Good Morning Yamagata!
As I have explained in my previous entry, I woke up on the morning of 5th day to the warmth of a local host family. Since I had asked them the night before about the dishes I should try in Yamagata, the "mother" of the house decided to wake up early and make some Imadegawa-yaki also known as Daifuku Manju so that I could eat some. And so that I could pack some for the rest of my day, and would later share them with the people I met along the way. In former days, the lady of the house confided me that she would go to the nearby touristic Yamadera and sell them to the visitors, giggling and telling me how fast she would run out of stock, and how much she enjoyed her conversations with the passing by tourists.
This "simple" breakfast had more ingredients and dishes than what I could describe. I felt I was a at a feast!
The Lady of the house had thrilled me with her entrepreneur stories, surprised me with her hand-made adornments, and amused me with old family stories and pictures, so it was a little bit sad to say goodbye to my new friends. She made sure to give me plenty of souvenirs, some I had to refuse for baggage size matters, but mostly she gave me a genuinely quality time that I found could only be brought about by the festival spirit that flourished around Tohoku these days. Thanks a lot for everything!
My next destination was the close-by famous temple of Risshaku-ji also known as Yamadera. This temple is a 30 min hike up from the homonymous train station, in which the frequence of trains is that of one an hour, so I recommend to check on the schedules before setting out to exploring. Since I had all my luggage with me, I used some of the station coin lockers (400yen) to get rid of the extra weight. However soon I would find out that there was a restaurant across the station that takes care of travelers luggage for free... oops!
From the bottom of the stairs, there were some Momiji (Japanese maple) trees that were coloured as if it had been Autumn. Funnily enough, from above they would be inadvertently overlooked, since their color was a dark shade brown almost purple.The peaceful atmosphere of the ancient temples surrounded by the greenery of the mountains was a quick yet amazing get-away from the city landscape.
My next stops were Matsushima and Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture, and since the full fare was cheaper than using the seishun 18 kippu, I saved it for later. Instead, a Yamagata-Sendai ticket was advertised, and this was only 1680 yen for free rides in between several places of Miyagi and Yamagata. Considering that a one way ticket to Matsushima is 1,320 yen, plus a one way ticket Matsushima-Sendai costs 410yen, it was simple to use and cheaper as well, even for the one way trip. If I had arranged to stay in Yamagata for another night, I could have maximized its use.
No comments:
Post a Comment