Hakodate, Japan

Thursday, April 25, 2019             Hakodate, Japan

The ship docked at the Minato-cho Wharf at 8:00am.  We were greeted by the towns nicest service organization.

This morning we quickly boarded the shuttle bus for a 20 minute ride into town. It was very windy and very cold outside. 

Dressed in three layers with hats and gloves we headed to the Morning Market after the bus stopped at the Hakodate Station. 

Morning Market is comprised of more than 280 stalls selling the freshest seafood around. We saw so many types of seafood….shell fish, crabs, scallops, shrimps, herring. 


                                     The price for this mammoth crab....a whopping $350.00!

                                                            The oysters were GIGANTIC!

You name it; they had it…especially in king size.  It was the most amazing fish market that we have visited. The owners would cook whatever you picked out. 

This was a special fishing tank set up for kids to catch a small fry.

            They had small restaurant seating areas for you to sit and enjoy their delicacy. 

The most amazing part of this whole city block market; it didn’t smell fishy. Everything smelled pretty yummy for 9:00am in the morning.  

                                           The famous Fuji Apples from this area were on sale.

After visiting the Morning Market, Larry and I boarded the local city bus that took us to the Goryokaku area.

We passed the Gorkokaku Tower that offered 360 degree views of Hakodate and Gortokaku Fort.

                                                   View of the fort from the tower

                    Japanese cities have the nicest manhole covers...This manhole cover was in the fort area.

We walked into Goryokaku Fort (1864), a star shaped Western style citadel built to protect the city from would-be invaders.  It was turned into a public park in 1910. 

We hiked over the berms and took in the sights across the moat that surrounded it.

                                                                 How magnificent!

It was fun to visit today because of the hundreds of cherry trees that were …..almost in full bloom. 

                                                                          

                                                  Bugyosho or Magistrate’s Office

We caught the Number 5 bus back to the Hakodate Station and then boarded the bus back to the Westerdam. Our ship looked mighty fine after spending a good part of the day in the cold wind.

             The sail away sunset was probably the best one we have had on this adventure, so far.