A day out in Kobe, Japan

The weather was a bit cloudy as we started the day and it was promised to improve and so we wanted to see as much of Kobe as we could and its a very large town with a population over1.5 million people. Most people will no doubt remember the dreadful Earthquake in 1995 which decimated the town.
The Great Hanshin earthquake (阪神・淡路大震災 Hanshin Awaji daishinsai), or Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995 at 05:46:53 in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, when combined with Osaka, known as Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and 7 on the JMA Shindo intensity scale.^[4] The tremors lasted for approximately 20 seconds. The focus of the earthquake was located 17 km beneath its epicentre, on the northern end of Awaji Island, 20 km away from the centre of the city of Kobe.
Up to 6,434 people lost their lives; about 4,600 of them were from Kobe.^[5] Among major cities, Kobe, with its population of 1.5 million, was the closest to the epicentre and hit by the strongest tremors. This was Japan's worst earthquake in the 20th century after the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, which claimed more than 105,000 lives. So there has been lots of rebuilding since that time and Kobe is clearly a very modern and transport efficient City with lots of garden and surrounded by mountains.
For us to see the best of the town we chose to go on the hop-hop bus and an all day pass costs just under £ 5.00 which is amazingly cheap and it makes 17 separate stops at the most interesting parts of town. Our Hotel which is the Portopia Hotel is a little way outside of the main City but the Hotel provides a coach to downtown about every 30 minutes and so we caught this just before 11.00 and went of to Sannomiya Station where we eventually found the City Loop Bus and joined and went around for about 40 minutes at which time we arrived at the area known as Harbor-land  (Yes I know it should be spelt

Harbour –Land, but that is what they call, it)where there is a funfair and lots of shops and restaurants to spend some time. We had planned to have a lunch out today and spotted a Tony Roma’s Rib and Steak house and plumped for that. Noel had the Grilled Salmon and Jennifer a side of baby back ribs which she said was delicious as there was nothing left on the plate afterwards apart from meat free ribs.
After lunch we had a further walk around the shops and then headed back to the City Loop Bus and got off at what was called the ‘Old Foreign Settlement’ however it was mostly very expensive shops from Gucci and Prada etc.

So then back on the bus up to Shin Kobe Station ( where the Shinkansen runs) and we caught the coach back to the Hotel where we arrived at 16.45. Noel took a few photos around the Hotel Lobby of this very large Hotel and the annexe of the Hotel is nearly as large as the main Hotel. The back to the room for Noel to speak to Toyota Rental Car about the drop off point which was originally Kansaii Airport only that had been closed due to airport flooding but we had noticed it was now open again and would suit us more to use this drop off point to which they agreed.  The Airport Hotel where we are staying the night before out early flight to Hong Kong leaves at 07.00 Ugghh! is right next door to the Toyota Rent a Car so much easier than lugging cases all over the place.

We have a little bit of Sushi to finish up and also some strawberries and that is the plan for tonight plus a little bit of TV .
Forgot to mention that there is a sign in our bedroom saying that due to strong winds the building may creak but do not worry…. Oh dear now I worry!!!!