Some guides suggest that if you have to visit only one castle in Japan, it should be the Himeji castle; furthermore, it will be closed for reconstruction in the next 2-3 days so we found time to go and see… train and second and third, and Himeji, here I am!
The castle is really pretty, on the top of a hill, surrounded with a wall and cherry trees in bloom – fairytale! Amazing view especially on the background of blue sky! Then it appeared that the line to enter the main tower is long and it will take about an hour, but hey if you have the chance to enter this marvelous white creation, so sacrifices will be made. This is what I was thinking then. Now, after I visited it, if you ask me whether it is worthied to enter and wait all those hours, I would say: NO. Let me tell you why I think so … you don’t see anything – there are empty walls inside with a few pieces of information and samples, it is overcrowded, those Asians (apologies but this is what it was) are so rude and pushy that it was painful… you are pushed all the time, follow banch of people like a trapped animal, climb stairs, wait and cannot see anything because inside there are bare walls, it is dark, you are walking with no shoes, you are pushed all the time, they can even walk on you. Even if the interior is good, everything was completely spoiled and ruined with the army of tourists not respecting any rules and general behavior (at least European and North American). It was unpleasant experience. Plus, you reach the end, you have 1 or 2 small windows from which you can eventually take a glimpse of the city (with emphasis on eventually) and then back to the fight to get back down the stairs.
After that a visit to the Koko-en garden was paid and it was also sort of disappointment – one part was quite dry and I’ve seen much better gardens.
And this was all from Himeji, but let’s acknowledge the beauty of the white castle on the top surrounded with cherry blossoms….
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