Rob and Claire's Eastern Adventure: Matsuyama, castle city

Matsuyama is famous for its castle which stands right in the middle of the city on a big steep hill. We did the climb in the beautiful autumn sunshine and got rewarded with some great views for our efforts. The city itself is beautifully laid out around it and has a lovely street car service that can take you pretty much anywhere.

Matsuyama Jo

View from the castle walls

Street car scenes

Matsuyama was where decided to treat ourselves to a typical Japanese upmarket hotel experience and we stayed a night in a traditional Ryokan. Unfortunately we couldn’t spring for the sumptuous dinner but we did find a yummy Okonomiyaki (a messy pizza made of noodles, soy sauces and bunch of other stuff) that was cheaper than McDonalds.

Boy that's messy - noodles, beef, veg, soy, other stuff...

We spent a day indulging ourselves in the famous public bath house, called Dogo Onsen, which even has a private room for the emperor himself and then in the private hot spring baths of the hotel. The baths are filled with water that comes from the ground at about 72 degrees celcius (apparently it has gotten about ½ a degree hotter since the earthquake) and is mixed with cold water to give you an approximately 40 degree bath that is roasting.

Dogo Onsen - the oldest in Japan

The water also supposedly contains volcanic minerals that are good for various ailments, particularly skin conditions. All we can verify is that it’s incredible to be sitting in an outdoor pool of hot water while your face cools on an evening breeze and you can see a city spread out in front of you. Our fancy hotel was right next to the bath house and had its own private pools too so we moved from one to the other throughout the day. Staying at the hotel, you get to wear a ‘breezy’ garment called a Yukata whilst on the premises and going to the public bath house – fun times.