Blog - Kamakura

Kamakura

Last Saturday was a beautiful day and we headed to Kamakura, a town in Kanagawa prefecture famous for its many temples and also a large buddha statue. We had seen this one before so we skipped it this time. The town is also very famous for its beautiful colors in autumn, but it was still a little bit early and there was still a lot of green.

First we headed to a café/shop called Oxymoron (1-5-38 Yukinoshita 2F) where they mainly serve curry. I had Indian-style chicken curry that was quite good! Oxymoron is located amongst a nice complex with other like-minded shops selling clothing or small interior items.

Then we headed down the street to the Tsurugaoka-Hachiman-gū Shintō shrine where we could peek at a wedding that was being held.

Then we walked up to Meigetsu-in, the site of an old temple where can be seen a nice zen garden and a teahouse with a large round window. There's also a sort of half-cave in the rocks with sculpted figures in the wall. We also found a cage for rabbits with a curious sign that reads "rabbit space station".

Back in town, we dropped by recently opened Gelateria Il Brigante (2-9-6 Komachi). Ran by a friendly Italian guy, the various original gelato flavors are made with carefully chosen ingredients. I had gianduja (hazel nuts and chocolate) that uses chocolate from Torino, and affogato made with espresso from an espresso machine on place. This is a great alternative to all the tourist-trap soft ice cream sold everywhere else in Kamakura.

Then we dropped by the main shop that sells hato sablé (2-11-19), the typical omiyage from Kamakura. This is the only shop where they also sell hato saburō (the pigeon character's name) original goods! I got a metal case containing aburatorigami ("oil-blotting paper", used to remove oil excesses from the skin), which can be reused as a case for business cards. We also wanted an original umbrella but they were sold out, we were told they should be restocked sometime.

Next we walked down towards the ocean, first stopping by a bakery called Gama (5-14-18 Zaimokuza), specializing in 100% natural bread. They also sell original T-shirts.

We made it to the beach just at the right time to catch the sunset. There were some surfers and people walking their dogs. :)

It was now dinner time and we headed to Café Vivement Dimanche (2-1-5 Komachi). I was really happy to get the last table, just by Chappie! I had some great boeuf bourgignon tartines that were great.

Larger sizes and more photos at Flickr

Posted on November 27, 2008 at 22:37 | Tweet |

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