Tsumago [妻籠]

[Part 2 of 2008 Winter Road Trip]

We managed to make it to Tsumago for the afternoon, and after popping into the minshuku [民宿] to check in and drop our bags off, we headed to the town to have a look around.

Tsumago-juku [妻籠宿] an some mini sharon fruit [かき] hanging in a shop window (aren't their little faces cute?)

The place was near deserted and really felt like a large outdoor museum. It was definitely not a very busy time of year for the town, and we only saw one or two other tourists wandering around. We managed to make it to two of the museams before closing time (5pm) - they offered a ticket which lets you into three of the main museums in the town for 700yen (however, if you are staying at a minshuku in Tsumago they can give you a discount coupon so that this price drops to 450yen *I think - can't quite remember now*)

Then it got dark very quickly, so we headed home for our 6pm dinner at the minshuku. The dinner was absolutely amazing. The little fish was the tastiest fish I can remember - the flesh was soft and juicy - and he was apparently caught from down stream (a little river runs behind the house). Infact all the veges we ate that night had been grown by the minshuku owners and carefully prepared by the lady of the house. And there was lots of food: pounded rice rolled into balls and skewered on to sticks and covered in a sweet and nutty sauce (soy sauce, honey, ground seasame, sugar, salt), pumpkin, carrot and daikon* pickled with some yuzu#, a steamed cup of mushrooms covered with a layer of pounded sticky rice, tempura, rice, miso soup.

It was a lot of food.

*big long white radish thing 白萝卜
#citrus fruit, tangy taste - in between a lemon and an orange

The traditional open fire place in the minshuku and the owner of the house (who also sang us a old folk song and gave us tips on sightseeing - a very nice man)

Fishy on the balcony of the room we stayed in, over looking their back garden.

This minshuku was great; fantastic food (we had a huge breakfast too), very welcoming, helpful and friendly owners, nice traditional futon room with a very nice view out the back - in which we were kept toasty warm in despite the cold weather, and very new toilets and bathroom - which were in a very recently refurbished part of the house.

Just in case you want to know, we stayed at Koshinduka [こしんづか] and I thoroughly recommend it (homepage here).