odawara castle
I met up with Kara, a good friend from Australia, in Odawara to kick off our Hakone trip. (Check out the Hakone Travel Guide if you’re keen on learning more.)
We went through the park to see the Odawara Castle and had our breakfast while admiring the pristine white exterior.
We also paid a small fee and went inside the castle and going all the way up to the roof. It was actually pretty small and cramped inside, Japanese castles are built so differently from Western ones.
Though it was only a short side trip it was still pretty neat to have been able to see a traditional castle on the way to Hakone.
la pleureuse
Our first stop was the Open-Air museum in Hakone, one of the sculptures was particularly captivating.
A head of a woman with tears flowing into a pool and leaves for hair. It was definitely a unique museum featuring a lot of avant-garde and interactive art where both kids and adults alike can enjoy.
There was a whole building dedicated to Picasso, and the stained-glass tower was exceptionally beautiful.
We had some vegan curry while we traded life stories and went off to our next stop.
the valley of hell
We went to Owakudani, a volcano with sulfur mines, the smell of sulfur permeating everywhere.
The colors of the rocks were mesmerizing, all these hues of yellow amidst all the mist made for an unbelievable sight.
Taking the Hakone Ropeway was a very scenic way to arrive up top that allowed us to see the surrounding mountain ranges and forests.
Here, the black boiled eggs are very famous souvenirs. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be bothered to try it out. The wind here was too sharp and icey, we couldn’t stay too long outside.
Lastly, we went to an onsen to end the day. It was my first time having an onsen all to myself as there was nobody at all at that time.
I swam around like a child and stayed extra long just to savor the moment.
meeting eliska
Afterwards, we headed back to meet with our Couchsurfing host, Eliska. Eliska is from Slovakia, and she is just about the kindest person I have ever met.
Hakone was not exactly a place where I was expecting to find a host, it’s quite a remote place. There were only literally three hosts on the app, and two of them were inactive.
I just gave it a shot and sent Eliska a message and she surprisingly accepted the request!
She was very cheerful and friendly from the get-go and all three of us got a long swell.
We had some more vegetarian Indian food and talked for a longtime before she took us back to her place so that we could rest.
Being a Couchsurfing host myself, we were able to trade a lot of fun stories but our friendship definitely didn’t end in Hakone. We ended up traveling together in Okinawa and experienced the tropical paradise like never before.
day two in hakone
We woke up early to catch the train and then a bus to the lake.
We ate our breakfast in front of Lake Ashinoko, and took the walking trail around towards Hakone Shrine, with the photogenic torii gate overlooking the lake, it made for an excellent photo.
Kara and I somehow found our way into some sort of abandoned mansion which turned out to be the Hakone Detached Palace. It was on top of a hill which provided excellent views below.
We passed through the Hakone Checkpoint which was used a long time ago to end up near the port.
We rode a ferry across the lake that took us to the other side, it was a very relaxing ride, seeing the shrine from the other side gave us a unique perspective and we also had clear views of Mt. Fuji to boot!
I found out that Kara was into games and we talked about video games for quite a while before arriving.
the pampas grass fields
We got on a bus that took us to the pampas grass fields, one of the highlights for me. I have never seen anything like it and I thoroughly enjoyed going through and taking some memorable photos.
There were walking trails that seemed to extend endlessly, as far as the fields seem to go. We tried to go as far as we could but we had different schedules today.
Going back we were a bit pressed for time as Kara had another place to be and we were also both quite hungry.
The lines for the ferry were long and we also had to take a long bus ride back, I also didn’t want to keep Eliska waiting for too long as I had other plans with her as well.
In the end, we made it fine and I said goodbye to Kara and waited for Eliska for a bit.
night lights
Eliska and I wanted to go to the illumination festival in one of the areas in Hakone but it was too late already as we wouldn’t be able to come back with the train schedules.
One of the clerks suggested another illumination event happening that was much nearer to our area so we decided to go there instead.
The journey took us through a ghost town, seems like nobody was out but we followed the route that was going up and up, turns out it was now a full blown hike.
Seems like there was even a roller coaster on this hill that the locals were using for fun.
It took us a while to get to the top but it was well worth it as the sun started to go down, the summit’s lights started to turn on, turning the place into an illuminated wonderland.
We had a look around and stayed here for a bit. We had some more conversations about life and decided to go back.
It was a bit last minute but we decided to hit the onsen before I went back to Tokyo, we shared plenty of laughs along the way from the stupidest jokes.
Eliska took me to Tenzan Onsen, according to her it was one of the best in the area.
The onsen itself was, as always, extremely refreshing and nourishing. I left the place feeling awesome.
We went back and it was a bit risky with the time but I took Eliska to a tsukemen restaurant as she wanted to try it for the first time and happy to say, she absolutely loved it.
We rushed and I was able to make it to the last train going to Tokyo just by a few minutes. Extremely lucky and a good day all in all!
