The historical district of Matsumoto could be explored on foot quite easily. The prettiest district would be the Nakamichi district - the merchant district of the olden days - where most of the original houses and shops have been restored and retained in their old forms and are now mostly used as restaurants, pubs, shops and ryokans. Below are some of the pictures pakdokter took while exploring the district....
Pakdokter spent at least one hour huffing and puffing up the narrow and steep stairways of the Matsumoto Castle. Pakdokter only realised how 'tough' that 'experience' was when that night pakdokter's thighs 'ached' like hell.
From the Matsumoto Castle, it was a short walk towards 'the first Primary School' set up in the whole of Japan. We found a little food-stall by the road-side and decided to sample the 'kuihs' on offer there.
the above were 'pows/paus' like our famous Tanjong Malim pau..
their 'fillings' were either potato, yam, fish etc..
as Nagano is 'soba' country..
pakdokter could not resist the 'cold vegetarian soba'...
the next stall offered freshly made rice crispies...
all kinds of flavour - prawn, sesame, kimchi, etc etc..
the stall-owner was so happy we bought so much..
he gave us another packet for free..
the stall owner had on displayhis collection of badges from the Winter Olympics in Nagano..
he could spend all evening talking about that 'Games'....
From that stall, we walked on to see one of their 'heritage' site - the first 'Primary School' in Japan. As we arrived rather late in the evening, we could not enter into the school to see what the old classes were like. This school building is now maintained as a museum. A new functioning school was built next door.
the first " Primary School" of Japan...
the current school...
on another lane, we came across a 'Doctor's House'that dated back to the Shogun period...
currently an ENT specialist operates there...
other doctors' houses on the same lane were newer/not so pretty...
On Sunday morning, we walked again in the Nakamichi district. The lane by a little river cutting across the city had many stalls lining both sides of the lane. Apart from the usual tourist 'stuff' there are also 'cookies' and food stuff.
red bean 'kuih baulu' Japanese style...
others have corn fillings, etc etc..
the street signs is so pretty...
the 'Hikariya' restaurant...
this lane along a little stream has manysouvenier, textile and food shops on either side...
one of the many shrines in the city..
As Nagano is the 'home' of 'soba'
we decided to go for another round for lunch
the restaurant is just round the corner of our 'ryokan'
and Princess Michiko?..the daughter-in-law of the Emperor
was amongst the distinguished patron of this shop....
fresh 'wasabi' root.....
pakdokter's cold soba with tempura...
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