Date: 21st October 2024
Travelled: Nagoya to Shirakawa-go and back ย
Visited: Takayama and Shirakawa-go
Stayed: Trusty Hotel, Nagoya
Budget: 21 days @ $XX per day
Our usual walk but this morning in Nagoya. Much quieter this morning, the city was buzzing last night when we were looking for somewhere for dinner.
The lemmings line up for roll call and the bus departs promptly at 8.30. I should explain Pam and I are โgroup 14โ with every family being a different group. We have 17 groups and Serena like a good mother calls the roll every opportunity as maybe leaving someone behind is a sacking offence.
Our first stop is the shop front for a specialist steel manufacturer. Basically a sword and knife place and anything else with a sharp edge so it seems. We get a history of the old forging process.
Armed with a new pair of fingernail clippers we return to the bus and travel on to Takayama.
From the bus we walk down to Sannomachi Street. A street of preserved timber houses and shops some hundreds of years old. It houses a number of saki and miso brewers, and many cafes.
It was packed with tourists literally and not the most pleasant experience. Once we escape Sannomachi Street itโs a pleasant walk.
Back in the bus we have a 90 minute drive to Shirakawa-go, a UNESCO world heritage site. Famous for its traditional grasshopper-zukuri farmhouses. The village is still occupied but open to the public till 6pm daily.
We enjoy walking the village for 90 minutes which was 30 minutes too long in our opinion. Then group 14 is ticked back on the bus, for a couple of hours back to Nagoya.
Michael + Pam
