Travel Notes #4 — Kobe 神戶

7 min readJul 15, 2022

Unconsciously that the series comes to number four. If any of you think my article has any things needed to be improved or “maybe this way of writing will be better,” please tell me without hesitation because I eagerly want to improve my English writing skill.

This time I would like to present the trip to Kobe, which is well-known for the “KOBE BEEF” and its exotic culture. Without further chit-chat, let’s dive into it.（中文版在下方～～）

Outline:

Itinerary
Kitano Ijinkan-gai
HarborLand
Rokkosan & Mayasan
Arima Onsen
Kobe beef
Postscripts

1. Itinerary

=======================================
Day 1: 南京町 (nankin machi)→ HarborLand → Hotel
=======================================
Day 2: Kitano Ijinkan-gai → Moriya(Kobe beef for lunch) → Ikuta Shrine
→ Online class → Kitano Starbucks → Maya Mountain → Hotel
=======================================
Day 3: Rokkosan Mountain → Music Box Museum → Kobe Municipal Arboretum → Arima Onsen → Hotel
(It will be convenient to buy a round ticket; tourism could get on at Rokkosan and get off at Arima Onsen, which also contains the bus ticket on the mountain.)
=======================================
Day 4: 南京町 (nankin machi) → Himeji
=======================================

2. Kitano Ijinkan-gai（北野異人館）

When people think about Kobe, I guess Kitano Ijinkan-Gai will be the first place that comes to mind, except for the Kobe Beef. As a Taiwanese, who hasn’t been to Europe, I couldn’t say whether the architecture is authentic Europe style or not, so I would rather say the atmosphere here is pretty different than other cities in Japan. Perhaps it can be an index of how exotic it is here.

Before going to Kitano Ijinkan-Gai, from a couple of blocks away, many store’s interiors use cottage style and California style, and Starbucks does this too. Passing by one big store, I didn’t know what kind of store it was at first, but looking closer, I realized, “Oh, It is Starbucks.”

3. HarborLand (Where Kobe Tower is)

Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the Kobe Tower because it was under renovation. Therefore, I just wandered along the harbor and used my eyes to record as many things as possible. The gentle breeze cooled my face, and I felt that I could eliminate all the troubles in my mind.

There are some things you can do at the harbor. First, besides the dock, they are a bay cruise; people could take the cruise and see the whole Kobe port. Second, shoppers could buy as much as they like in the two big shopping malls near the harbor.

4. Mayasan & Rokkosan (Watching Nightscape)

These two sites are my favorite place on the trip.

Maya san

Let’s start from Mayasan. In fact, Maya san is known as one of the Three Major Night Views of Japan, also called a ten million dollar night view. I spent almost 4 hours there, from 17:00–9:00, because I was drawn to the scene and breeze. (Though bees were buzzing around my ears was pretty annoying.)

There is a small coffee shop where people can enjoy a meal with a ten-million-dollar view. Pretty great place. Strongly recommended.

Rokkosan

Meanwhile, there has another mountain that also has a great scene; it’s Rokkosan mountain. The difference between Maya san is that Rokkosan has more places to visit. For example, ROKKO森の音ミュージアム, 六甲ガーデンテラス, 六甲山スノーパーク and so on. Sadly, I didn’t have too much time to enjoy all of them because I had to go to 有馬溫泉, where most of the stores closed at 17:00. I must go there before 16:00, then get enough time to take a stroll on the streets.

ROKKO森の音ミュージアム is the thing I must share; it not only extends of view of music boxes but also let me know how brilliant human begin are. It was worth any penny after seeing the music box concert they presented. If you like music just like me, please give them an opportunity to pay a visit.

5. Arima Onsen

Yes, I went to an Onsen place in July. How insane it is. Actually, the difference between the outside and the onsen is only about 5 degrees. In brief, it is the difference between 35 degrees and 40 degrees celsius.😂 However, I would say it is a pretty nice place. I strongly recommend drinking a small bottle of milk after a bath. Happiness is simple.

6. Kobe beef

Before going to Kobe, I was choosing which restaurant where should I go to, Moriya, 彩Dining, or Ishida. I was caught in a dilemma. Finally, I decided to go to Moriya because my intuition told me to do that. I must thank my family for supporting me in eating Kobe beef and the great exchange rate now in Japan.

Wondering the difference between Kobe Beef and Wagu Beef, I asked the chef about it, “The main difference is the beef marbling,” he said. Kobe beef’s bound of marbling and fat is more obvious than Wagu beef. Moreover, it is a special grade of beef that comes from the Tajima-gyu breed of cattle found in Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture, where you can search on the internet.

6. Postscripts

After a couple of trips, I won’t say I am an expert at traveling alone, but I would say that I’m good at having fun with myself. Traveling alone is good; having friends who have the same purpose is better. If I couldn’t find someone else, I wouldn’t rule out having fun with myself.

That’s all, folks!! See you guys next time!!

行程規劃：

Day 1: 南京町(17:00)→ 神戶臨海樂園(18:00)→ Hotel
Day 2: 北野異人館街 → 神戶牛（中餐） → 生田神社 → Online class → 北野異人館星巴克→ 摩耶山 → Hotel
Day 3: 六甲山 → ROKKO森の音ミュージアム → 神戶市立植物園 → 六甲空中庭園 → 有馬溫泉 → Hotel
（在這邊我是買從六甲山上，有馬溫泉下的纜車套票，裡面還包含山上的巴士，可以任意搭，個人覺得頗划算。）
Day 4: 南京町 (nankin machi) → 姬路

北野異人館

整個神戶給我的感覺就是異國感很強烈，街道上到處都可以看到外國的餐廳、商店、街道裝飾也很異國風，而北野異人館更是這樣。之前看很多文章都說，因為每個館都要買票入場，又因為這次去看到平日只開四、五個館而已。所以我這次只去了「風見雞之館」跟「萌黃之館」。順道也去了北野異人館附近的星巴克，享受了一會的悠閒時光。

風見雞之館

德國人貿易商哥特弗里德·托馬斯住的地方，裡面主要就是展示他們家是怎麼規劃之類。

神戶塔

神戶的景點怎麼不可能不提到他，可惜這次去他正在整修，什麼東西也看不到，只能看到高高白白的塔。但旁邊有一個很大的百貨公司，還有美麗的海景，如果有時間也可以去搭船，會帶遊客繞海港一圈在回來。這次因為時間不夠，沒有搭到船，只是在旁邊看著而已～～

摩耶山＋六甲山

本次旅行最滿意的兩個地方，這也才發現自己頗喜歡居高臨下往下看的感覺。

摩耶山

第一天在摩耶山上從下午5:00待到晚上8:30，看到完全不想下山，而且山上也有一個小咖啡館，價錢頗合理（匯率加持）。但又怕末班車會跑走，最後只好跟自己說嗯嗯在看最後一眼就該走了，一個人在外面闖蕩還是不要太晚回家。附上夜景照～～

六甲山

這邊應該要待得更久，但因為買了六甲山跟有馬溫球的纜車套票，所以就只好縮減這邊的時間。但這邊大概是可以從早上待到晚上的好地方。這邊的夜景跟摩耶山的不太一樣，應該是說比較靠近大阪，可以把大阪那部分看得更清楚。

另外，這裡還有很多其他的景點可以參觀。其中最令我驚豔的是「音樂盒博物館」，直接把我對音樂盒的理解開啟到另一個境界，一直以為音樂盒就是小小的，從沒有想過也有大型的音樂盒，裡面居然可以拉小提琴！！或是打鼓之類的，根據店員所說這種音樂盒比較偏向是演奏型的音樂盒，可以擺放在餐廳內，大家可以邊聽邊吃飯，或是也可以放在交誼廳，邊聽邊跳舞。看完這個立馬覺得值回票價。

有馬溫泉

據說有馬也算是個有名的溫泉勝地，所以想說都來神戶就順便來一下吧，重點是距離不遠，只要1個多小時就可以到了。這次主要是想要泡個湯，體驗一下日本大眾湯是什麼感覺。有馬比較知名的大眾湯是金之湯、銀之湯。這次去的是金之湯，泡完的感覺就是「溫泉還是冬天再來吧」，要不然真的會中暑，說來也好笑，我泡的溫度跟外面氣溫大概只差個五度吧。泡完後，喝個牛奶（外面有牛奶的販賣機），快樂就是這麼簡單～～

神戶牛

能吃到這個只能感謝父母支持以及目前匯率的贊助。來神戶不吃神戶牛太對不起自己了，只能這樣安慰自己😂，要不錢砸下去還是有點痛。前幾天在選要去哪一間選了超久，因為有很多家看起來都不錯（彩Dinning），最後相信直覺選了モリーヤ這次選的是中午時段，因為價錢比較便宜（雖然還是很貴），由於這間餐廳也是很多觀光客會來的地方，所以裡面的師傅也會講中文，所以也順便和他聊了一下天，就問了：「神戶牛跟一般的和牛最大的不同插在哪邊？」師傅：「神戶牛的油花跟瘦肉分得比較清楚」，算是吃這一餐的一個小小收穫～～

其他都在聽師父兒子的故事跟聊到台灣的一些事情。