I woke up early this morning and set the GoPro up on the port side of the ship to get a time lapse of the arrival. I didn’t get put it up as early as I should because it was hard to judge when we would be actually arriving in port.
I got a light breakfast (salami and rolls) and got ready to leave.
A few pictures as the ship arrived in Hakodate.
Today’s port guide…
Today’s onboard activities:
The sign on the old ferry at the dock.
I was one of the first maybe 20 people off the ship this morning and I was ready to explore. I wandered around the morning market first. They had a lot of seafood, mostly crab from what I could see.
Next I took a tram to get to Goryokaku Park. The tram was slow (has to stop for traffic, wait for people to get on and off, etc.).
Once I arrived I walked around the entire fort on the upper level to take pictures. There were still a couple of cherry trees with a few blossoms left.
Towards the end of my walk the Goryokaku Tower put up their carp for the holiday on May 5th.
I walked to the inner part of the fort and visited what I would call a replica of the magistrate’s office. I call it a replica as it was rebuilt very recently using the same materials and methods as it would have originally. There was a video showing how it was built – including having a metal building put up around it to all work to proceed indoors. The entry as only 500 Yen, so it wasn’t too expensive.
I took a few more pictures around the Magistrate’s office. You could see a bit of the foundation of other buildings and one lonely cherry tree with blossoms.
My next stop was the Goryokaku Tower. This tower overlooks the fort and would have had an amazing view last week when the cherry blossoms were still in bloom, but you can’t control the weather.
There was a line to buy tickets, but it didn’t take long at all. It cost 1,000 Yen ($7.34 USD) for the lift to the top, but I also had a coupon from their website for a free postcard.
The view was impressive. It was easy to see the shape of the fort and it was also possible to see the Mt Hakodate Ropeway, the port and the cruise ship.
Unless it is cherry blossom season I would skip the fort and just go to the tower. I probably didn’t need to waste an hour walking around the fort which is mostly empty except the one museum building in the center.
I walked back to the tram stop and took it most of the way to the Mt Hakodate Ropeway. I saw most of the way as the nearest stop is at the bottom of the slope. There is a significant hike up to the base station. If you have limited mobility then you will want to find a taxi to take you to the station.
I found out the gondolas run every 15 minutes and I missed one by a minute (literally left as I got to the station door).
This is a bit more expensive – 1800 Yen, but this was worth it. The view going up was quite spectacular. It was easy to see St John’s church and the Russian Orthodox church from the gondola.
Once on top I enjoyed the view as you could see the open ocean on the east and the port on the west with a small sliver of land. The cruise ship was docked in an easy location for a good photo. It was also possible to watch the boats come in and out of the harbor. If I had brought my GoPro and the proper mount I probably would have gotten a nice time lapse of the harbor.
It was a bit chilly on the top, but I was prepared with a few layers. This is despite it being quite warm in the city. If you do go I highly recommend brining a coat to enjoy yourself while visiting.
After visiting for a while and getting cold despite my extra layers I decided to head back down. I took a few pictures on the way down.
Once at the base station I then walked over to St John’s church. I took one picture inside as well, it was a bit boring and monotone. But it was free to enter and very close to the Ropeway, so by all means peek inside.
Right next to St John’s is the Russian Orthodox church. They did not allow photos inside, but it was still possible to enjoy the inside.
There were a few other temples / churches I walked past.
From here I walked over to Hachiman Zata slope to take a picture as the street slopes down with a clear shot of the cruise ship.
On my way to Motomachi Park I found an ice cream place I was told about – they put vanilla ice cream inside a warm melon bread. The snack cost 420 Yen (about $3 USD) and was excellent. The warm melon bread was crispy on the outside. I do recommend trying it. As like most places in Japan you use the machine to pick what you want, pay and hand the ticket to the employee who makes and gives you the food.
I arrived at Motomachi Park and was surprised to find a beautiful building, the old public hall.
I decided to go in, but it was mostly lackluster. Save your money and buy yourself some ice cream instead.
A few pictures from the balcony of the old public hall
A few more pictures inside the old public hall
I was running out of time (but not cutting it too close) so I turned back to walk to the ship.
I walked past the red brick warehouses along the waterfront.
Also at the waterfront was an interesting hamburger place called Lucky Pierrot with a wacky clown as a mascot.
17 stores in Hakodate! You can only eat our burgers here in Hakodate!
Local specialty restaurant LUCKY PIERROT. Only one ! Number one !
As I was literally a 10 minute walk back to the ship I didn’t test the burgers, but I did take a picture of the wacky clown.
One more picture of the ship.
The sign on the old (retired ferry)
Once back on the ship I had to present myself with my passport to go through Japanese immigration, so I am now officially nowhere, kind of like being stuck on the Peace bridge between the US and Canada (that’s from a story one of my Scottish friends told me).
Once the formalities were over I overed myself a colortini (actually an Amaretto Manhattan), some cheese fries and a cheeseburgr. I guess the wacky clown made me hungry for a burger. If you’ve been on Carnival be prepared to be disappointed in the hamburger. It wasn’t bad – but it doesn’t match the quality of the ones on Carnival.
I went up to set up my time lapse of the departure and took a few last photos of Hakodate. There were several people dancing on the pier for us. They were out there a while because there were a few tossers who didn’t follow the instructions to go immigration when they returned.
The ship finally left just before sunset. It was a lovely view of Mt Hakodate on the port side.
I had dinner by myself tonight in Vivaldi as this dining room is hidden and there are not many people arriving. The menu was not very appealing tonight. I tried the Shake Miso Yaki for a starter (salmon) and the grilled seafood skewer for my main (I do not like scallops, but I ate the rest – well I didn’t eat the skewer either). I’m really not a big seafood fan (except crab, prawns and lobster), so the menu was just not to my liking.
For dessert I had the cherries jubilee which was good.
From there I continued to notch up my colortinis at different bars.
At midnight I retired as the night club was pretty dead. I did order myself a quesadilla, red bull and bottle of water when I returned to the room.
Time to relax after another day of exploring, but thanks to the two tram rides it was less walking than the day before.
Today’s timeline:
