Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Kobe Port Tower (神戸ポートタワー)



10 minutes. That's how long we stayed at Kobe Port Tower. It was originally in the itinerary and I made plans to go up the observation decks. But staying too long at Nara, traveling all the way across Osaka, and running late for the Tokyo-bound Shinkansen from Kyoto, made a 10-minute stay possible.

As impractical as it may seem, the trip to Kobe Port Tower started from Nara. From Kintetsu-Nara station (近鉄奈良駅), we took the Kintetsu Nara Line Rapid Express train (近鉄奈良線快速急行) bound for Hanshin Sannomiya (阪神三宮行). From there, we transferred to the Sanyo Electric Railway Main Line Local train running on the Hanshin Main line (阪神本線) in the direction of Sanyo Himeji (山陽姫路行). We alighted at Motomachi station (元町駅). Though that ride was free care of the Kansai Surutto Pass, that was also around 90 minutes of travel time.

Getting to the Port Tower from Motomachi station took another 15 minutes. We had to pass some side streets through a shopping district (商店街), a very small park, and after crossing what seemed like the main highway, we saw the tower right behind the Port Tower Hotel and Notre Dame Kobe.







The 10-minute mark started right after passing Port Tower Hotel. At that time, we were already at the base of the tower. Towards the left was the Kobe Maritime Museum which looked like an amusement park ride. On the right, I saw a Mosaic Mall across the bay. We also passed by a radio station. After some really quick pictures, it was time to go back to Kyoto for the bullet train (新幹線) back to the Tokyo and Yokohama area.








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