After our visit to the Nagasaki Peace Park, we were ready for a snack. We decided on a lunch set. Dave enjoyed the sushi lunch set and I enjoyed the tempura lunch set. Oishi des!
After we were refueled, we were ready for more exploring. Next on my list of things to see was the Mt. Inasa Ropeway. I’m a sucker for a Japanese Ropeway. I’m not sure why, but I get such a kick out of them! We had a little time before the next car arrived. This allowed us time to walk around a nearby Shrine. The fall foliage made me so happy!
Finally, it was time for our 14:00 gondola ride to the top of Mt. Inasa. As we were boarding, we paused for a quick photo with the gondola driver. There were two professional photographers taking pictures of the gondola, but not riding. I asked one of them to take our picture. While he was snapping away, his partner was snapping away, too! On their camera. Dave and I laughed at the possibility of our picture ending up in some Japanese advertisement.
The ride to the top was very quick. Only five minutes. I snapped a few pictures during our ride up. Don’t you just love the pink house? And did you notice all the stairs the people have to climb if they live at the top?
As we rode in the gondola to the top, we were informed that Nagasaki was ranked as one of the three cities with the best night views in the world in 2012. The other two cities were Hong Kong and Monaco. Obviously, we came to the city only for the day and didn’t have the opportunity to see the spectacular night view. We saved something for the next time we visit. During the day, the view was pretty spectacular, too!
The ride down provided us with beautiful views as we were lowered back down to the city. I included a short video of our trip down. I wanted you to experience the beauty and hear our gondola driver speaking to us!
The third place I picked for us to visit was Meganebashi or Spectacles Bridge. It is the oldest arched stone bridge in Japan. It also has the claim of being the most photographed bridge in Japan. It was built in 1634 by a Japanese Monk. It was badly damaged during a flood in 1982. It was repaired and restored using most of the original stones that were retrieved from the river.
Two pictures with people on the bridge. The first one – us. The second one – Japanese school children.
And one selfie for good measure. Doing our part to help it remain the most photographed bridge.
We had a great time exploring Nagasaki. I left a lot open on my to do / see list. Enough to potentially make a second trip. In hindsight, I probably should have booked a room so we could have spent the night. This would have not only given us more time to explore, but also broken up the two long train rides. Live and learn and always keep exploring!