Today’s entry is all about a day well spent at the Castle. We had lunch and a relaxing time enjoying the natural surroundings and the people who were also spending the day here. There are always visitors but today we saw mostly locals.
It may be early December, but it looks and feels like fall....glorious colours.
Osaka feels like our home away from home. We love visiting the Castle grounds. It's beautiful regardless of the season, locals spend a lot of time time here and there are often events happening on the castle grounds. This year, we have had the good fortune of being in Japan in the spring and fall which , so we have enjoyed Sakura (cherry blossoms) and fall colours.
This statue is of Hideyoshi Toyotomi who developed the Castle. It was built in the 1586 and took 3 years to complete, thanks to 100,000 workers. The five storey main tower featured an exterior covered in gold leaf and ornaments designed to impress visitors and demoralize enemies. Toyotomi loved gold which led to much gold being used on the Castle.
the Castle is very well maintained and a huge draw for tourists. Osaka Castle is our favourite, because of the vast and beautiful grounds. We always make wonderful connections with the people we meet there.
The oasis of the castle grounds is surrounded by the modern city of Osaka. Stepping inside the grounds, you can let yourself travel back in time. another reason we love this castle is that many in Japan require payment to enter the grounds. The only cost to visitors is if you decide to tour inside the Castle.
We always stay at Hotel the Lutheran which is about a 5 minute walk to the Castle. The Lutheran also offers parking for our trikes..a rare perk in the city.
It is a small world. This couple from Switzerland saw us riding our trikes around Osaka and they were happy to have a conversation with us and find out what we were doing...and what our trikes were.
This mural is located on the exterior of the Peace Museum which is located on the grounds of the Castle. We highly recommend it. On a previous trip, we were riding around the castle grounds and two local men came up and suggested we might like the museum. The next thing we knew, they took us in and paid the entrance fee. We were surprised, but had to accept their hospitable intent and gave them our business card with a link to our journal. Much bowing ensued.
A happy dog at the castle. The grounds of the castle have forested areas, a ball diamond and sports field, open air concert hall, gift shops, a flower area with plants for sale, Starbucks and a Konbini. There is also Osaka Castle Hall which holds concerts, sports, judo contests, etc. The grounds cover about 15 acres.
We often see entertainment at the Castle, but this is the first show with a monkey that we have seen. It was very good…the monkey is clearly bonded with this woman.
The monkey is very quick to take any money that is on offer.
