A stop over in Himeji

Although I have to admit there's not much to see and to do in Hiroshima, I really liked my stay there. Starting from a very nice hotel, finally with my own bathroom, through much bigger number than average of English speakers and finishing on possibility to eat something decent ;-)

But it's time to hit the road and move further. I will spend this night in Kyoto, but before that happens, I will still make a stop over in Himeji - a city known for the most beautiful Japanese castle.

When I arrived to the Hiroshima station, it turned out I still had some time till the departure of my train. Very stupidly though, I didn't reserve the seats! So while waiting at the platform for the train, I understood that with this number of people, it will be quite challenging to find a seating place in the wagon with non-reserved seats. And indeed it was impossible, as the train was full. I decided then to go out and to wait one more hour for the next train and reserve my seats this time!!!

The journey to Himeji took only one hour, and after arrival I left my luggage at the storage at the station (700 yen). After I left the station, I could already see in the background the majestic Himeji Castle. The walk there took me like 10-15 minutes, and with every step the castle was becoming more visible and more beautiful!

I was very lucky to be able to see the Himeji Castle. It was under renovation for several years, and re-opened only last year. With the amount of Japanese visiting the castle, I had impression that everybody in Japan wanted to make it up for the period when the castle was closed... well, the Golden Week was over., so it was the only explanation.. or is it just Japan and its 150 million citizens who love visiting their national treasures? ;-)

The Himeji Castle is know also as White Heron Castle, because of its elegant white appearance. It is not only national treasure, but also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Constructed in the fourteenth century, and subsequently underwent several reconstructions to reach the state we know today in 1609. It is one of the only twelve surving castles in Japan - very lucky, as never destroyed, even during the heavy bombarding during the WW2, when all the surroundings were burned to the ground - the castle remained intact. A firebomb hit on the top floor of the castle, but failed to explode. Even the great earthquake of 1995 did not harm the castle.

A curiosity for James Bond's fans - the Himeji Castle was featured in "You only live twice" :)

Spectacular from the outside, and nothing really special inside. The visit consisted on climbing floor by floor (five in total) togethwer with a huge number of tourists, but the pieces were empty. I would love to see at least one of these pieces decorated as it used to be decorated in the past, or at least with a short explanation of what was located here before.