A mere five minute walk from the train station lies Takamatsu Castle, one of the city's premiere tourist attractions.
Unlike Matsuyama Castle, which sits atop a hill and must be reached via rope-way, Takamatsu Castle and the surrounding Tamano Park lie in the heart of the downtown city.
Indeed, so much as stepping through one of the many smaller entry gates will completely remove you from the pristine natural scenery. What surrounds the castle are busy streets with cars whizzing by.
By far the biggest surprise from my visit to Takamatsu Castle was the discovery that there was actually no castle to be viewed. Despite printing a majestic picture of the sun swept castle on each admission ticket, all that was available for viewing was a series of rocks underneath a tarp.
This is because the original Takamatsu Castle was destroyed during the Meiji Period. Since construction of the new facsimile castle is set to begin in 2010, I effectively paid 400 Yen for the privilege of seeing an excavation site.
I left this tourist attraction a bit disappointed.
B.E.W.
Don't be disappointed, you visited a part of history. There is a guide to Japanese castle's you may want to check out.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.jcastle.info/
The descriptions are fairly accurate and the photo on this castle is a bit misleading.