The next trip our RAs kindly organized led us to the northern Gifu prefecture and toward Gero, a famous hot spring town. The trip took three days in total and we stayed at a hotel as well as a Ryokan for two nights.
Leaving early at around 7:00, we made our way to Nagoya station and to a JR line bound for Nagatsugawa, transferring to a bus which took us to Magome, a former post town located in a mountainous region.
Arriving at the bus stop, we started climbing a small road through the town, the pervasiveness of weirdly angled stairs and steep hills being but a small burden. Our efforts were rewarded by a picturesque view of the valley and mountains which we didn’t squander by promptly sitting down on one of the many benches and resting while taking in the scenery around us.
A break was of course necessary after a while, so we headed into one of the many restaurants and ordered some lunch. I’ve become a real grilled fish enjoyer at this point, so I got some here as well, complemented by many small side dishes.
After our meal, we set out for a two hour walk through the nearby countryside. There apparently was some kind of shrine hidden inside a forest, so we decided to go there and look for it. We also found a small lake and saw some old people outside doing backbreaking, manual labor in the fields. I kid you not when I say this one 80-year old dude with a 90-degree hunched back plowed a 2-acre field alone and without any machines in the scorching sun.
Later that day we returned to Nagatsugawa and went to Ena by train to stay in a rather modest hotel. It was only for one night though and after a late-night kombini snack and some well-deserved sleep, we left Ena and finally headed up to Gero using the Takayama line.
The Takayama main line is a beautiful train line winding its way right through scenic valleys and forests and next to rivers and lakes. Gero itself is situated in a valley and surrounded by hills and forest. It is a natural hot spring town, meaning geologically heated water is forced up and used for bathing and other health-related activities. There were fountains everywhere spewing hot water which we used to warm our hands as it was pretty cold outside at the time.
After climbing yet another steep hill for around 15 minutes, we arrived at the Ryokan and explored the first floor. Besides the obligatory souvenir shop, there also was a lobby to sit and watch Koi, a vending machine and manga corner, an arcade area and of course bathing facilities and a free Yukata rental.
We explored the town during the day and grabbed some Indian food. This might not have been the best decision though as we had an all-you-can-eat dinner as well as breakfast the next day and because the food offered there was really good, I shouldn’t have eaten so much beforehand. We even saw monkeys along the way, but they were gone rather quickly and didn’t leave me enough time to take a picture.
Later that day we decided to go our for a walk and explore some more of the town. We then discovered a hot foot bath next to the river which we didn’t hesitate to use. It was pretty cold outside, especially with the thin Yukata we were wearing, so having warmth around your feet felt really nice. We also didn’t let the opportunity slip to use the Ryokan facilities and played some table tennis as well as take a long and hot bath right before sleep.
We went to Gifu itself on our last day and we visited the famous Gifu castle as well as the nearby squirrel village. Having missed the last cable car down, we had to go down by foot which took over an hour.
We got some Ramen on our way back and arrived back at the dorm at around 20:00. It was a nice trip.
