After not getting proper sleep for a while, it was great to get in a full 8 hours in. With the impending rain, we swapped exploring Matsuyama with Ozu the day before. The weather forecast held true, for quite soon after I awoken, it started to rain. It didn't seem to bad, so we got dressed and headed out to see if we can grab breakfast nearby. Our room was located in the annex, meaning there was an open bridge connecting us to the main building. As we crossed the bridge, we noticed how heavy the rain has gotten. Not wanting to get drenched, we headed back to the room to wait out the rain.
Fortunately, it only was about an hour before the rain subsided enough for us to venture out. We decided to head by to the nearby Coco Ichibanya - a chain of Japanese curry restaurants. Since it just opened, we were the first customers in the door. Not wanting a regular rice curry, I opted for a curry udon. Besides the curry udon that my girlfriend cooked from time to time, the last time I had a curry udon was probably university. My bowl of curry udon (with a side of katsu on top and seasonal vegetables), along with a side salad came out quite quickly. It may be a chain restaurant, but they make a mean, and consistent curry dish. Satisfied, we headed back to the hotel for a bit before venturing out for the day. At this time, there was nearly no more rain.
Our first stop was to Matsuyama castle. To reach the castle, that was high up on a mountain, we took a cable car up. The ride was unremarkable and short. Upon reaching the top, instead of going straight to inside the castle, we decided to walk around first. We stumbled across a park/garden nearby. It didn't seem to be on the radar for most tourists, for the park/garden was quite empty. With most gardens (and parks as well) that I've been to, most of them tend to have curved sides/shapes throughout. This particular one was very angular and square/rectangular like. It gave a different vibe in comparison with the others, which was a nice sight. After getting our fill of the park/garden, we went back up to the castle. Unlike Ozu castle, there were more tourists inside exploring, but not as busy as some of the other castles like Osaka or Himeji. Once we finished exploring, we headed to refresh ourselves with some mikan shaved ice at the nearby cafeteria. I wasn't really impressed for it seems like they threw on marmalade on top of some ice. The flavor was complex enough with both the flesh and rind included.
After eating, we headed back down the mountain. Instead of going back in the cable car, we opted to try the chair lift instead. Once we got back to the bottom, we walked to our next destination: Bansuiso. Bansuiso is a historical mansion based on French architecture. According to the official tourism site, Bansuiso is the oldest reinforced concrete building in Ehime. The rooms were mostly bare with videos set up to talk about the life of the Count who had the house built. The thing I did notice the most was the amount of black mold on the vents... which did make me a bit queasy. Luckily we didn't spend too much time before heading out and back to our hotel. We did make a quick stop at a souvenir shop between Bansuiso and the hotel so that I could buy some omiyage (souvenirs in Japanese) for some relatives. We also got different flavored orange jellies to try out later.
Once I dropped off my shopping at the hotel, we headed to the last destination for the day: Dogo Onsen. According to lore, it is the oldest onsen in Japan, especially the main building: Dogo Onsen Honkan. Being about 3000 years old meant it was super busy. I took a few pictures of the outside, but didn't get a chance to go inside. Based on the pictures I've seen online on the onsen itself (along with the rooms that you could rent), it didn't seem I was missing much. Instead, we went to another nearby souvenir shop to get more gifts and omiyage. The older I get, the more I feel like I rather spend time at souvenir shops sadly. After purchasing our goods, we headed back to the hotel on the tram, in which we started to get used to navigating. Dropping off more shopping, we headed back to Okaido to a shop that caught our eye yesterday.
Dinner was mazemen - ramen without the broth, but substituted with a whole whack of flavors and sauce. I think I prefer tsukemen over mazemen, but the mixture of different flavors hits harder than tsukemen. At times, thinking back now, it felt a bit overwhelming, but I enjoyed it all the same. I'm not sure if it is at all mazemen restaurants, but once you're done eating noodles, you can ask for some plain rice to mix with the left over sauce. Once we finished eating, we headed back to the hotel for the night. With dessert waiting, the Botchan dumplings (named after the titular character written by the famous Natsume Soseki. Botchan was a bit of a rogue child growing up, but grew up with high morale as he ventured in life) was apparently a delicacy. Maybe we bought the wrong type of Botchan dumplings, but they were mediocre at best. Apparently the three colored dango should have different flavors, but they tasted nearly identical to me. The souvenir box also contained Taruto - a roll, sponge cake containing sweet bean paste. Once again, it was mediocre. Perhaps if we gotten these fresh, and not from a souvenir store but one that specialized in making these sweets, it would be a lot better.
That marked the end of the second day in Matsuyama. One more day left in this city before moving on.
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