Day 6 - Wednesday 30 March
Although breakfast is on until 0900, the phone rang at 0830 to remind us to go to down. Punctuality is clearly the hall mark of a good guest in a Japanese hotel. Ironically breakfast was a buffet so no real need to rush.
Back in the room the phone rang again this time to let us know that there would be a fire drill at 1030 - we took the hint and headed off for the day.
Our destination was Ginzan Hot Springs a small onsen village some 40 kms from Naruko. Climbing through the mountains the snow was still very much in evidence and often a metre thick. The Tourist Office claims the village dates back some 400 years and for sure it is very pretty. The pedestrianised main street running either side of a fast flowing stream is set in a deep gorge and lined with ryokan and small shops.
As we seem to be out of season things were quiet but we finally found a small cafe that was open - Cafe la Poste - run by a father and son team. Excellent coffee brewed to perfection.
As lunch time was drawing near we decided to head the the nearest ‘big’ town - Obanazawa - which boasts 17,000 people and also being one of the top 3 towns in Japan with the most annual snowfall. It was surprisingly hard to find anything open although after driving around several blocks several times we did manage to find a small restaurant ! Tempura prawns once more !
The afternoon was a leisurely stroll through the supermarket and garden centre with coffee and cake at a patisserie and home to a hot dip before dinner consisting of many kinds of fish - again !
Although breakfast is on until 0900, the phone rang at 0830 to remind us to go to down. Punctuality is clearly the hall mark of a good guest in a Japanese hotel. Ironically breakfast was a buffet so no real need to rush.
Back in the room the phone rang again this time to let us know that there would be a fire drill at 1030 - we took the hint and headed off for the day.
Our destination was Ginzan Hot Springs a small onsen village some 40 kms from Naruko. Climbing through the mountains the snow was still very much in evidence and often a metre thick. The Tourist Office claims the village dates back some 400 years and for sure it is very pretty. The pedestrianised main street running either side of a fast flowing stream is set in a deep gorge and lined with ryokan and small shops.
As we seem to be out of season things were quiet but we finally found a small cafe that was open - Cafe la Poste - run by a father and son team. Excellent coffee brewed to perfection.
As lunch time was drawing near we decided to head the the nearest ‘big’ town - Obanazawa - which boasts 17,000 people and also being one of the top 3 towns in Japan with the most annual snowfall. It was surprisingly hard to find anything open although after driving around several blocks several times we did manage to find a small restaurant ! Tempura prawns once more !
The afternoon was a leisurely stroll through the supermarket and garden centre with coffee and cake at a patisserie and home to a hot dip before dinner consisting of many kinds of fish - again !