Japan: An evening in Kobe

Dear readers,

After for so long I realized I did not complete my Japan trip blog. So far I've only shared about My Life in Itami and other topics like where to go, how to ride a train, Universal Studios and food. You can find more topics under Japan tag that might be useful for your future trip.

Anyway, on the second week of my stay in Japan hubby accompanied me to Kobe after work. If you have read the earliest entry in my Japan series I explained why I stayed in Japan for a few weeks but barely have time to go out. Itami is where I stayed temporarily so I don't overnight at the cities I visit except Osaka but my husband and I just travel to and fro on day trips. So glad that Itami is strategically located in the middle of everywhere. I would suggest visitors to spend about 3 days 2 nights at Kobe. You'll love it. Here are some of the photos to guide you through coz I'm lazy to do the typing...

We tried Hankyu (competitor of JR) because it was cheaper however from Itami station to Tsukaguchi where we have to transfer to another line to Kobe was extremely slow because there were a lot of corners and houses barely an inch from the track.

So cheap right? If not mistaken with JR, it costs about ¥500 to ride from Itami to Sannomiya (the main station in Kobe) But I suggest you to take JR at anytime. Hankyu damn slow...

 Like finally...it took us an hour to reach Kobe when it's supposed to be less than an hour.

 This is outside Sannomiya station.

 The streets of Kobe.

 We walked past a whole stretch of restaurants and bars.

 The we finally arrived at a cafe that needs no introduction.

 Welcome to one of the top 10 most beautiful Starbucks in the planet.

 You buy coffee from downstairs as usual then either sit downstairs or explore the whole building like we did.

 So cozy don't you think?

After about 25 minutes we walked back to the train station and hunt for dinner along the way.

We surrendered and came back to the station. There were a lot of restaurants outside the station but mostly were buffet and BBQ style which we have no time some more damn expensive. There were also half bar half restaurants where they cater more for for drinking than dining so we dare not go in.

 Hubby had tomato pasta with zucchini while I had pesto shrimp pasta.

 There's nothing special about it. Wished I researched more on where to eat at Kobe but then again this was a spontaneous trip.

We rode JR to Kobe station to our next destination which has one of the best views in town.

 Beautiful station and now we are heading to the port.

 We were surrounded by malls. It feels like a shopping district here.

 So in love with the clean and beautiful street. You really have to come here and see for yourself.

Anpanman is famous among Japanese children but I have no idea what it was except for it looks like Doraemo and sounds like a Malaysian pancake (apom balik).

Another anpanman character...there must be a park or museum somewhere or is Kobe ts birthplace.

This just means Hard Rock Cafe is nearby.

Oversized giraffe striking a pose.

Well here's the museum but already past opening hours. 

This place is called Harborland. Just click the link and find out what this land has.

This building is called Mosaic. it's kinda like Asiatique in Bangkok which has shopping and food outlets.

Here's the million dollar view of the port. What you see opposite is Meriken Park.

What an amazing view...we spent an hour photoshooting lol.

Such a romantic place!

This is Concerto and you can refer to the link if you wanna ride it or have a luxurious cruise dinner. Wish I knew about this earlier then I would have made a reservation.

I was sad to leave this place. It's so peaceful and magical.

 Colourful escalator.

We sat JR to go back to Itami. It was past 10pm. Lol the dates messed up. This was Sept 2013 not 2011.

Finally back "home" and these were our supper. Will continue with Osaka and Kyoto I promise.