I arrived in Kobe without any clear idea of what I was going to do there, so after looking around for a bit I took a train, and then a bus, to the Rokko Cable Car. The ride up the mountain took about ten minutes, and from where I was sitting I had a nice view of the city, at least in the first part of the ride. By the time we got to the top, it was difficult to see much, as the weather that day was very foggy.
Slightly disappointed, I then took a bus and headed over to the Alpine Botanical Garden. When I bought the ticket to enter the garden, I was handed a few different papers, and one of them had to be stamped in various points along the way. I went down the staircase and looked around, thinking that on such a foggy day on top of the mountain (especially as the cherry blossoms didn’t fully kick in yet, and many branches stood bare), this place can serve as a great location for a horror movie.
After getting my bearings and finding my rough location on the map, I started to walk around the place, heading over to what I was hoping would be the first stamping station. It was a nice place to walk around even at this time of the year, and it was nice to just go around nature away from the city. When I got the first stamp (and confirmed that I did read the map correctly), the whole thing became less of a stroll around the garden and more of a fun little treasure hunt. The stamps were scattered around the garden, including one that was located in a shop, and I enjoyed seeing the different trees, flowers, and ponds that were around.
I collected all the different stamps and made my way out of the garden. I asked a tour guide that happened to be in the area, and he told me that apparently in the garden’s coffee shop I can get a ten percent discount. As I was feeling pretty cold and the sound of a hot drink was very alluring, I went ahead and did just that.
By the time I was done the hour was getting late and places were starting to close. Despite that, and the weather, I headed over to the Garden Terrace, which was a nice little area with a few shops in it. On a good day, there would have been a nice view of the city from there, but the fog covered pretty much everything. As there wasn’t much else I could do at this point, I took the bus back to the starting point, and then the cable car to go back down to the city and the more pleasant weather.