Day 33: Matsuyama Castle and Dogo Onsen

First of all I would like to thank all of you, who have written nice and encouraging comments to my posts. I would have liked to answer every single person. However I am not a professional blogger and I was system-wise not able to do so. Specifically I was unable to find the mistake in my system settings.

Today was a short and relaxing day. I explored the town, visited the castle (altitude: 100 m) and took a bath in Dogo Onsen. 

Matsuyama Castle (1)

Matsuyama Castle (2)

The whole castle as a defense structure is huge (much bigger than the ones I have reported on before). Very impressive. It looks also good from larger distances (e.g. my hotel room) and at night, when it is illuminated.

I talked about the history of Dogo Onsen already in my yesterdays post. Today I took the chance to see it partly (the relaxation rooms are currently refurbished) from the inside and take a bath. It was a nice and relaxing experience. Considering the famous status of this particular onsen (catapulting you back into the empirical Meiji time) and the relatively small bath room, which can not accommodate too many people, I was surprised that there were no long waiting lines in front of the entrance. It was easy for me to get almost immediately inside.

Dogo Onsen

Dogo Onsen entrance

Walking distance today 15 km (total: 738 km). Weather was sunny. In the morning at 10 degrees Celcius during the day at 20 degrees Celsius.

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