Takamatsu

We left the mainland of Honshu to the island of Shikoku, and went to the port city of Takamatsu.  Our room had great views of the ferries coming in and out as well as of Takamatsu castle.

Part of the view from our hotel room.

The 16th century Takamatsu castle was just across the road from the hotel.  Like a lot of the historical sites we have seen, it was mostly destroyed by bombing in WWII.  But a couple of the buildings still remained and there was some reconstruction work underway.

Us in front of a turret at the castle which was constructed in 1676.

The next morning we once more hopped on bicycles and headed to Ritsurin-koen.  This garden was originally built in the mid-1600s and would rate as the best garden we have seen in Japan (better than the one in Kanazawa which was meant to be one of Japan's top 3 gardens).  One of the features of the garden were the massive, colourful carp in the ponds. Each of which would feed a family of 20 for a week!

Bridge at Ritsurin-koen