Hikone Castle (彥根城)

another original castle of almost 400 years.  Visited on a national holiday with more crowds though fine.  Day temps dropped to less than 10C and drizzling at times.

Inside the castle, climbs along the wooden stairs  were steep – as in Himeji Castle.

Genkyu-en  (玄宮園)

a beautiful landscape garden attached to Hikone Castle – not to be missed if visiting the castle.

Had late lunch in shopping street close to castle. A udon shop had a fairly long line despite being close to 2pm. We chose the Aka-Oni (red ghost) udon served with famous local Omi-gyu (beef) in sukiyaki style – we were told to pour the entire hot soup onto the udon.  This was the first time we had udon served with beef (commonly served with vege, tempura etc). Though we had waited for about 30 min, it was totally worthy  😀

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