Our second day trip was to the little city of Hirado. Hirado was recommended to us due to its close proximity, lack of toll road (always a vital statistic when planning a road trip here) and beauty. We visited Hirado Castle, a small castle at the top of a hill overlooking the bay.
As with most castles here you have to put some effort into getting to the top. Which usually means walking up a big hill and then climbing 5 or 6 flights of stairs to get to the top of the castle. Elin had no problem with that….
You have to stop and chat sometimes. Or at least let people take your picture.
But it's worth the climb!
Magnificent!
We saw a festival going on from the top of the castle so we decided to go over and take a look once we got down. It was an Oyster Festival. Many cities in Japan have Oyster Festivals every weekend throughout the month of February. They set up tents for vendors to sell shellfish and rice. Guests can sit down at mini grills to cook their lunch. If we were oyster people we would have taken part. Instead we bought some fried fish sandwiches and some interesting cheese rolls that we believe had jellied fish mixed in. Definitely one of those things that make you go hmmm.
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| Hmmmm. |
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| Jumping Clams |
These puppies are alive! Technically called fan lobsters (I believe), they're about $2 a piece. They sit patiently in the basket, wiggling their creepy crawly legs until they're plucked up, sliced in half and placed on a plate for you to toss on your grill. People were lined up along the sea wall with their grills. We had a great time observing this popular tradition!
We found out as we were leaving the Crybaby Sumo was to occur two days later. Basically two babies dressed in costume are brought into a "sumo" ring at a temple. A man shouts "Hakkeyoi" and the first baby to cry wins. Being the awesome parents we are we actually considered coming back to enter Elin in the contest. Wouldn't that have made a great picture for the grandparents?
Matane,
Caitlyn
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