Collioure in France

Collioure is located in Languedoc-Roussillon in Southern France.
Collioure is near the border between France and Spain.

 Collioure is very colourful town. 

There is the Royal Castle

  [French: Château Royal de Collioure] 

beside the sea.

 

 

↓

Lunch beside the sea

Moules-frites (English: Mussels & fries)
As we were in Southern France, 

we ate Moules-frites provençale.

↓

Walk around the Collioure city

Collioure is facing the Mediterranean sea.

But it's also a hilly place.
We could easily enjoy a panoramic view from the hill. 

 

We found a windmill and kinda castle or citadel on the far hill.

The fortress looks like a castle is called "The Fort Saint-Elme".
It is a military fort built in 15 century by Charles V.

We decided to hike until the Fort Saint-Elme and windmill.
There was a hiking pedestrian road to the windmill.

Windmill of Collioure.

 

The panoramic view from the top of the hill.
We could see the Royal Castle [Château Royal de Collioure], vineyard, the Mediterranean Sea and orange-colored houses from the hill.

We can take the Tourist Trolley [Petit Train Touristique]

to the Fort Saint-Elme.
The Tourist Trolley departs from the car park 

in front of the post office.
It's a short round trip going through the vineyard 

to the hill where the Fort Saint-Elme is.

Episode of Collioure

Tomo & Chouchou saw many colorful buildings on the photo of tourist guidebook. We felt it's like Spain! So we decided to go to Collioure ! 

More we approach to Collioure, more we see the colourful buildings.
Such colourful buildings made us feel happy and lively.  

Collioure is facing the Mediterranean Sea. When we visited Collioure, French army had a trainning at the seashore. There is the Royal Castle [Château Royal de Collioure] beside the sea. There are many shops and restaurants near the beach. We felt hungry so we decided to eat lunch first.
Tomo&Chouchou ate Moules-frites. We often eat moules cooked with cream or white wine. But as we were in Southern France, we ate Moules-frites provençale which was cooked with tomato.
After eating, we decided to walk around the town of Collioure.  

Collioure is facing the Mediterranean but it's a hilly place. We found a windmill and kinda castle or a citadel on the far hill. So we decided to hike until there.
There was a hiking pedestrian road to the windmill. We could enjoy the flowers and scenery of the vineyard on the way. But it was a bit tough to keep climbing up, anyway.
The stone-made windmill of Collioure has an antique taste and it's pretty. 
The fortress which looks like a castle is called "The Fort Saint-Elme", which is a military fort built in 15 century by Charles V. When we went there, the fort was closed so we couldn't visit inside. But we enjoyed the big fort from outside.
The panoramic view from the top of the hill was great more than anything!
We could see the Royal Castle, vineyard, the Mediterranean Sea and orange-colored houses from the hill. We felt that it was worth to climbing up the hill.
It takes 20 - 30 minutes on foot from the downtown of Collioure to the windmill and the Fort Saint-Elme. 

Collioure is located near the border between France and Spain. So We could enjoy both cultures and both taste in Collioure!

Tomo & Chouchou's advice for Collioure

1) Please go up the hill to the Fort Saint-Elme. From the hill, you can see the Mediterranean sea, the Royal Castle, vineyard and orange-roof houses. Scenery is excellent! Great photo spot! 

2) If you don't want to walk to the Fort Saint-Elme, you should take the Tourist Trolley [Petit Train Touristique]. Tourist Trolley slowly go up the hill to the FOrt Saint-Elme. This trolley go through the vineyard. You can enjoy the landscape. You can also enjoy the sightseeing atmosphere with other tourists!
 

Hiking - Lysefjord, Norway

How to go to Lysefjord?

Take a ferry from Stavanger to Tau.
Take a bus from Tau to Preikestolen.

We took a ferry from Stavanger

↓

Arrived in Tau.

We took a bus to Preikestolen.

 

↓

Arrived at Preikestolen. 

We arrived at the starting point of Lysefjord hike.

There was the information for hiking there. 

We dropped our big luggages there during our hike.

 

↓

Start Lysefjord hiking !

Lysefjord hiking was the hike to climb up the big rocks.

↓

 

Finally, we could see Norwegian fjord !

 

↓

Chouchou continued to climb up until the top.

Tomo decided to go down.

↓

 

Chouchou started to see the cliff on the top.

Lysefjord from the top of the mountain.

This is the main view spot of Lysefjord hiking.

 

 

↓

 Chouchou caught up Tomo.

We went down together.

↓

Finish hiking.

↓

We succeeded to catch the last bus to go to Tau. 

↓

A ferry to Stavanger from Tau.

↓

We came back to Stavanger.

Episode of Lysefjord hiking

Tomo & Chouchou decided to go to Lysefjord in Norway for hiking. To go to Lysefjord, we can go by ferry from Stavanger. We went to the local travel agency to register the group tour to Lysefjord. We booked the group tour to Lysefjord for the next day. But the travel agency cancelled just before the departure. Then our travel plan became mess. Our main reason to come to Norway was for Lysefjord. We also made our all itinerary before coming, and we were planned to hike only on that day. There was no more other days to go and hike in Lysefjord. We must go to Bergen next day. We really wanted to go to Lysefjord, so we decided to go to tourist information for the last chance. We asked the tourist information about the Lysefjord hike and the transportation to go to Lysefjord and to come back on the same day. They said that we must take a ferry and a bus to go there. They also said that  we must take next ferry which would leave in 5 minutes if we want to hike in Lysefjord. We quickly asked the ferry terminal. They told us very roughly. Anyway we didn't have time so we ran toward the sea. We luckily found the ferry terminal and jumped to the ferry ! It was very sweating and tiring to catch a ferry.
Ferry arrived at Tau, then we took a bus direction to Preikestolen. Then, finally, we arrived the starting point of Lysefjord hike. There was an information at the starting point. They can keep our big luggage at the entrance. We asked how long it will take to hike Lysefjord to the staff in the information. They said it would be about one hour. So we were relieved to know that we have enough time to catch the last bus.
It was the hike to climb up the big rocks. A rock was very big so it was difficult for small Tomo to reach and climb with her short legs. Unfortunately Tomo took more time to hike. Moreover, Tomo had just started to hike and she was a beginner. So Lysefjord hike was difficult and long for Tomo. Chouchou had hiking experiences so Chouchou could hike faster.
One hour passed so fast. We realized it was impossible to hike in one hour. We hadn't seen any fiord/fjord landscape yet. We started to worry if we can see fjord landscape before going back down. So we made so much effort to hurry to climb up. We got used to climb rocks and we climbed faster and faster. Finally, we could see Norwegian fjord ! We could succeed to climb until the fjord spot. But we cannot miss the last bus. So Tomo gave up to climb till the top and decided to go down. Tomo asked Chouchou to keep climbing until the top and take some photos for her. Chouchou continued to climb up to the top and made an effort to hurry to the top. Chouchou could see the cliff on the top. Looking at Lysefjord from the top of the mountain was magnificent.
Then Chouchou quickly went down and caught up Tomo soon.
We succeeded to catch the last bus to go to Tau. Then we changed to the ferry from Tau. We could come back to Stavanger by ferry.

Tomo & Chouchou's advice for Lysefjord hiking

If you go hiking to Lysefjord, you had better have enough time to hike.
Also you had better go directly to tourist information to check the ferry and bus to go to Lysefjord instead of local travel agency, we think. Because the local travel agency didn't contact us about their tour was cancelled and we lost our time.
Please think well and decide if you join the group tour or you go by yourself according to your itinerary.

Relating article

* Bergen

Oze Marshland [Ozegahara] hike in Japan

Oze Marshland [Japanese: 尾瀬ヶ原] is located 

in Oze National Park [Japanese: 尾瀬国立公園].

We must walk on one-way boardwalk in Oze.

Oze National Park map at Hatomachi-toge [鳩待峠].

 

Tomo&Chouchou started hiking from Hatomachi-tōge [鳩待峠] toward Yamanohana [山ノ鼻].

↓

Yamanohana [山ノ鼻] resthouse

a lunch box called "Maitake-bento; まいたけ弁当".
（maitake is a mushroom, ram's head or sheep's head in English)

↓

After lunch, we walked to Ushikubi [牛首].

white skunk cabbages (mizubasho; 水芭蕉) in Oze. 

marsh pond [Japanese: 池塘 or 池沼]

We could see several mountains such as Mt. Shibutsu/Mt. Shifutsu [至仏山].

 

Yello flowers called Kingcups / Marsh marigolds [Japanese: リュウキンカ] were also blooming around Yamanohana.

Episode of Oze Marshland hike

Tomo&Chouchou went hiking to Oze Marshland (=Ozegahara, 尾瀬ヶ原）where was famous for white skunk cabbage (=mizubashō in Japanese).
We went there with day-hike group tour of Club Tourism International Inc..

Oze Marshland is located in Oze National Park [Japanese: 尾瀬国立公園].
Oze Marshland [Ozegahara] is very popular hiking place.
To protect the marsh, boardwalks are made for hikers. So it was easy to walk. Hiking in Oze was not difficult. However so many people come for hiking in Oze Marshland, and also we must walk on one-way boardwalk. As a result, it was crowded and it took time to hike there. Especially to go to the toilet, it was very crowded and we needed to line up a lot.
Tomo&Chouchou started hiking from Hatomachi-tōge [鳩待峠] toward Yamanohana [山ノ鼻]. There were bathroom and shops at Yamanohana.
Tomo&Chouchou decided to eat lunch at Yamanohana. Lunch box was included in our hiking tour. We received a lunch box called "Maitake-bento". Maitake-bento is the specialty of Gunma prefecture. It was very good.
After eating lunch, we walked again toward Ushikubi [牛首]. Most of hikers came with the tour hike until Yamanohana, then they go back to Hatomachi-tōge [鳩待峠]. So after Yamanohana, there were less hikers and we could hike faster. Moreover, around Yamanohana and Ushikubi, we could see full of white skunk cabbages (mizubashō; 水芭蕉), some marsh ponds [池塘, 池沼], several mountains such as Mt. Shibutsu/Mt. Shifutsu [至仏山]. It was very beautiful landscape.
Yellow flowers called Kingcups/Marsh marigolds [リュウキンカ]were also blooming. It was beautiful to see white & yellow flowers together.

Oze marshland was crowded but it was refreshing to see white skunk cabbages, marsh ponds and mountains that we could only see in Oze.
Tomo knew the name of Oze because she used to sing "Natsu-no-Omoide; 夏の思い出" at elemenary school. So Tomo wanted to visit someday. It became reality.
It was a beautiful place like a song.


information

White skunk cabbages (mizubashō) blooming time: from Late May to mid-June

Colored leaves time: from end of September

Hiking in Oze is available from mid-May to end of Oct..
(Only advanced hikers can access to Oze during winter.)


Other places in Gunma, Japan

- Mt.Motoshirane hike & Yugama in Kusatsu

- Fukuware Falls (Fukiware-no-Taki)

Mt.Myoken New Year's sunrise hike

On January 1st.

Meeting point: Myokenguchi station 

of Myoken line of Nose Electric Railway

[Japanese: 能勢電鉄妙見線妙見口駅}

↓

We started to climb Mt.Myoken [Japanese: 妙見山] in the early morning.

It was still dark outside.

↓

We arrived the top of Mt.Myoken.

We waited for the first sunrise.

First sunrise of Mt.Myoken

[Japanese: Myokenzan; 妙見山]. 

We could see the sunrise slightly through the clouds. 

↓

near the top of Mt.Myoken

Nose-Myokendo [Japanese: 能勢妙見堂]

Official name: Murosan-shinnyoji-keigaibutsudō-nosemyokenzan,

[Japanese: 無漏山真如寺境外仏堂能勢妙見山]

We found "Furumai zake"(=Free sake) while we were going down.

There was zenzai too. 

Around there, there was a fire (=Takibi; 焚き火).

While eating and drinking, we could warm up with a fire.

↓

We went down the mountain.

We went to the station to go back.

Episode of Mt.Myoken hike

Tomo&Chouchou went hiking to Mt. Myoken 妙見山(or Myoken-san or Myoken-zan) for sunrise of New Year's Day !
Mt.Myoken is located from Kawanishi-city in Hyogo prefecture [Japanese: 兵庫県川西市] to Toyono-cho, Toyono-gun in Osaka [Japanese: 大阪府豊能郡豊能町] and Nose-cho in Osaka prefecture [Japanese: 大阪府能勢町].
Mt. Myoken hike for sunrise of New Year's Day is organized by the Nose Electric Railway Co. Ltd. [能勢電鉄].
Meeting point was at Myoken-guchi station [Japanese: 妙見口駅] of Myoken line of Nose Electric Railway [Japanese: 能勢電鉄妙見線] in the early morning on Jan. 1st..
Everybody climbed Mt. Myoken with each pace. Our walking course was along the stream. The hiking course was close to the water, so it was very cold. The slope to go up the mountain was very steep. Even it was very cold, we sweated a lot.
Hiking road was very dark. Head light helped us a lot to find the hiking road.

We could arrive on the top of the mountain before the sun rises. However,  unfortunately, we couldn't see the sunrise because of the clouds. Anyway we could see the sunrise slightly and we could feel refreshed !
Near the top of Mt. Myoken, there is a temple of Nichiren Shū 日蓮宗/Nichiren School which is called "Nose-Myokendo; 能勢妙見堂", official name "Murosan-shinnyoji-keigaibutsudō-nosemyokenzan; （無漏山真如寺境外仏堂能勢妙見山)".
Right after watching sunrise of New Year's Day, we went to Hatsumōde.
 (Hatsumōde is the first temple visit of the New Year's day.)
After praying at the temple, Tomo&Chouchou decided to take another walking course. While we were going down, we found "Furumai zake"(=Free sake)!
We were very happy to be served for free ! There were not only Amazake (sweet sake), but also Zenzai!
 (Zenzai is a sweet porridge of azuki beans boiled and crushed, served in a bowl with mochi (=Japanese rice cake).) Around there, there was a fire. While eating and drinking, we could warm up with a fire.
After our heart and body were warmed up, Tomo&Chouchou kept going down. We had to take a cable car to go down for that walking course. There were lots of people waiting for the cable car. We didn't want to wait for a long time so we decided to go down with other walking courses. Going down the mountain in the morning was not difficult. It was much easier than going up the mountain at night.

It was the first time for Tomo&Chouchou to climb the mountain on the New Year's day. Normally we stay home and visit a shrine near the house. But it was a very "New" year for us. It was refreshing . We could really feel the beginning of the year and new start. Unfortunatelly we could see the beautiful perfect sunrise but it was a good experience!

Tomo&Chouchou's advices for Mt.Myoken hike

1) Walking course is along the stream. The hiking course is close to the water, so please go with warm clothes ! But please wear something easy to dry for inner clothes. Because to go up the mountain, the slope is very steep, so that you easily sweat.
2) Please don't forget to bring a head light because it is a hike in the dark.
3) Even if you cannot see the sunrise, you can see the primeval forest of Japanese beech which is nominated as Osaka natural environmental preservation zone. It's worth to hike.
4) Right after watching sunrise of New Year's Day, you can go directly to Hatsumōde, so it's convenient.
 (Hatsumōde is the first temple visit of the New Year's day.)
5) If you don't want to wait to take a cable car and you still have energy, you can go down with other walking courses.
6) If hiking is too tough for you to see the sunrise, you can also go up to the mountain by car or cable car.
To go by cable car, 
Take a Hankyu bus [阪急バス] until the bus stop "cable mae teiryujyo [ケーブル前停留所]" -->Take Myoken Cable till "Kurokawa" station [妙見ケーブル黒川駅] -->Transfer to Myoken lift [妙見リフト] -->Walk around 300m -->you will arrive in front of Torii [鳥居前]. (torii is a gateway at the entrace to a Shinto shrine.)