Kanazawa - Old Town

From Kyoto we took the bullet train to Kanazawa.  Our itinerary included Kanazawa because after Kyoto, Kanazawa was Japan's second largest city to escape the destruction by air raids during WWII.   So the guidebooks had mentioned that parts of the old castle town which included the Nagamachi samurai district and the Higashi Chaya district where geishas provided entertainment was worth a visit. 

 Higashi Chaya District

Kanazawa Castle

Kanazawa is also known for Kenrokuen gardens which has been classified as one of Japan's 3 most beautiful landscape gardens.  These gardens used to be the outer garden of Kanazawa Castle 

 

Workmen putting on winter protection against heavy snow on the pine trees

 

After a tiring morning sightseeing, we headed to Omicho Market to grab some lunch 

Our takeaway lunch from Omicho market

Omicho Market

After lunch it was more sightseeing and we headed to the old Samurai district - Nagamachi where samurai and their families used to reside. 

Kanazawa station and as with all main railway stations there were lots of eateries and retail shops where we found lots of pretty Japanese gifts. 

Sake bar! 

Lucky we got there earlier when the queue was not as long! 

We found in Japan that people don't mind queueing for food.  Here we are joining the locals and in the queue to get into what looks like a popular sushi train restaurant in Kanazawa. The kids loved the sushi train restaurants. 

Eloise de-railed the whole sushi train when she unknowingly took the 'train' off the tracks!