Costa Serena Postcard #12 – Kobe, Japan

Our conversation with the Costa Hostess seems to have paid dividends as Nicole was treated like royalty last night. We were getting visits from what seemed like every manager on the ship. Two plates of food for every course and even a special chocolate dessert. These were the same people we spoke with earlier in the cruise that were unenthusiastic and nonchalant when we expressed our dissatisfaction about Nicole’s vegan options compared to previous Costa cruises. I find it really poor that it took a proper complaint to motivate these people to do their job properly.

Today was another strange port time with an arrival at 3:00 and departure at 11:00. Yesterday evening we received notification by means of a letter in the cabin that we would require a number for disembarking which we would need to collect from one of the bars between 9:00 and 11:00 so being as we had a 3:30 rendezvous with our tour guide today, I thought I would get there early to try and get the lowest number possible.

Well I arrived at 8:40 only to find there was already a lengthy queue of people waiting to get their numbers. I eventually ended up with number 73 but as it happens the number would have made no difference whatsoever because we were called to leave the ship within 10 minutes of clearance being given but nobody checked our ticket so could have got off at any point.

While we were waiting for clearance, we were treated to a display of some very enthusiastic and talented Japanese Taiko drummers.

We could also make out the cable cars going up to the Herb Gardens.

In the end we were 10 minutes earlier than planned getting off the ship and our guide, Leo was ready and waiting for us at the rendezvous point at the entrance to the Port Liner monorail with some pre-loaded IC cards which are good for most of Japan’s public transport. It’s a bit like the Oyster card in London and you just use it to tap yourself in and out of the gates at the stations.

We were soon on our way to the city centre where we got off and walked a few streets to get to Ikuta Shrine which is one of Kobe’s oldest Shinto shrines, founded over 1,800 years ago.

Leo was very chatty and was constantly feeding us snippets of information along the route.

From there we visited Nankin-machi (Kobe’s Chinatown) This is a vibrant district in Kobe filled with colorful streets, lots of delicious looking street food, and shops, offering a lively taste of Chinese culture in Japan and being a Saturday night was very busy.

Part of our tour involved a bite to eat at a vegan cafe and Nicole enjoyed another instalment of Japanese vegan food. From there it was back on the subway for one stop to get to the Herb Garden cable car lower station.

There is a scenic garden at the top of the mountains of Kobe, offering panoramic city and sea views and at this time of year there is a Christmas market. It was dark by the time we left the restaurant so my photos are not very clear but I can tell you it was an amazing view looking down on Kobe all illuminated up.

The queues were long in both directions but it was worth the wait and we were so pleased we made the effort. On the way back Leo helped us purchase our own IC Cards so that we could use them in Nagasaki and also when we come back to Japan next year. We also collected two more EKI stamps en route. Time seemed to pass really quickly this afternoon and evening and by the time we had navigated the subway and monorail it was coming up to 9:00 pm. Leo came back to the cruise terminal with us where we said our goodbyes and made our way back onboard the ship.

We had another memorable and fascinating day in Japan and have just one more to go in this country before we head to Busan and then ultimately Hong Kong and the end of the cruise. We have a sea day tomorrow to recharge our batteries and then we plan to tackle Nagasaki on our own.

Fitbit Steps – 14,760