A travelogue of great places, lovely food and fantastic company.: Day 4 (Part 2): Otaru continued

Day 4 (Part 1): Otaru can be accessed here.

Day 4 (Part 3): Genghis Khan at Sapporo can be accessed here.

Otaru Museum 総合博物館

Took a 15 minutes bus ride to the Otaru Museum only to be disappointed by the fact that it was closed!~ So do not visit Otaru on Tuesday if you want to include this very interesting railway museum. The nearby Temiya cave 手宮洞窟 which housed a lot of rare carvings and drawings dating back to the Zokujomon period was also closed for the winter season. Was quite saddened but decided to make the best out of it by snapping around the museum's exteriors.

Snapped this while waiting for the bus... how nice it would be to just laze and fish around by the edge of the port!~

The blue carriages to the left actually housed an Italian restaurant Toreno (リストランテ・トレノ) which I heard from friends served pretty normal food but would have been a pretty interesting dining experience.

One of the many unique train designs housed at the museum

This was used as a hub to send train carriages into a spoke system branching out into various warehouses

Around Otaru Canal 小樽運河周辺

Was finally at the primary tourist attraction of Otaru, the picturesque and post card perfect Otaru Canal. Heard it is particularly spectacular during the Snow Light Path Festival but sadly enough that was slightly more than a month ago in February, for more information click here. Felt like a little bit of Venice had been transplanted to Japan, as can be seen in the following photos:

Made prettier by the snow-capped mountains in the horizon.

This used to be the heart of a bustling fishing scene in the past...

... now it's a most lovely place to be strolling through and enjoying the gentle salty sea breeze.

Passed by a number of famous historical buildings such as the Former Otaru Branch of the Nihon Yusen Company, the Tanaka Sake Brewery and also the Canal Plaza. The many old warehouses and former office buildings of shipping and trade companies served as a legacy of Otaru's historical importance as a major trade and fishing port, so much so that it was chosen as the terminal station of Hokkaido's first railway line to Sapporo.

Saw a rickshaw trainee being instructed, seems like a pretty heavy load even without passengers ^^;

The Old Otaru Municipal Building

The Otaru Canal warehouses

The golden bridge and slightly further to the far right you could board the Shukutsu sightseeing cruises

By the Otaru Plaza

Lots of olden memorabilia on display and also souvenirs on sale in the tourist information centre

Tracking Otaru's development over the years

The firefighting divison's mascot, Bunko!~ So cute. ^^

PRESS CAFE プレスカフェ

Address: 北海道小樽市色内3-3-21 旧渋澤倉庫

This was yet another unplanned stop but I was told to simply wander into any cafe along the canal as they were all pretty good. Was attracted by the vintage car displays and also the fact that the cafe was located literally next to the canal for some great views. Was still feeling rather full from the brunch (?) earlier, so decided to just try out their dessert. The creme brulee was pretty much spot on, with the caramelised crust not overly charred with that chao tah taste while the pudding was richly flavoured. It was a surprisingly affordable dessert as the cup was rather deep, could easily have fit almost half of the dessert spoon in it haha. Did a bit of online searching after I came back, and this was apparently ranked quite highly on Tabelog (the Japanese version of Hungrygowhere), so do visit here if you like some good Italian food.

I like how the car plate reads "Ro... 16" ^^

Yet another vintage car stepping into the entrance

A rather healthy crowd for lunchtime, and the environs were perfect for book reading.

The creme brulee and coffee set at only 700 yen (about 9 SGD)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Sakaimachi Street 境町通り

After filling my tummy with dessert, it was time to head to another major tourist attraction, Sakaimachi street. The street is a well preserved merchant street which had since been converted into many unique and attractive restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, boutiques and museums. I also finally managed to get my limited-in-Hokkaido caramelised goodies from the Hanabatake Bokujou here (the chain closes so early everywhere in Hokkaido!~).

The Hanabatake Bokujou in Otaru, address for those who want to go (they close by 4pm): 小樽市堺町5番41号
More info here.

You have the more traditional Japanese architecture with Chinese influences

To some lighthouse tingie restaurant selling soft serve and fried buns

Even here, the Shiroi Koibito wields much power

The Japanese version of Trick Art Museum

Kitaichi Venetian Museum 北一ヴェネツィア美術館

Spotted this along the way to their glass museum so decided to head in. Since I was dazzled by their opulence here, it was not as bad at the Glass Museum later on ^^;

Such opulence within just the first main lobby floor.

Decided to visit their cafe which I've heard so much of

Was terribly disappointed by the highly recommended hot chocolate, tasted like Cadbury's to me and was definitely not worth the 700 yen (about 9 SGD) asking price
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Rokkatei 六花亭

Heard so much about this chain for their desserts and chocolates in Hokkaido particularly from the ANA and Skymark friends I had, so decided to drop in to buy some souvenirs for my SQ/MI friends in Singapore!~ Was pretty crowded with PRC tourists on the first floor, so decided to have some soft serve ice cream on the second floor while I wait for them to eventually clear out (the good thing about not being on tours is that you can take your time and change your schedule on the go). There was an ongoing promotion for free cups of premium blend coffee (worded suspiciously only in Japanese) so I had both hot and cold together. ^^;

It's along Sakaimachi and you can't miss its signature signboard.

If you were a student, they would give you a free cup for purchases more than 2,000 yen

Too bad I must buy ): but the smooth silky texture was absolutely worth every yen spent.
Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Rounding out the rest of Sakaimachi for my trip was the much acclaimed Glass Museum, the Music Box Museum and a souvenir store that sold Sengoku (Warring States) merchandise which I was very fond of. Apparently I missed out on the Bank of Japan Museum where I could have felt the weight of 100 million yen in an old vault.