure how anyone makes a living.