GOODBYE SAPPORO, HELLO HAKODATE
15.12.2024
Today we leave Sapporo and head south to Hakodate. We started the day with breakfast at our hotel and then returned to our room to pack and clean up. If you ever plan to visit Sapporo and want a well priced hotel with a good brekky, you would be hard pressed to get better than Super Hotel.
We got a taxi to the station, as we didn’t fancy dragging out suitcases for a kilometre on snow and ice covered footpaths. Certainly not with my recent record anyway. We are now drinking a coffee at the Starbucks situated at the entrance to the station. We have a little less than an hour wait for our train and we are both looking forward to the nearly 4 hour trip to Hakodate. The train will take us around the eastern coastline which will hopefully give us some good photos.
We have just arrived in Hakodate and it is snowing as it has been for most of the train journey. We’ve checked into another budget hotel, this time $75 a night but there is no shower or bath, only a mixed gender onsen! Wow!! Oooops!! Mami just told me to stop dreaming and apparently I got that wrong about the onsen and the absence of bath and shower. So all we had to do was check in our luggage, as we couldn’t get access to our room until 3.00pm.
We are now waiting in queue to get a meal at a well known sushi train restaurant. I could lose a couple of kilos while we wait, as we are number 102. Hakodate is renowned for its seafood and has a large seafood market which we have visited on previous occasions. The two main industries in Hakodate are Tourism and Fishing. At this moment, I think I’d have a better chance of eating some seafood by jumping on a boat and catching my own fish. Instead I’m waiting in this mile long queue with ticket number 102!!
Once again, Nana was right, only this time her prediction was not ‘underwhelming’ but ‘it is worth the wait’. Everything was so fresh and the fish on rice was twice as big as you would get in a Sushi Train anywhere else. We always loved sushi trains, but we are not sure if we can go back to a ‘normal’ sushi train after this experience. Hakodate did not disappoint us with their reputation. The meal was ‘ichi ban’, number one! And yes, it was worth the wait!!
With full stomachs after the Sushi Train, we carefully made our way back across the icy footpaths to our hotel. It is named ReSol Hotel, and don’t ask me what that means as I have no idea.
We had no high expectations for our room and were surprised to see it was quite spacious and easily catered for all our needs. It really is the perfect fit for people who spend their time exploring new places and only return to the hotel to shower and sleep. So we are very happy with The ReSol.
So having settled in, we immediately went out into the night to see Christmas lights. We had to catch a tram to the harbour where a big Christmas Pine tree was all lit up with lights and later with a fireworks display for good measure.
Snow was falling quite heavily as we walked to the tram stop and didn’t let up all the way to the Christmas tree. The wind was also quite strong and was causing the snow to hit us head on. We got behind the pack in front and used them as a shield for most of the journey. We were both covered in snow but we didn’t get any photos of us covered in snow flakes. Sorry.
Mami did however, get some really good pictures of the tree and the fireworks while I snuck on ahead to get premium seats at Starbucks while everyone else was taking Christmas snaps.
Hakodate is a very pretty little place. We are so glad we made a one night stop here before heading back to Honshu, the main island, tomorrow. We both love the snow and wherever you are in Japan you always feel safe, night or day. Proud to call this country my second home.
