Osaka Sept 2019 : Osaka Castle

On our second day in Osaka, we walked to the nearby Osaka castle from our hotel after breakfast. It was a leisure walk, and the weather was lovely. Above photo is for my pot hole collection. I love take photos of beautifully crafted pot holes. And Japan has many lovely ones all over the place!

Japanase castles usually have a moat outside and a large palace ground to walk to before you actually reach the garden. The entrance was free, except to go up the castle, which we skipped. It was still early, so there wasn't many people around yet. Above photo shows the beautiful moat outside the castle. 

As we make our way in, we can see beautiful trees and traditional buildings in the palace ground.

Just before reaching the castle, there was a small temple to the right. We decided to explore the temple first as there was a wedding ceremony held there. We were not allowed to go inside due to the ceremony, but we managed to walk all around it, and it has a small rock garden just behind it which is sadly walled up. 

There was a traditional trishaw outside too, more as a props for photo taking for the wedding ceremony perhaps. I thought it make quite a nice photo opportunity for me. 

After exploring the quiet temple, we headed to the main castle. As you can see, it has started to get quite crowded. We just took a front photo of it, and didn't really want to go fight with the crowd further. There was a grand building next to it that host some restaurant and shops which we went to take a look. And just as we were about to leave the castle area, we saw some stone steps leading towards the wall of the castle. 

So we decided to climb up, and to be honest, this was my favourite part of the whole Osaka Castle visit. There were path all over the wall which you can walk, although some part has high grass around it cause nobody really walk here I guess. But I love it. And all around, you can see the view out towards the city. It was kinda whimsical to me. 

This is one of my favourite shot which my husband took of me. Just at one corner of the wall, there was a stone chair just below some trees. So I sat there and ate the snacks I have bought, a houjicha pancake. What a perfectly captured moment. 

Here's us again out side the castle wall. 

And this is just be acting cute at the wall. As you can see behind us are high rise buildings where the city is. Best place to go for some greeneries and quietness, away from the crowded tourist area! Bring some snacks and have a picnic here!