i went there about 3 weeks ago, and well.. koya-san is great, but wakayama city definitely doesnt deserve being called a city as there’s NOTHING there at all.
well, the most interesting aspect of wakayama city, was that between the JR station and our hotel (miyama business hotel) were quite a few thai massage places as well as thai restaurants. even one of the cashiers at the lawsons near our hotel was thai!
anyway, the area around the JR station is the most “lively” and “bustling” part of the city and there was hardly anything there even. there were several love hotels though – easily visible because there werent many other tall buildings in wakayama city – and many, many nightclubs. i dont know where the nightclubs get their customers from, as we certainly didnt see many people in the city at all.
for example, this is one of the large streets at around 12pm on a holiday:
very few cars and only a few people!
i suppose i sound rather disparaging about wakayama, and that’s partly because that was the last leg of our trip and we were looking forward to a city after having spent a day and a half on koya-san before that. turns out that the mountain had a lot more things to see and do than the city!
our experience certainly wasnt helped by wakayama castle, which was meant to be the highlight of wakayama city.
firstly, it’s not that convenient to get to, as it’s about 10-15 min walk from the kintetsu station. i think the station had to be the largest building we saw in the city (i exaggerate of course):
it’s pretty enough from outside though:
the garden within the castle grounds wasnt too bad:
although there was a lot of algae – or slime? – on a part of the water’s surface:
the castle was definitely nice from the outside; not unlike other japanese castles, but nice all the same:
i found this hello kitty machine at the small souvenir/rest area somewhat cute too:
many historical attractions like temples and castles in japan require that you take off your shoes before entering, so as not to damage the wooden floors i guess, or to show some form of respect.
so, when we werent asked to remove our shoes before entering the castle – but only to stamp our feet to rid it of dust and gravel before we enter – i felt that something was not quite right. i didnt think too much about it though, until i stepped inside and saw this:
arrrghhh! it was another castle museum, like osaka castle but less new and shiny, but still a renovated museum and nothing like what the castle was in the past (unlike himeji, takayama, uwajima or nijo castles)!!
arghhhhhhh! there went our highlight. i felt extremely letdown actually, as we were let to believe by lonely planet that wakayama castle was NOT going to be yet another stupid castle museum – i heard that hiroshima castle is a museum too, so DO NOT enter!
i went up to the highest floor and amused myself taking pictures of the scenery instead:
(once again, check out the empty roads)
after our disappointing visit, we went back into osaka and consoled ourselves with mexican food at El Pancho. yum.
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