Early in the morning 5am, that's how early we wake up in order to catch the castle in the clouds. The castle is the ruins from Takeda castle, and we can view the amazing scene in the mountain from the opposite of the castle ruins at Ritsuunkyo 立云峡. You can find the best views at view points 1 & 2, up at the peak. This amazing scene can only be viewed in Oct~Nov between 6 ~ 630am in about once in every three days.
We reached Ritsuunkyo before 6am, but there were already many cars queuing to go up the mountain. See us stuck at the bottom of the mountain, waiting to go up the mountain.
We are prepared, in order to save time, we bought bread the night before,
and while caught in the jam, we can eat our breakfast.
Almost reaching our parking lot.. the Japanese are very efficient. In fact, by the time we had reached the bottom of the mountain, the car parks were already full as there are only 100 lots. But what happened was there were guides along the road to lead us to park on the slope of the mountain. Thanks to them, we were able to park the car despite there were so many cars.
It was dark when we arrived at the mountain bottom, but almost bright by the time we parked our car. We parked quite a distance away from the view points, so it took about another 20 mins or so to climb up.
By the time we reached the car park, the clouds were already surrounding us, making us very excited and sure we will have a good view later. Entrance fee: 200 yen/pax.
In case we cant see the castle in clouds, better take a photo of the board. :p
We reached view point 3 in no time, it was an easy hike. Seems like a shrine is up there.
The view from point 3 was not so spectacular, we could not see the castle ruins.
Take the right to move on to view point 2.
We took a moment to stop to also look at the beautiful colors of the trees,
not forgetting to take in the beautiful autumn scenery.
After about 20 mins hike, we arrived at view point 2.
The hike was not so steep along the way, but the rocks are quite slippery, although still manageable.
Although we are getting tired, we are still not satisfied with not seeing the full view, and decided to carry on with the hike to get to view point 1. The hike to point 1 was more difficult as the steps were quite steep and slippery. However, we pressed on and finally arrived at the top which was really worth it. The place was so crowded and we could hardly find a place to stand.
Getting down was also not easy as the steps were wide and steep. It would be better to use trekking poles as it was quite hurtful on our knees. We took a rest at view point 3 after climbing down all the way. Most people have already left the place as the clouds had already dispersed, while we were still having fun taking photos.
The next itinerary was to climb up to Takeda ruins initially, but I guess we were too tired after the climb up Ritsuunkyo. Anyhow, we were more than satisfied at having such an amazing morning. We returned to Tenku guesthouse to use the washrooms, and while there, we parked the car and initially tried to walk to the castle ruins, but only stopped behind Takeda station to take photos.
Get off the track as the train's arriving.
As we did not hike to Takeda castle, we have some time left before returning the car. Hence, we decided to make our way to Izushi castle ruins town 出石. Izushi village is situated within greater Kinosakionsen and it is not easy to get there without a car (only accessible by bus). It is an old, traditional village, good to visit as a replacement of Kyoto. It was easy to drive through tunnels and country side roads as there was very little traffic.
It took a while to search for parking as they were quite full. Many villagers visit the town as it was a Sunday. Anyway, we found paid parking near to the Inari shrine. We will not be bringing Jean to Fushimi Inari, hence, we should visit Izushi Inari as it is a good replacement.
We arrived at the Shinkoro clock tower of Izushi village.
The soba is famous in this town, so we need to try it. We found a lunch place, 湖月堂that has a little queue but not too long, unlike the shop with the twisting queue.
We love the mochi that was given before our soba arrives, it was soft and delicious.
This is the shop that had a twisting long queue, obviously the locals love the soba here.
The rickshaw pullers are not as handsome as those we can find in Kyoto la.
Take a break, have some coffee and ice cream.
There is an information and visitor centre here.
Goodbye beautiful Izushi village. It's time to return the car. The nearest car rental is at Toyooka where we can then take the train from here to Kinosaki Onsen. We will stay for the night in Kinosaki Onsen.
The train ride was only 10 mins. We arrived by 3pm in the afternoon. The night's stay will be at Mikuniya, 三國屋. When we arrived, we were told our luggage had also arrived and brought up to our room.
This is the dressing area, where we were told to choose our yukata and a lady will go to our room and help us to put it on later.
We were showed to our rooms. We booked a room for 5 so that we can have dinner together later. There are private baths in this ryokan where we can use at any time as long as no one is using. We were also given passes where we can visit any of the 7 bathhouses in the village.
Taking a rest.. eat the biscuit and tea provided and all the snacks that we bought.
Ready to go for a walk before dinner at 6pm.
The seafood shop beside our ryokan.
Look at the beautiful Otani river.
They were setting the table when we returned to our room. Yummy kaiseiki ryori is waiting for us. Itadakimasu.
At night, we went for a round of hot bath. That's Jizou-yu. But we did not use it.
Instead we went to Goshono-yu, with a man-made mini outdoor waterfall.
And this is the beautiful Goshono-yu.
That's the private bath in our ryokan, its for 1-2 pax.
Our futons were laid for us after the dinner tables had been taken away.
Oyasuminasai.
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